Children's home run by Social Care Services Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 1 SC412687 Registered provider: Social Care Services 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

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is part of an independent company.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2019.

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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: 23 January 2019

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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: SC412687 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2019 Full Good 21/09/2017 Full Good 06/03/2017 Full Good 17/01/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h)) 11/12/2019

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Recommendations

 The design of the home should provide staff that sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from good-quality individualised care and support that has a positive impact on their experiences and progress. Staff place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice. A parent and the professionals spoken to said that staff care about the young people and want the best for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people were on holiday together during the inspection. However, the inspector spoke to one young person via telephone and they confirmed that they like living at the home. This was a view shared by the professionals. Young people develop trusting relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value the importance of young people’s education. Both young people are in full- time education and their attendance is 100%. Staff attend parents’ evenings, education reviews and personal education planning meetings, which means they are kept up to date with young people’s progress. One young person is working hard towards taking his GCSEs next summer and staff are supporting him with this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people’s physical, emotional and psychological well-being well. Staff use key-working sessions to help raise young people’s awareness in relation to any ongoing health concerns. Healthy eating, portion control and regular exercise meant that one young person’s weight management improved over the summer.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, there has been one admission and one discharge from the home. A thorough impact risk assessment is completed prior to a young person coming to live at the home, to ensure that they are compatible with the young people already here. However, some young people have struggled to live harmoniously together, and notice was served on a young person’s placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A variety of community activities based on young people’s individual interests are encouraged. Examples include the local youth club, swimming and trampolining. Young people also enjoy playing on their games consoles, which is monitored effectively by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote contact between young people and those significant to them. Staff understand the importance of contact in helping young people to sustain those important attachments. Staff have supported some young people to strengthen their family relationships.

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

Staff are appropriately trained in safeguarding and understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping young people safe. Any allegations or complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively. A young person spoken to said that they feel safe and listened to. There have been no incidents of young people going missing from the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 5 Clear protocols are in place, should an incident occur.

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

Young people respond to consistent boundaries, which helps them to develop a clear sense of right and wrong. Staff spend time talking to young people and they respond well to incentives and rewards. Consequently, there have been no incidents of restraint and consequences are kept to a minimum.

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

Young people’s risks are well understood by staff, including risks around young people’s use of mobile phones and the internet. Although risk assessments are in place, some recordings are not well presented. For example, one young person’s risk levels around fire setting have increased since July 2019, but it is not clear why this is the case.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a change of manager since the last inspection. The previous manager left to take up another post within the organisation. The new manager is suitably experienced and qualified and demonstrates a clear commitment to improving outcomes for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are well supported by the new manager. Staff receive regular supervision and appraisal, which focuses on their practice and the support to the young people. Staff development is supported by training that is regularly updated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home operates in line with its statement of purpose and is well resourced to meet the needs of young people. Managers have taken appropriate action to address the one requirement and one recommendation made at the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Improvements are required in a number of the home’s records. For example, the staff meeting minutes and young people’s house meeting minutes are difficult to read as they are handwritten. A system has been implemented to record and monitor a young person’s weekly food intake and levels of exercise. However, staff are not consistently recording this information, which restricts the manager’s ability to analyse this information and ensure that the young person’s weight is stabilised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is responsible for reviewing and updating the home’s fire risk assessment; however, he has not had risk assessment training to ensure that his knowledge is up to date and that the home is compliant with legal requirements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the home is relatively well maintained. However, the staff sleep-in room is very cluttered and in need of painting.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 6 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: SC412687 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Social Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Social Care Services Clayton Ltd, 31 Shaw Road, Stockport SK4 4AG

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC412687 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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