Children's home run by Happy Group (UK) Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 1 Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 7 November 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2018 Full Good 28/11/2017 Full Good 24/01/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 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 health and well-being standard is that–

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)) 16/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on–

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c), (2)(a)(i)(iii)) 16/12/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

that staff– 16/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 4 assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vii))* The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that–

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to–

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(f))* 16/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if–

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child–

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the 16/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 5 registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There have been a number of unplanned placement endings for children living in the home since the last inspection. Children have stopped making progress or have expressed a wish to move on from the home, and/or their social workers or home managers have served notice on placements. There has been no review of the quality of care that would help staff to understand what could have been done differently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers and staff have not yet set clear boundaries and expectations for the current resident. As a result, the child has established poor routines and most days is not taking part in educational or social activities. When education arrangements are put in place, it will be difficult for the child to change their fixed habits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This child has significant difficulty in sleeping. This has an impact on healthy eating and there will also be an impact on the child’s ability to participate in education on a regular basis. Staff have not sought advice from health professionals to assess and address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There has been some effective, thoughtful practice to ensure that the child’s cultural needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have supported children to develop life skills to prepare them for transition to independent accommodation.

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

Behaviour management and risk management are poor. Management oversight of these practice issues is also poor. One child, assessed as vulnerable to exploitation, has been in the community on three occasions without staff supervision, contrary to her safety plan.

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

Managers have not adhered to child protection procedures. A particularly vulnerable child raised concerns that a member of staff had left her unsupervised in the community. The managers investigated this by discussing it with the member of staff before consulting the local authority designated officer. The child’s social worker assessed that being left unsupervised had caused the child distress, affected her relationships within the home and ultimately led to an unplanned ending to the placement.

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

On another occasion, a member of staff left two children alone in the home. This was contrary to the children’s risk assessments. One of the children contacted senior managers to make them aware of this. The children were alone for a short period of time until a manager arrived to care for them.

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

Managers have not reviewed these incidents and shared the learning to prevent similar safeguarding shortfalls from recurring.

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

At the previous inspection, weaknesses were identified in relation to staff’s and Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 7 manager’s understanding of how to manage allegations against staff who work with children. A requirement was made for staff to receive training. Staff received online training in September 2019. This is not a timely or robust response to the concerns raised at the previous inspection.

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

Risk management has not been effective. A child with a risk management plan that identified a need for one-to-one supervision and regular monitoring while in her room managed to leave the home. She was assessed to be at high risk of going missing and vulnerable to exploitation, and was known to steal. She was able to steal a large amount of money from the staff office then leave via her bedroom window, having broken the window restrictors. She was missing for over 24 hours. This was the second incident of this child being missing from the home in the short period that she has lived there.

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

There has been an increase in the use of physical restraint and an increase in assaults to staff by children. Behaviour management strategies have not been reviewed and changed when they are making no difference to children’s behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to promote children’s welfare, prevent children from being exposed to risk of harm or support them to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the previous inspection, three children have left the home in an unplanned way, following a deterioration in behaviours, poor engagement in education and poor relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have failed to put in place systems that help them to accurately assess the quality of care and understand the impact that care arrangements have on the progress and experiences of each child. Leaders and managers have not undertaken effective reviews to prevent mistakes from being repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A child was admitted to the home four weeks prior to the inspection. Managers were aware of her history of high-risk missing-from-home episodes and her vulnerability to exploitation. They were also aware that she had been assessed as having post-traumatic stress disorder. Staff were unable to prevent her from going missing from the home with a large amount of cash. Leaders and managers do not appear to have recognised the seriousness of this incident. Ofsted was not notified. The manager’s response to the concerns raised during the inspection was that she has had fewer missing incidents than in previous placements. This minimises the serious risk of harm to this child when she goes missing, in these circumstances.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the previous inspection, concerns were raised about a child being able to break the window restrictors on a bedroom window. This increased the risk of harm to two children. Prior to this inspection a similar incident occurred that led to a significant risk of harm to a child. This demonstrates poor monitoring of, and response to, known risks within the home. Three different home managers have been in charge of the home since the last Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 8 inspection. Over half of the staff group has also changed since the previous inspection. This neither supports continuity of care nor fosters stable relationships. Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 9

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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 difference 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: 1236625 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Walk House, 99 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7LF

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Inspector(s)

Cathey Moriarty, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1236625 11 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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