Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 1 SC473877 Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner 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 accommodate two children. It is one of four homes operated by a privately owned organisation. The home shares a manager with a similar-sized home, which is situated nearby. The company also owns a separately registered school, which children living in the homes may attend.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 21 March 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 good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A notice of restriction of accommodation was served on 16 September 2019. This is due to lapse on 8 December 2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2019 Full Inadequate 23/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/11/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard requires the registered person to understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, devise effective mechanisms for capturing progress for children against their agreed placement aims and objectives. 31/01/2020

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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 children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard 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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, meet the organisation’s own targets for regular internal monitoring by the registered manager. 31/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, devise clear mechanisms for tracking supervision of staff to ensure that the organisation’s own targets for 31/01/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 4 supervision are met.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months. (Regulation 45 (1) 31/01/2020

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Recommendations

 To meet the aspirations embodied in the Quality Standards, children’s homes need to connect with and be part of the wider support system for each child in their care. No children’s home will be able to meet, on its own, all of a child’s needs. It is crucial that the home works in close partnership with all those who play a role in protecting and caring for the child, but particularly the child’s local authority and statutory social worker. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.3)  The children’s home must produce a children’s guide. The children’s guide must be made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed (or on arrival at the home if the placement is made in an emergency) and must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The capacity and competence of staff to build constructive, warm relationships with children that actively promote positive behaviour, provides the foundations for managing any negative behaviour. Staff should have the skills to respond to each child’s individual behaviour. Where necessary they should manage conflict, maintain constructive dialogues and react appropriately if challenged by a child in their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.14)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have made a range of improvements to the quality of care in the home. They have improved their understanding of the impact of previous childhood experiences. This has given staff are deeper insight into the child’s behaviours and needs. Staff have improved relationships with the child, and this in turn helps him to better manage his emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The single child who is currently in placement spoke positively about recent Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 5 improvements in the quality of care he receives. He reported that his relationships with staff are much better. His interactions with staff are warm and full of humour. He is also happy with the overall quality of care and support provided by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

He spoke confidently about areas in his life in which he feels he is making progress. Staff have set positive goals for the child in placement and in some cases can evidence good progress against these. However, staff do not have effective mechanisms in place to show how they are meeting all the objectives laid out in the child’s placement plan. This was reflected in a conversation with the child’s social worker, who found it difficult to see evidence for the progress the child is making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have supported him effectively with his current health concerns. They work well with health professionals to ensure that he receives the appropriate care and support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child feels that he has a voice in the day-to-day running of the service. He spoke positively about his participation in choosing menus and activities. He also feels that there are still improvements to be made in the quality and reliability of staff communication. For example, he said that unless he speaks to the registered manager directly he is not certain that his views or requests will be passed on. He also feels that response times to his requests can be slow.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has clear goals and aspirations and he is able to think more positively about his future career prospects. Staff have supported him to engage in activities that will help him achieve his ambitions. He currently accesses the local cadets, which are supporting him to work on his personal health and fitness targets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The current child is in the process of making a move to semi-independence. Staff can demonstrate evidence of some independence preparation work in relation to self-care and contributing to chores However, staff recognise that more needs to be done in relation to allowing him to take reasonable risks in order to become more confident when out in the community.

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

The child in placement said that he feels safe at the home. Staff complete clear risk assessments, which contain individualised strategies to support them to keep him safe. The organisation has also invested in more face-to-face training for staff on safeguarding.

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

Staff are confident when talking about risks and risk management strategies relating to the child in their care. They understand his needs, and more consistent staffing arrangements mean that there is capacity for staff to spend more time with him. As a result, staff are able to identify areas where the child has made progress in keeping himself safe. For example, the child has made some positive progress in reducing incidents of aggression. He is also keeping himself safe during periods of free time away from the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 6 Staff have managed to reduce incidents of absence from the home to zero in recent months. There have also been no safeguarding concerns.

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

Staff demonstrate good knowledge about safeguarding procedures in the home. They understand what action to take in response to concerns and know how to work in partnership with external agencies to ensure the safety and well-being of children in their care.

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

Employment practice lacks rigour. In one case, a member of staff had two nominated referees, but they were both from the same employer. In another, a member of staff had gaps in their employment which had not been sufficiently explored by the organisation at recruitment stage. Generally, safer recruitment practice is effective. Omissions are minor and have no impact on children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There are no effective mechanisms in place for tracking and recording the frequency and regularity of supervisions. When staff raise concerns about gaps in supervision, it is very difficult for the organisation to clearly demonstrate how they have met the supervision targets laid out in their own supervision policy. Low retention rates of registered managers are an issue for the organisation and have an impact on the consistency of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some incident reports still evidence a lack of staff skills in effective de-escalation. This is recognised by the organisation. Additional training is scheduled to support staff in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some records, particularly when staff members are lone working, raise doubts about their ability to dynamically risk assess developing incidents. In some incidents, behaviours have escalated significantly and lasted for several hours before staff call in additional support. This is incommensurate with their own on-call policy and procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

At this inspection, there were some apparent tensions between senior staff on site. This has an inevitable impact on the atmosphere at the home. The home provides support for trauma-experienced children, and it is therefore important that leaders and managers model good behaviour in relation to sustaining healthy relationships. Failure to do so runs the risk of having a negative impact on children’s emotional well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The organisation is not completing quality of care reviews at the frequency specified in the regulations. This has an impact on their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses and to create an effective plan for the development of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders have focused closely on requirements from previous inspections and have improved practice to address the shortfalls. There have been improvements in internal monitoring by the registered manager and responsible individual. Quality assurance checks are completed by both the manager and the responsible individual. This is helping to identify strengths and weaknesses at the home. However, not all the previous Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 7 requirements are met in full, as there is still some inconsistency in the frequency of scheduled manager’s quality assurance checks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The children’s guide to the home lacks clarity for children and is presented in an inaccessible format.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The child’s behaviour support plans lack evidence of effective consultation with the child to assess how he would best like to be supported.

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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: SC473877 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pilgrims Corner Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 5, The Links, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7GQ

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Shanelle Maxwell-Amayigha

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Inspector

Peter Jackson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC473877 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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