Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 12 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection : none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/08/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 2

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that arrangements are in place to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)) 29/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 29/11/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive high-quality individualised care that is having a significant impact on the progress that they make. Children form trusted relationships with staff. One child said: ‘If I have a problem we work it out together. Staff are always here for me if I need them and I feel safe and chilled out here.’ Staff work well with other agencies to secure good outcomes for children. For one child, the manager advocated strongly to inform the placement planning for his next Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 3 placement. This challenge led to a successful planned transition for this child. Children’s needs are central to the planning arrangements when they move on from the home. Children attend school and college full time and do very well. In some instances, this engagement with education has been exceptional, for example one child progressed from two hours tuition a day to full-time education. Children are positively engaged in

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

their education and aspire for the future. Staff understand the importance of helping children with their emotional health needs. Staff work creatively to engage external services to help children and advocate for children when services do not meet their needs. Children are central to their care plans and reviews. They are asked regularly about their views. This has progressed to children having a role in chairing and minuting meetings with the manager. This has a positive effect on their skills and confidence. The home has an appropriate complaints system for children. There is an example of a positive change following a complaint from a child. Staff have developed a model of practice at the home that sets out the assessment of children’s needs. Most staff are clear about this model. They understand the benefits of children experiencing a consistent and nurturing approach. Most children experience highly positive day-to-day care arrangements. However, one

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

child admitted to the home experienced poor placement planning. This child had to travel for a significant period of each day to and from school. This had an impact on the child’s experiences at school, where she has been distressed at the end of the school day. Poor planning has led to the need for a further move for this child.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The home is a safe and homely environment. The physical environment helps children to feel relaxed and comfortable. The home is decorated to a good standard and is looked after well by staff and children alike. There have been no incidents of children going missing from the home. There was an occasion when a child went missing during a home contact visit. Staff took appropriate action and followed safeguarding processes. Staff understand and help children with their experiences of feeling bullied and stigmatised. Staff support children and listen to them. For one child, this has meant advocating for a change in school placement. This has led to him feeling safer and more secure within education. Behaviour management is a strength of the staff team. Staff work consistently to implement clear routines and boundaries. Over time, children are helped to reduce behaviours that are challenging. Staff have helped one child in particular to regulate his

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

own behaviour. This has led to a significant reduction in the number of physical interventions staff have used to manage his behaviour. Helping this child to regulate his own behaviour has led to a planned move to a foster family placement. Generally, risk assessments are thorough, detailed and well planned. However, a recent Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 4 placement was made without clear and thorough risk assessments in place. In addition, a key risk factor was not fully considered. However, staff have been vigilant in their management and supervision of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a strong, committed registered manager. She is enthusiastic, accessible and advocates well for children in her care. This has led to excellent outcomes for most children. Staff say that they feel supported by the manager. They value the supervision, support and the training opportunities that they receive. Staff have regular and effective team meetings. The manager is effective when challenging placing authorities to get the best outcomes for children. She has challenged appropriately to improve and inform future outcomes for services. She did this by challenging a placing authority about the lack of communication from them in relation to a safeguarding matter. The manager is clear about the strengths and areas of development for this home and shares these with her team. She values the independent visitor and quality assurance visits from local authorities. Admission processes require improvement, in particular admissions in the absence of the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

registered manager. The registered manager needs to be confident that all key information is in place for children in their care. Leaders and managers need to deliver plans for children that prevent further disruption for them.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 32 Anglesey Business Centre, Anglesey Road, Burton-On-Trent DE14 3NT

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Inspector

Bev Allison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1263837 6 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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