Children's Home run by Social Care Services (Clayton) Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 1 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 two 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 home has been in operation since September 2018.The current manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/03/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 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 registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 20/12/19

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Recommendations

 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). Specifically, this refers to the use of acronyms and jargon.  Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s records must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

 Regulation 11(2) sets out the expectations on staff in building a positive relationship with each child and helping the child develop skills to have positive relationships with others. ‘Others’ includes individuals both inside and outside the home such as other children in the home, staff, family members, siblings, previous carers and friends (in accordance with their relevant plans) (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.6). This is with reference to practice in relation to equality and diversity.  Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 4

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Recommendations

meets the needs of each child (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59). This is with particular reference to a review of trends in individual staff involvement in restraints.  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11). This is with particular reference to training in life story work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from a stable home environment. Since the last inspection, no young people have been admitted to or discharged from the home. There have been no changes in staff. As a result, young people have consistent care, which supports them to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people attend school and attendance is good. Staff prioritise each young person’s education. There are positive relationships between schools and the home. One young person has recently made a successful transition from primary to secondary school. The school told the inspector that communication with the home is good. Where young people are not attending mainstream school, the home works with providers to identify suitable provision which meets the young person’s individual needs. This means that young people are more likely to engage with their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have enjoyed a holiday together with staff this summer. Staff support young people to take part in social activities at school and in the community. One young person is learning the piano at school. She is also part of the local Girlguiding group and has recently started to attend a drama group. These opportunities broaden young people’s experiences and build social skills and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people know to how to make a complaint. Complaints are looked at by the registered manager, who provides a timely response. As result of this, young people are encouraged to have a say in their care, and they know that their views matter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people who have previously experienced trauma in their lives are supported to address this by staff. Young people are given opportunities to decide which staff are best placed to support them. This means that strong and trusting relationships are formed between support staff and young people. Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 5

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

Risks to young people are identified and understood. There are clear risk assessments in place, which are regularly reviewed. However, not all assessments are signed and dated. Young people who self-harm, or who are at risk of self-harming, receive a professional and caring response from staff. Staff use risk management plans to reduce the risk to young people and provide them with a safe environment.

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

Young people receive the help they need to promote their physical and emotional health. When young people are reluctant to engage with services, staff are persistent in their attempts to make progress and encourage this engagement.

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

Restraint is used on occasions in the home. When restraint is used, there are detailed written records of each incident. These are reviewed by the registered manager. The recording of restraints, particularly the registered manager’s review, is often jargonistic. For example, acronyms and abbreviations are used to describe actions or events. As a result of this, these case records are not young person friendly. This is a barrier to young people understanding and contributing to their own records.

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

Practice in the home in relation to discrimination, equality and diversity is not yet adequately developed. There is an over-reliance on a calendar of events as a prompt for staff to discuss or celebrate diversity. These conversations do not yet form part of day- to-day practice. As a result, staff are missing opportunities to encourage young people’s critical thinking about these issues.

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

Young people are supported to understand the role that the home plays in their care history and wider life story. Staff support the collection of memorabilia, photographs and written records, to help young people now and when they move on from the home. A senior member of staff has attended life story training delivered by a child and adolescent mental health service. This training has now been shared with the staff team. This is a helpful introduction to staff. However, the limited extent of the training means that it does not fully equip the staff team to undertake therapeutic life story work with young people.

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

Young people moving towards independence are helped by staff to do so. There is a good balance between young people being allowed to take appropriate risks and being supported by staff to stay safe. Where the home has views which differ from those of the local authority, they constructively challenge plans in order to ensure the safety of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been working in the home since it opened in September 2018, originally in the role of assistant manager. She was registered by Ofsted in August 2019. As a result of this, she has been involved in the development of the home and the training of the staff team during the first year of operation. Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 6 The manager leads a consistent staff team. The home does not use agency or ‘bank’ staff. On occasions, where additional staff are needed, these are provided by another of the organisation’s homes. These is a core group of staff that the young people know. This adds to the stability of the home and the quality of care for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is, on the whole, good management oversight of the home from the registered manager. She has systems in place to regularly review the quality of work and identify areas for development. The registered manager has not undertaken a comprehensive review of patterns and trends in relation to restraints in the home, particularly in relation to staff involvement. This is potentially a missed opportunity to further strengthen safeguards in this area of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is supported in her oversight of the home by a senior manager in the organisation who has a specific quality assurance role. The regular audits and reviews undertaken by the quality assurance manager provide effective support and challenge, which helps drive improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the time of inspection, the registered manager had not provided Ofsted with an up-to- date statement of purpose in line with expected timescales. In addition, the independent person reports had not been shared in a timely manner. These documents were provided when requested on inspection. This has not had an impact on the quality of care for young people. It is important that the registered manager is engaging with all relevant agencies to share information in line with regulations and guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides notification of significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of young people. She engages effectively with the young person’s placing authority and, where appropriate, the police and other professionals in order to keep young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The physical environment of the home is welcoming for young people. Communal areas are homely. Young people’s bedrooms are personalised. As a result, young people live in a family environment, which helps them to have a positive experience of residential care.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: 1263425 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Social Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1263425 9 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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