Children's Home run by John-Edwards Care Homes Limited in Swindon

Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 1 SC437171 Registered provider: John-Edwards Care Homes 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

 This children‟s home is registered to care for five children who have learning disabilities.  The provision offers a long-term home for some children and a short break for others.  The home has had a vacancy for the post of registered manager since June 2017.  The manager commenced their post on 16 September 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 November 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A compliance notice was served on 7 August 2019 for regulation 13. A monitoring visit took place on 18 September 2019. The compliance notice was met. Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/07/2019 Full Inadequate 30/04/2019 Full Inadequate 04/07/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5(a)(b)(c)(d)) 03/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 03/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(ix)) 10: The health and well-being standard

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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.

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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

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 03/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard 03/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 5 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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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

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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.

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use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 14: The care planning standard

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The care planning standard is that children—

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receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 03/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by 03/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 6 the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

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does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or

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works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)(6)(a)(b)) 35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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a description of the measure and its duration;

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details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and 03/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 7 of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have taken effective action to improve children’s overall experiences and progress. However, further work is needed as the home’s improvement plan is not yet complete.

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improvement to be good

Plans to support children to move on have become more of a priority. Leaders and managers are increasingly holding other professionals to account to source and secure appropriate plans for the young adults living in the home. However, these plans are yet to come to fruition. As a result, the home is at risk of breaching its registration conditions due to the number of young adults living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s care plans do not yet contain enough detail about children’s needs. Staff are not providing children with enough support to help them to reach their full potential. While the introduction of targets and goals for children is an improvement, this is not yet having enough impact on progress.

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improvement to be good

Children do not receive enough support to meet all their health needs. For example, no one has ascertained how much advice and support the children need with regard to their sexual health and development. Leaders and managers have not established good enough links with other specialist professionals so that they can find out how to best support children with this. Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 8 Staff are now doing more to ascertain children’s views. Children’s meetings and one-to- one chats enable children to have more choice and express their views. For example, children actively choose meals and activities that they like.

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improvement to be good

Children have good access to their local community. They all attend school full time and have opportunities to enjoy what is on offer locally. For example, children go swimming, shopping and to local events such as firework displays.

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improvement to be good

The environment continues to be improved so as to provide children with a homelier place to live. The removal of closed-circuit television in all of the bedrooms has increased children’s s privacy and dignity.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have increased their oversight of the safety and well-being of children. Staff are fulfilling their duties to supervise and protect children more effectively. There have been no occurrences of children harming one another since the previous inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the potential risks posed to children and take action to reduce these risks. Staff talk to children about safety and risk at an appropriate level for each child. However, not all risk strategies are individualised. For example, the use of a restrictive car harness for three children is a generalised approach. Staff do not have guidance on how they can support children to progress so that they may not need this restrictive equipment.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers now provide staff with more detail about how to support one child who regularly makes allegations. Staff provide the child with a consistent response and this has reduced the number of allegations made. However, even though there is a protocol in place for how to manage these incidents, other safeguarding professionals do not yet formally endorse the protocol. This weakness has been identified at previous inspections and should be prioritised to ensure that it is completed swiftly.

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improvement to be good

One child has been restrained on two occasions since the monitoring visit. Restraint records do not contain all the essential information required. The child did not have the opportunity for a debrief following one incident, and the other debrief failed to ask the child about their welfare or feelings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 9 The home has had no registered manager since June 2017. A new manager commenced their post in September 2019. They are not yet registered with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not yet created a culture in the home which is aspirational for children. Staff do not support children effectively to help them to make good progress because targets and goals are not specific enough. As a result, opportunities are missed to support children to progress with the most important aspects of their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of children’s records is poor. Records of children’s behaviour do not contain all the information required. The lack of information recorded impacts on leaders’ and managers’ ability to monitor the quality of care effectively. Some records stigmatise children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers understand the home’s s weaknesses and are taking effective action to make improvements. For example, the lessons learned following behavioural incidents now provide staff with some opportunities to consider how they can better support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff now receive more frequent supervision and have their performance appraised at least annually. The workforce plan now details how staff who are promoted internally will be inducted into their role. Leaders and managers have not had enough time to allow these improvements to embed so that they can assess their impact.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There continue to be staff working in the home whose required date to complete their level 3 qualification has expired. These staff members are enrolled to study for the level 3 qualification and are making some progress.

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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: SC437171 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: John-Edwards Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Suffolk Way, Sevenoaks TN13 1YL

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Inspector

Nicola Lownds: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC437171 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 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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