Children's Home run by Portsmouth City Council in Portsmouth

Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 1 Registered provider: Portsmouth City 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

This home is run by a local authority and provides accommodation for up to three children aged eight to 14. The statement of purpose does not provide a category of registration. It states that the aim of the home is to offer stable and consistent care and a nurturing approach so children can develop their self-esteem, confidence and trust in adults.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 December 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 6 September 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/09/2018 Full Good 15/08/2017 Full Good 08/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 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 and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)) 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(c)(i)) 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that 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

the name of the child; details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 28/02/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 4 the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 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. (Regulation 35 (2)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii))

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iv)(v)(vi)) 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well- being. (Regulation 10 (1)(b)) 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider is an organisation, the organisation must ensure that the responsible individual undertakes such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the responsible individual has the skills needed for supervising the management of the home. (Regulation 29 (2)) 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them; engage with them; and 28/02/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 5 take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to—

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Requirement Due date

a person who works at the home; a child, or a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered; a parent of a child, or a parent of a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered; a child’s placing authority; and in the case of a qualifying school, the Secretary of State.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(3)(a)(b)) 28/02/2020

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improvement to be good

Although staff make timely referrals to health professionals, such as child adolescent and mental health services, they have not considered how to access alternative services when there have been delays. This has meant that some children have not had the therapy they need for many months.

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improvement to be good

The complaints procedure is clumsy. Different documents show slightly different procedures and confuse the process. Consequently, children experience a delay in communicating their concerns and important people, such as their key worker, are Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 6 unaware of their complaint. The audit trail is poor, and inspectors were unable to determine the date, content and outcome of two complaints made by children about bullying.

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improvement to be good

Children are making reasonable progress. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff. As they develop trust, they are able to rebuild other relationships such as with their birth parents. In one case, a child now has overnight stays with their parent, and in another case, a child has returned to their birth family. Staff demonstrate an understanding of the broader picture for each child. For example, a staff member helped a parent to make a successful appeal for a welfare benefit. This meant there was less financial stress on the family.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand children’s previous trauma and have strategies in place to help them to overcome it. One example is that they take a child on farm walks to help this child to understand how to be kind to animals.

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improvement to be good

Children improve their school attendance, some from a starting point of refusing education. Recently, all of the children started attending school full time. This is a significant achievement.

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improvement to be good

Staff work with other professionals such as a dietician. They implement the agreed strategies to help the children work towards their ideal weight. Some children are very motivated to pursue a healthy diet and activities such as running.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy healthy activities such as circuit training, swimming and reading books in bed. Staff support them to pursue their other interests, for example by arranging unicycle classes and ice hockey games. Staff demonstrate a commitment to help the children to have a positive experience. For example, staff completed a ‘Santa run’ for the children in their own time.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager did not manage a safeguarding incident in accordance with due process. She did not keep an accurate audit trail of how concerns came to light nor her rationale for subsequent decisions. This included not taking the advice of other safeguarding professionals. When other staff recognised the risk, they did take appropriate action to safeguard the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff use physical intervention as a last resort. They document incidents well and in accordance with the regulations. They ensure that children have the opportunity for a debrief, which was a requirement at the last inspection. In one case, however, the registered manager was involved in an incident and did not record it.

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improvement to be good

Some children have been bullied by other children. In response to such incidents, the staff follow the control measures in the written risk assessment. Although staff support the victim, there are no guidelines in this risk assessment as to the child’s vulnerability or Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 7 how this experience might affect a child emotionally. Consequently, the support provided to the children does not fully consider the range and scope of how they may be affected.

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improvement to be good

Children develop a trust in the adults who care for them. Children can tell the staff about their worries. Staff are intuitive in interpreting the underlying message that children are trying to convey. In one case, staff explored the wider contextual safeguarding threats to the child in their care and other children in the community. They worked with other professionals, such as the police, to ensure that children did not come to harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Significant omissions and failings of the registered manager have not been identified or acted on by senior leaders. Consequently, leadership and management arrangements are weak and fail to ensure that sufficient safeguarding systems are in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Examples of poor leadership include the registered manager’s failure to accurately record her part in an incident with a child, and in another example, her decision not to follow the advice of other safeguarding professionals. This results in confusion and, in some cases, unnecessary anxiety for members of the staff team, including the deputy manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior managerial oversight has failed to identify and remedy shortfalls that demonstrate the failure to comply with the children’s homes regulations. The registered manager did not respond to Ofsted, following the five regulatory breaches identified at the previous inspection. Neither has she made progress in assessing whether the local authority violent incident records are fit for purpose. The registered manager has not reviewed the statement of purpose, nor provided a copy to Ofsted. The current statement of purpose contains contradictory information that is not congruent with other policies and procedures, and the children’s guide does not have the correct details for helplines for children. Such omissions demonstrate poor immediate managerial oversight, which is compounded by the failure of senior leadership to recognise shortfalls and intervene.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership failings are evident in staff morale. Staff members describe poor communication from the registered manager and they do not understand many of the decisions made. The team does not feel well supported, for example in the event of staff raising legitimate concerns about staffing levels.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although the frequency of their supervision meetings has increased, staff reported dissatisfaction with the content and process. Some staff members have refused to sign these documents as an accurate record of the meeting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although the registered manager has purchased wardrobes, as required at the last inspection, there is still a lack of investment in the premises. This is demonstrated by the following examples.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

 Damaged furniture, such as an armchair, that is no longer suitable for use has not been replaced. Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 8  Routine repairs, maintenance and decorating have not been carried out.  Insufficient consideration has been given to providing more storage.  The house car has not been replaced.  Computer availability is limited for staff to process important information about the children.  Communal areas lack a homely feel and children said they feel embarrassed by the condition of the house car.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have felt unable to revisit the concerns that they have raised with the senior leadership team and the issues have remained unresolved for a significant length of time. Despite the findings and recommendations of an independent investigation in July 2018, senior leaders have been slow to take decisive action.

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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: 1239948 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Portsmouth City Council Head of Children and Young People’s Services, Civic Offices, Portsmouth PO1 2EA

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Inspectors

Keith Riley, social care inspector (lead) Kelly Monniot, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1239948 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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