Children's Home run by Homes for Support in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 1 Registered provider: Homes for Support 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

A private company owns this home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager of the home was registered in April 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, four young people were living at the home. Two of the young people spoke to the inspector about their views and experiences, since moving into and living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 November 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: This is a new home and, therefore, has not had a previous inspection.

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the home’s first inspection since registration Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 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 notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(3)(e)(4)(b)) 31/01/20

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11). This is with reference to young people’s views being more visible on electronic records.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people live in a well-appointed home that has been renovated to a very high standard. The home is pleasantly decorated and has a homely feel. Each young person is encouraged to personalise and decorate their bedroom. The communal areas are clean and tidy. There are several pictures on the wall of young people engaged in activities and having fun with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is new, and, since opening in the summer, seven young people have been accommodated. Three of these young people have moved on. The registered manager Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 4 acknowledges that, when the home first opened, two young people who were placed were unsuitably matched. The registered manager has learned from this experience and has since worked very hard to improve impact assessments. The home is now settled, and there has been a significant reduction in incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person who has complex emotional and behavioural needs has moved to an alternative health provision. Staff have ensured that they have maintained contact with the young person and visit her regularly in hospital. She had a positive time at the home and engaged in activities relating to horses, her favourite animal.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people have made excellent progress from their initial starting points. Two of the young people have not been in local authority care before. This is their first experience of living away from home in a residential setting. Staff have ensured that the young people build positive memories of their first experience of living away from their family home. The nurturing environment ensures that all young people are supported and listened to, to achieve their full potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people have bespoke education packages, and all young people are in education. This is excellent progress for young people who have been unable to manage mainstream education provision. Education plans are creative and child centred. Routine provides daily structure and boundaries for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All young people are registered with local primary care services. Young people are encouraged to have healthy meals and make positive choices about their health. One young person loves to go swimming and attends the local gym. Staff enjoy going with her. Staff supported one young person to bake cakes to raise money for charity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

To help build and maintain links with family and friends, staff have encouraged one young person to have his best friend to stay overnight at the home. Where appropriate, family contact takes place in the home. This helps young people to maintain and build positive relationships with family and those who are closest to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person happily said, ‘It’s great living here. This is my first time in care. Everyone is really friendly. I wasn’t in education before, but now I go to school every day. I do all my lessons. I go to the gym, swimming, and aqua aerobics. I like my key- work sessions. We chat about a lot of things. Yes, I’m very happy here .’

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

Young people who were previously missing and were at risk of criminal and/or sexual exploitation are now safe. These young people are now happy and settled. Young people have positive and trusting relationships with staff. There are no reported incidents of young people going missing, and there have been no significant behaviour incidents.

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

Staff members work with young people to help them understand the risks that they may encounter. Staff talk to young people in key-work sessions, or through general Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 5 discussions at any time to talk through worries or concerns. This helps young people to understand their own strengths and vulnerabilities.

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

Young people have detailed risk assessments. This helps staff and young people to identify triggers in behaviour, so staff can help young people manage their actions. Detailed plans also help staff to understand young people. Young people contribute to their crisis management plans, ensuring that the plans are child focused.

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

Staff have worked with a young person to transition him back home to his family. Although this was sooner than staff and the young person’s social worker would have liked, staff worked with the young person to listen to his wishes and feelings and have now agreed overnight contacts with family. The young person is now no longer missing from the home and is attending education. Staff will continue to support the young person in his home setting to ensure that he keeps safe and that there are continued structured boundaries. Staff maintain positive relationships with professionals and parents and involve them in the care of their children.

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

Young people are listened to. All young people are encouraged to access the advocacy service. To help one young person vocalise his feelings about his care plan and placement decisions, staff involved the young person’s advocate. This has helped the young person to put his views across to the placing authority to ensure that he could remain living at the home. However, this good practice in collecting young people’s views is not routinely captured in the home’s electronic records.

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

Staff ensure that young people have access to specialist skin and hair-care products to maintain positive links with their identity and cultural needs. This helps young people to have a positive self-image and good self-esteem.

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

Young people are safe in their community. The registered manager attends the local area safeguarding meeting with police and other professionals. This meeting increases his knowledge and understanding of any local concerns that may have an impact on the welfare of the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate, visionary and aspirational. He is child focused and driven, to improve outcomes for young people. His hands-on approach ensures that he has a very good understanding of the day-to-day needs of the young people in his care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager continues to think of fresh ideas to improve the home. He has learned from earlier experiences and adapted policies and procedures to accommodate the shortfalls. The registered manager is focused and driven and puts the needs of the young people at the centre of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is well supported in his role by his deputy manager. The deputy manager has significant expertise in education from a previous role, and she is an asset Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 6 to the service. The deputy manager works alongside schools and education providers. She has been instrumental in ensuring that young people have bespoke education packages, so all young people have an opportunity to learn and achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback provided during the inspection on the skills of the registered manager and his team was positive. Staff are committed and passionate and love their work. One staff member said about her job, ‘I love it here. Really enjoy it. The general atmosphere, the facilities. It’s clean, modern and nice. The hands-on support from senior managers is fantastic.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although a new team, staff show a high-level of commitment to providing young people with the best quality care. One professional said, ‘The manager has been a breath of fresh air. He is really organised. The support they have offered [name] has been above and beyond. Communication is good. They attend all meetings and worked with [name] to build a positive relationship.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have regular reflective supervision and regular training. New staff complete a detailed induction programme. All staff are encouraged to progress onto a certified childcare qualification. Following an incident relating to medication oversight, the registered manager acted swiftly. A full investigation took place, and staff undertook refresher training. The registered manager also updated all medication procedures in the home, and further support was offered to the member of staff involved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team strives to make the home as nurturing as possible. Staff listen to young people. The registered manager took prompt action to challenge the placing authority and arrange an advocate for one young person to ensure that his views were fairly represented. To allow a young person to have a friend to sleep over at the home, the registered manager carefully reviewed all risk management plans and consulted with other young people to grant the sleepover.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager responds well to external monitoring conducted by an independent visitor. This external scrutiny helps the manager to reflect on his practice and improve outcomes for young people and the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a delay in notifying Ofsted of some incidents in the home. This is a recording issue and does not have an impact on the welfare of the young people.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 7 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: 2526004 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes for Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1st Floor, Cloister House, Riverside, New Bailey Street, Manchester M3 5FS

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Inspector

Kamal Bhamra, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2526004 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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