Children's Home run by Considerate Care Limited in Liverpool

Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 1 SC062674 Registered provider: Considerate Care Limited

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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 owned by a private company and it is registered to care for up to four young people. As outlined in the home’s statement of purpose, the service provides care for children and young people aged eight to 17 years.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2007.

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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: 11 December 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/12/2018 Full Good 18/10/2017 Full Good 15/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 3

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff being alert to and acting when young people are smoking in their bedrooms. 22/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, allowing the young people to have access to the kitchen and all fire exits at all times. 22/11/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.8) In particular, this refers to strengthening safer recruitment practice by exploring gaps in employment and discrepancies in information in references.  The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2) In particular, the review should evaluate and report on the quality of care provided to young people rather than describing the young people’s needs and Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 4 behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people benefit from living in a welcoming, homely and safe environment. They feel valued and they know that their staff care about them. This is reflected in a young person’s comments, ‘I like how helpful and caring the staff are... they are always able to get us through.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An experienced and dedicated team nurtures warm and trusting relationships with the young people. Staff understand each young person’s needs and they invest time in supporting them to reach their full potential. As a result, young people make noticeable progress in all areas of their lives from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of the young people’s health needs and when necessary they quickly seek the input from specialist services, for example counselling support. This helps to improve young people’s emotional health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Comprehensive placement plans help the staff to provide consistent care and monitor the young people’s progress. Young people’s case records clearly reflect their journey, strengths, needs and vulnerabilities. However, young people’s relevant plans, such as education, health and care plans and pathway plans, are not always obtained by the manager in a timely way. Consequently, the staff and young people do not have access to all of the placing authorities’ care planning documents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of maintaining and repairing young people’s relationships with their parents and relatives. Effective partnership working between the staff, social workers, parents and carers enables young people to spend more time with their family members in a planned and safe way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team is committed to providing the young people with stability, good routines and fair and consistent boundaries. Consequently, the young people living at this home feel safe and secure and they thrive.

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

Staff have a good understanding of risk and they respond to high-risk situations competently. As a result, incidents of young people going missing from the home and child exploitation have decreased considerably for some young people.

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

Young people’s emotional well-being and resilience improve because staff help them to develop skills to manage their feelings safely. Young people’s anger and aggression decrease as they settle, making the home a safe and happy place to live, work and visit.

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

Through rewards, incentives and staff’s constant praise, the young people’s behaviour Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 5 improves. However, not all measures of control used by staff are suitable or safe, for example staff locking the kitchen door at night. Not only does this restrict young people’s access to some areas of the home, it prevents access to all fire escape routes. The manager acknowledged this potential hazard and agreed that this door would not be locked in the future.

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

Improvements can be made in the rigour of staff’s daily health and safety checks in the home. This particularly applies to staff being alert to and acting when young people smoke in their bedrooms, putting themselves and others at risk.

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

In the main, the manager ensures that all staff are suitably vetted before they are employed to work in the home. However, safer recruitment practice can be further enhanced by making sure that all possible gaps in employment histories are thoroughly explored and verified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a suitably qualified, highly experienced and child-centred registered manager and deputy. The managers are visible and approachable and they have high aspirations for the young people and the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An experienced, qualified and resilient staff team provides a high standard of care to the young people. This home is making a positive difference to the young people’s lives, progress and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from having access to a wide range of useful training. The manager has ensured that staff have the right expertise, approach, personal qualities and skills to meet the young people’s needs and keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Consistent staffing arrangements provide young people with continuity of care, enabling them to establish lasting relationships with those who care for them. Young people’s trusting relationships with the staff help them to develop a true sense of belonging.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working with other professionals and services is strong. Social workers and independent reviewing officers are highly complimentary about the manager and her team. A professional said, ‘On first impressions, I’m impressed about how they understand [name]’s needs and are competent at supporting them. The staff seem to have a really good relationship with [name] and [name] also shows a good level of respect towards staff.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff’s performance is appraised annually, which involves seeking the young people’s views on the staff member’s practice. As a result, the manager has a clear overview of the team’s strengths and development needs, as well as young people’s views and expectations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s regular auditing of the home is helping her to continuously monitor and develop the service. However, her six-monthly quality of care review reports lack analysis Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 6 and evaluation of her findings.

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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: SC062674 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Considerate Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Millers Accountants, 69 Windsor Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0DB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: William Aspinall

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Inspector

Marina Tully, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC062674 8 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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