Children's Home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 1 SC033367 Registered provider: Kirklees Council

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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 provides care and accommodation for up to four children or young people aged between eight and 16 years old.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is currently working with the younger-aged children and has updated their statement of purpose to reflect this.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is permanently in post.

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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

Date of last inspection: 7 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/11/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 17/04/2018 Full Good 28/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 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, 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 registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and 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 06/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 4 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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Requirement Due date

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 five 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) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e)) 06/03/2020

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Recommendations

 Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1). In particular, the location risk assessment should include any information or intelligence on county lines and other forms of criminal exploitation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people access the support of a stable and consistent staff team and are beginning to build trusting relationships. A young person said: ‘It’s all right. You get to do anything you want, and they listen to you.’ Young people have a voice in their care plans and are supported in attending reviews and completing consultation forms to enable them to contribute to planning their care. One young person was able to ask for a change of their key worker, to which the manager responded positively. This enabled the young person to feel valued and listened to. Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 5 The home ensures that the young people are supported to access health services, including routine check-ups. They are supported by the staff team, which is able to access consultations from the placement support team and the psychologist to help support young people’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One young person has excellent attendance at school and is making good progress. The other young person, who was recently admitted, is being supported in the home to develop his self-confidence, and the staff are working towards re-engaging him in education. The staff work well with education professionals to reduce barriers for the young people to education, which enables them to enjoy and achieve. They support them to access positive activities, such as football, rugby and cubs, alongside positive activities in the home, such as Lego and arts and crafts, which helps them to begin to develop self-confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people have positive time with their family members and other key people in their network. This supports the young people to keep a sense of identity and sustain relationships within their wider network.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people receive help from an experienced staff team. Professionals said that they feel that young people are making good progress and that their behaviours are much improved. The home has incentives in place to enable the young people to respond and make positive decisions about their future.

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

The manager, deputy manager and staff team have a good understanding of safeguarding and can respond effectively to keep the young people safe. They work in partnership with other professionals to ensure that risk assessments are monitored and updated to reflect the presenting needs of the young people. A young person made a disclosure during the inspection. This was addressed effectively by following safeguarding procedures, and steps were immediately implemented to safeguard the child.

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

The home uses restorative justice to support the young people in developing an understanding of accepted behaviours and positive praise to enable the young people to feel safe and secure. There has been a reduction in the number of physical interventions, and the home is responding to the evolving needs by developing positive handling plans to help the young people begin to manage some of their behaviours more effectively. The staff team knows the young people well and is attuned to their behaviours. They direct the young people and prepare them well for endings and changes, giving them a narrative, which helps them to begin to manage their emotional and behavioural needs and to become more resilient.

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

The home environment is a safe environment, and the staff team carries out regular fire, health and safety checks to maintain the safety of the young people, staff and visitors to the home. However, the home’s location risk assessment has not been reviewed and updated to support the young people’s safety in the wider community. Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 6 The manager has plans to help the staff team become more effective by ensuring that safeguarding procedures are followed and that recording systems improve to update and manage any identified risks.

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

Not all incidents that require notification under regulation have been reported to the regulator. This prevents the regulator from monitoring the service effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff are aspirational for the young people. The leaders and managers are reflective and make changes which support the young people to begin to feel safe and secure and able to build trusting relationships with the full staff team and other professionals. The manager and deputy manager are enthusiastic and work effectively with the staff team and other professionals to deliver bespoke individual care plans for the young people to support their care needs. The care plans reflect the individual needs of the young people, and there are systems in place to help care plans progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight and uses supervision and training to help develop the staff team and supports them in managing the evolving needs of the young people. The staff have accessed relevant training. The home has changed its statement of purpose, and the staff team is now working effectively with a younger age-group. The staff are alert to the different needs of the younger children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leaders and managers are able to advocate and challenge other professionals to ensure that positive outcomes are in place for the young people in the home. They have gone beyond expectations on occasions to ensure that the young people have access to services and that barriers are reduced to enable young people to access education that meets their individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the areas for development of the home and has identified positive strategies to help move forward and support the team to become attuned and reflective practitioners. The manager is aware of the need to improve recording to develop practice. There are times when recording is not completed in a prompt manner, particularly in relation to incidents of restraint. This reduces oversight and accountability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team works in partnership with the psychologist and the placement support team, which supports the team with clinical supervision during six-weekly consultations. This allows the whole team to reflect and develop their practice to meet the needs of the young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 7

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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: SC033367 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kirklees Metropolitan Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre 3, Huddersfield, Yorkshire HD1 2EY

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Inspector

Noel Cooper: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 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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