Children's Home run by Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 1 SC378181 Registered provider: Platinum Services For Children (Residential Care) 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 is one of four homes owned by an independent provider. The home cares for up to two children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home has a registered manager who holds a level 5 diploma in leadership, health and social care. He manages both this home and another home within the organisation.

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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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be 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: 13 November 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: SC378181 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/11/2018 Full Good 13/09/2017 Full Good 16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 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— (a) that staff— manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; 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(1)(2)(a)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)) 23/12/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 23/12/2019

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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 23/12/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 4 children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people build good relationships with staff who promote their welfare. One young person has lived in this home for a significant time and is showing progress in managing his behaviour, self-care, and attending education. Staff meet his needs by building trust, influencing, and encouraging the development of new skills. Young people visit the home prior to moving in so that they can see their bedroom and meet staff beforehand. The registered manager identifies young people who have similar needs to those already living in the home. This helps young people to settle quickly together. The registered manager decided that one young people should leave the home after careful consideration of their welfare needs and staff’s ability to manage their level of risk. The registered manager consulted with the young person’s social worker to ensure that the ending was as positive as it could be. Wherever possible, staff support young people to return home to family or to live

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

independently. One parent told the inspector that she and the staff ‘work from the same page’. Staff help parents to attend meetings and spend positive family time with young people. Young people attend education. One young person has transitioned from school to college. Staff have helped him to become familiar with using the bus to travel to college. This has helped to increase his confidence and maturity which will help him to access work experience alongside his college course. Staff encourage enrichment activities which families can also be involved with. One young person attends police cadets which gives him experience to prepare him to follow his career aspirations. Social workers and teachers state that staff communicate well with them to keep them informed of events and progress. They all report that their young people are happy living in this home. Professionals have commented that, when they visit young people at

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

home, they are calmer than how they have presented in school or in previous placements. Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 5

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improvement to be good

The registered manager recognises that young people who live together may bully or harm each other. He balances this with the creation of a homely environment. However, this means that, at times, staff have failed to supervise young people adequately. Young people have engaged in boisterous behaviour which has resulted in them hurting each other. When the registered manager became aware of an injury, allegedly caused from play fighting, he did not follow the home’s safeguarding policy and report to the young people’s social workers as quickly as he should have. In addition, on two occasions at night, young people chatted and watched a film together in a bedroom after staff thought that they had settled. The staff who were on sleep-in duty had gone to bed and were unaware of this until the young people told them. Staff’s care has not, therefore, effectively kept young people safe and protected them from potential harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond well to protect young people who go missing. They build good relationships with young people. This helps staff to maintain phone contact with missing young people and gather information which they use to support young people’s safe return home. Staff communicate consistently with police and social workers to share information. The registered manager advocates for children. He challenges and has escalated concern about risk with the police to ensure a more targeted response from the missing person’s team. When young people return home, staff promote the completion of independent interviews where possible. The registered manager usually lets Ofsted know of significant incidents. When there was an escalation in frequency and concern relating to one young person going missing, the registered manager did not notify Ofsted. The inspector was therefore unable to monitor the effectiveness of the care provided to keep a young person, who was at risk

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improvement to be good

of child sexual exploitation, safe. The provider has not updated a notification following a complaint against the registered manager which required investigation. The investigation of this complaint had an impact on the management of this home but not on the young people living here. The inspector was not informed of management arrangements for the home during this time. Young people have engaged in low-level and infrequent acts of self-harm. The registered manager advocates on their behalf to secure referrals to local and specialist mental health services. Staff administer appropriate first aid but do not record this in the accident book. The registered manager has not identified this shortfall in the monitoring of records. Staff manage challenging behaviour effectively without the use of physical intervention. Staff manage inappropriate behaviour with verbal challenge and short, time-limited sanctions which are age appropriate and effective. The registered manager oversees the

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improvement to be good

records to promote increased use of praise and positive incentives for appropriate behaviour. Staff undertake fire drills according to the frequency within the organisation’s policy. New staff and young people have participated in fire drills. The registered manager has Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 6 addressed the requirement from the last inspection by ensuring that staff complete night-time fire drills. The registered manager recruits staff safely. The registered manager has attended local Safeguarding Children Board recruitment training and he is using learning from this to improve his practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager shows areas of strength and ambition for the development of the home and the staff team. He is child focused and encourages best outcomes for young people. Where there are areas of oversight and weakness, such as supervision levels of young people, the registered manager has identified remedial action. Staff speak highly of support from leaders and each other. The registered manager has introduced a mentoring scheme which helps new staff to learn a range of skills when working alongside more experienced staff. Staff show concern for young people and they recognise and welcome any progress that young people make. The registered manager ensures that he has enough staff to meet the needs of the service. The registered manager does not use agency staff but is able to engage a bank worker or staff from other homes within the organisation to cover unplanned staff changes. This provides consistency of care for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision which allows for personal and professional reflection. The registered manager completes annual appraisals for all staff. New staff complete the organisation’s induction programme. Staff complete mandatory and additional training. The registered manager sources specific training to meet the needs of the young people living in the home. Leaders have completed or are undertaking their level 5 leadership training. Staff have completed or are undertaking their level 3 qualification. Where one staff member is outside of the level 3 completion timeframe, the registered manager has established an action plan, which includes support, to meet a revised deadline. Young people speak directly to staff about their wishes and feelings. The registered manager is considering development of the recruitment process to involve young people in staff interviews. The registered manager oversees and monitors elements of the service. He acts on

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

recommendations from the independent visitor. The inspector found that recording was not as robust as it could be, lacking detail and completion in some areas. The registered manager has developed a monitoring template. This will assist the registered manager in his leadership tasks and allow him to guide staff to improve the completion and updating of recording where he sees shortfalls.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 7 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: SC378181 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platinum Services For Children (Residential Care) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Platinum Services For Children (Residential Care) Ltd, 2 Sheriffs Orchard, Coventry, Warwickshire CV1 3PP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leonard Pattinson

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Inspector

Joanna Warburton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 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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