Children's home run by Hennessy Living Group Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 1 Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, including mental health difficulties and associated conditions. A private company operates the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their starting points. They present as happy and settled. The staff team provides a warm, welcoming and homely environment. This helps positive relationships to develop between children and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are welcomed into the home following a planned induction which includes mealtime visits. The management and leadership teams assess the impact of new children arriving on the children already living in the home. This includes children’s views, key-worker analysis and management oversight. However, one recent admission assessed in the manager’s absence was not as thorough in following the procedures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The management and staff teams work tirelessly to support and involve parents and family members in their children’s care. They have put themselves forward to assist with and support supervised family time, to enable children to spend positive time with their families. This has included children enjoying family activities such as going swimming and spending time in the park. They have also welcomed a parent’s help in settling their child for the evening. This helps children to develop positive attachments with the staff team while retaining positive relationships with family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school daily with encouragement and support. Ifa school has not been identified, the staff engage children in educational activities and proactively engage with educational professionals to source a suitable school. Staff undertake one-to-one sessions with children to support their educational attendance and attainment, which results in children’s outcomes improving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met, and appointments are well attended with support from staff. Children take part in a range of activities and spend quality time with staff and with their peers.

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improvement to be good

The home has only been open a few months and during that time there has been a reduction in children’s previously known risky behaviours. This is confirmed by the positivity expressed by children when talking about living at the home and their relationships with staff. This was also reiterated by the children’s respective social workers during the inspection visit.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they feel safe in this home. Whenthere are concerns, they are well documented in individualised risk assessments and behaviour support plans. The staff follow the strategies to safeguard children from potential harm. Overall, records are well written. However, on one occasion when a child went missing from the home, the records did not effectively demonstrate the steps that were taken to safeguard the child. Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 3 This reduces accountability and oversight.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour is well managed overall. However, on the day of the inspection an incident occurred, and staff did not respond quickly to minimise the effect of the presenting behaviour on children living in another part of the home.

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improvement to be good

As the home is new, lots of staff members are still on probation. A random selection of staff files highlighted a gap in employment history for one member of staff. An acceptable explanation was provided, but had not been recorded. This was addressed immediately, but this area requires improvement to ensure that children are robustly safeguarded.

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improvement to be good

Children are still settling in and are developing trust in their staff. The home is staffed in accordance with children’s individual needs and staff communicate well with social workers and relevant professionals. They advocate strongly for children and are appropriately trained in safeguarding procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and her deputy have a vision to provide a positive and warm home for children in which they can thrive. Their enthusiasm is enabling children to receive nurturing and consistent care. Children are responding and making progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that there is structure and consistency to help engage children positively. Children feel listened to and enjoy being with staff, just ‘chilling’ after school and talking about their day and general topics. The management team is at the centre of role-modelling good practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager, supported by her experienced deputy, has introduced good monitoring systems. They work well with the independent visitor and accept advice and guidance positively. They express a willingness to improve. The registered manager’s presence in the home is highly visible and allows her to oversee and monitor practice. This helps to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive supervision fortnightly and this is ensuring that there is good oversight of practice, and that learning is at the centre of staff development. The staff attend monthly team meetings and the culture in the home is positive. A member of staff commented on the strength of the home: ‘We really care, and it is a good feeling coming to work. Here, it is about the kids in the home.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training is largely provided through e-learning and individual supervision; however, it is evident that face-to-face training has been initiated to reflect the needs of the children placed. Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 4

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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, the 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– that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 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)(v)(b)) Specifically, this relates to the behaviour management of the home and the impact of one part of the home on the other. 02/01/2020

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31–33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Regulations 35–39 detail records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored 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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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 Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 5 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: 2520922 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Helme Hall, Helme Lane, Helme, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire HD9 5RL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Goundry

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Inspector

Michael Dack: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2520922 7 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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