Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 1 SC475697 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd 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 for up to seven young people who display a combination of emotional difficulties, associated challenging behaviours and educational underachievement, and who require intensive support. The home is privately owned and forms part of a large social care organisation which offers an education service and therapeutic support.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in April 2017 and is appropriately experienced and qualified to manage a children’s home.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 16 to 17 December 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 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: outstanding

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following a safeguarding notification, a monitoring visit was made on 10 April 2019 to assess if the home was meeting regulations. Three requirements were issued following the visit. Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/07/2018 Full Outstanding 16/10/2017 Full Outstanding 14/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8(2)(viii)) 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills. (Regulation 9(1)) 31/01/2020

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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 the relevant date, the individual has attained 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. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)) 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular-‘as a separate paragraph above provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34(2)(d)) 3/01/2020 Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home are settled and are making good progress across most areas. One child has progressed exceptionally well since the last inspection. A social worker commented positively about the child’s progress, stating, ‘he is a totally different person to how he was six months ago’. Some children, who have since moved on from the home, did not make positive progress and there was a high number of missing-from-home incidents, which led to concerns for their welfare when they were away from the home. Children moved on in a positive and planned way to semi-independent living or to be with a family, which is better suited to their needs. The staff reflect that the home has been calmer recently, with far fewer behavioural incidents. The children have developed strong and trusting relationships with staff, who know them well and understand how best to work with them. Children report that they know that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the staff care about them and want to help them. One young person, who has previously wanted to move from the home into a shared living scheme, now reports that he is happy and settled and wants to remain at the home until he is ready to live independently. Some children have found it difficult to engage in full-time education. The home has worked extremely hard to ensure that the children and young people are attending and engaging with education. Staff are heavily involved in planning young people’s s bespoke educational packages with the home’s own education providers, however this has yet to see the desired result. Staff offer a good range of activities, however these are often not taken up by the children. Children, in the main, prefer to play on game consoles throughout the evenings and weekends. This limits the opportunities to help the children to develop socially, emotionally and physically.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are healthy. They receive appropriate healthcare including, for some, child and adolescent mental health services support. They are registered with all appropriate services and are helped to make and attend appointments. Children undertake direct work with the home’s therapist who, in turn, shares her experience and ideas in staff meetings. The organisation’s clinical psychology team develops bespoke packages to support children’s mental health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed key working takes place, and there is evidence that the topics covered are related to issues affecting individual children. Children are supported to develop their emotional resilience through assessment tools and direct work. Some children are helped with life-story work, which is delivered at their own pace to develop their understanding of why they are in care. Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 5

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

Children report feeling safe in the home and understand what actions the staff take to ensure their safety. From the point of placement, risks for children reduce, sometimes significantly. Each child has a missing-from-home risk assessment and an individual procedure, should they go missing. Detailed missing-from-home records are kept which indicate that all relevant parties are informed in a timely manner of any ‘missing’ incidents and that all children are offered independent return-home interviews. The home maintains chronologies of all safeguarding incidents individually for each child, which enables good monitoring of progress and oversight of any patterns or trends. The records of investigations into allegations and the actions taken as a result are poor. For example, after an allegation was made regarding a staff member, only one witness statement was taken from the three involved in the incident. In that one statement, the

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

inconstancies were not explored with the staff member on whom the allegation centred. This undermines the safety and well-being of children and young people. As the home is settled, behaviour management is not a significant issue at present. Children and staff have good relationships and mutual respect is evident. Staff are skilled in de-escalating situations and there have been very few incidents where restrictive physical intervention has been used. The home focuses on reparation, and works with children following incidents of poor behaviour to help them to reflect and repair damaged or broken relationships. Children and young people live in a physically safe environment, and there are many weekly checks and procedures to ensure the ongoing safety of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since 2016 and subsequently registered with Ofsted in April 2017. He has the appropriate qualifications and experience to run the home. He is also supported by a deputy manager. They have created a homely and nurturing environment for children and young people. Furthermore, the registered manager has very good relationships with children and the staff, who speak highly of him. This is evident from observations of interactions with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staffing at the home has seen some changes since the last full inspection. Ten staff have joined the home and eight staff have left, including three of the new starters. This limits the staff’s s ability to provide children with consistent care and the opportunity to develop close and trusting relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The number of qualified staff in the home is currently nine. As there are 16 staff employed in the home, this represents just over half who have a suitable qualification to work with children and young people in residential care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report high levels of satisfaction with the support, supervision and training that they receive. A supervision tracker is in place to ensure that supervision takes place, yet Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 6 staff report being able to access support from the managers at any time. Managers are directly involved in the day-to-day care of children and young people and have a very good knowledge of all the issues affecting them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has good monitoring systems in place, and the manager and his deputy are keen to audit all files and ensure that monitoring activity is robust.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are responsive to the needs of young people and children transitioning into or out of the home. They are fully aware of the need to carefully match any new admission to the children already settled and making progress in order to minimise any disruption that this may cause them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home evidences strong partnership working in all areas of children’s and young people’s lives, having positive and proactive working relationships with a range of agencies and families. Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 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 difference 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: SC475697 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth LA6 2PR

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Children’s home details

Inspector: Elaine Clare, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC475697 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Children’s home details

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Children’s home details

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Children’s home details

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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