Children's home run by Living Life (UK) Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 1 SC481844 Registered provider: Living Life (UK) 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

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for up to five children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is newly registered with Ofsted and is qualified and experienced.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2018 Full Outstanding 13/06/2017 Full Outstanding 08/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

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

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(c)(2)(a)(iii)) 02/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access 02/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 4 educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iv)(v)(viii))

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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—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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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

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iv)) 02/03/2020

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The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 01/06/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or 02/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 5 if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

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sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)) 02/03/2020

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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 5 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 02/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 6

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improvement to be good

Children at the home are not making good progress in all areas of their lives. Non- attendance and poor engagement at school are having an impact on their educational progress. When children are excluded from school or attend school part-time, they are not supported to engage in education-based activity during what would be the school day. This impairs their educational progress.

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improvement to be good

The manager has identified that not all school placements are meeting the children’s needs. Staff have advocated for suitable and appropriate school placements where the children’s needs could be met more effectively. This has the potential for increased attendance and engagement from the children.

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improvement to be good

The voice of the child is not always evident in the home. Children do not contribute to their placement plans, risk assessments or behaviour support plans. The targets set in these plans are not consistently discussed with the children. This means that children do not have the opportunity to add their views to their plans or know whether they are achieving their targets.

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improvement to be good

Children said that they are not always listened to and that they did not always understand decisions made in the home about their care and changes to rules. Weekly get-togethers have limited topics and not all children participate in these regularly.

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improvement to be good

Not all children are developing socially and emotionally in the home. Some children are being supported to develop their independence outside of the home. At times this has led to socially unacceptable behaviour and police involvement. Staff do not always actively challenge children when they do not adhere to the boundaries and rules in the home. This means that the care provided can be inconsistent at times.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage children’s time with their family very positively and this is very well supported by staff. This is an area where progress has been made, with some children having overnight stays and extended visits with their family. The registered manager has been proactive in advocating for additional family time. Parents have good relationships with staff at the home and feel supported by them. This helps to rebuild and strengthen relationships between children and their families.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy positive relationships with the adults supporting them. Staff know the children well and invest time in them. The registered manager is a strong advocate for the children and professionals were positive about the support and communication they receive from staff at the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 7

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improvement to be good

Overall, incidents at the home have started to reduce. The use of physical intervention in the home has also reduced. When physical intervention is used, it has been appropriate and used to minimise the risk of harm to the child and others. Staff and children do not always have a debriefing following incidents. This means that children sometimes do not have the opportunity to discuss their thoughts and feelings and give their views.

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improvement to be good

There has been a bullying concern in the home between two children. The concern related to a child being encouraged to engage in negative behaviour, including swearing and sexualised language. This concern was recorded on the risk assessment and behaviour support plans, but these plans do not say how this risk should be managed. There is no record of what actions have been taken and how the children are being supported to manage this situation.

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improvement to be good

Some of the risk assessments and protocols for children are confusing and contradictory. They do not always contain all known risks and they are not consistently updated with the most current information. Where children are not complying with protocols and risk assessments, these have not been updated to reflect how these additional risks will be managed. For example, one child has unrestricted access to the internet and a mobile phone as they do not adhere to the protocol in place. The risk assessments do not identify how these risks can be safely managed in the home.

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improvement to be good

Child protection concerns are not always reported and recorded in a timely manner or in line with protocols. Incident reports are not always received from school, which means that the manager does not always have a clear understanding of what has happened during an incident. The manager has not yet received an outcome from the safeguarding officer regarding an incident and has not pursued this robustly.

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improvement to be good

On another occasion, a child made an allegation of harm against a staff member. This was investigated within the home and a resolution meeting was held with the staff member and child before the social worker had spoken to the child. This meant that the child did not have an opportunity to speak to someone independent of the home before a conclusion was reached.

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improvement to be good

The physical environment for children is safe and secure, and is warm and homely. Children and staff engage in regular fire evacuation drills. Children have trusting relationships with the adults in the home and children could identify an adult they would talk to if they had any concerns. Communication is good in the home and relevant information is shared with schools, parents and other professionals.

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

The home is going through a period of transition, with a newly registered manager in post. There have been some staffing changes and the manager is now rebuilding the team. Staff are well supported by the manager and receive regular supervision and Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 8 mentoring. The clinical psychologist employed by the home meets regularly with the manager and the team to discuss issues and concerns. Staff morale in the home is high.

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

The manager uses monitoring tools effectively and there is a clear development plan in place for the home. This could be further improved with clearer oversight of key documents in the home, such as risk assessments, incident reports and behaviour support plans. The work carried out with children in the home is not always well recorded. This means that it can be difficult to evidence progress and capture the child’s voice.

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

High aspirations for children are not always evident. Children excluded from school or refusing education do not always participate in educational activities and informal learning in the home. Where children are not behaving in line with protocols and risk assessments, these are not being updated and amended in consultation with the child. Negative behaviour in the home is not always actively challenged by staff. This means that children are not given a clear message about expectations of behaviour, or their progress and how staff can support these.

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

Recruitment processes are not robust. For one staff member, a reference from a previous employer was not verified effectively. For another staff member, several gaps in employment were not discussed. This means that there is the potential for unsuitable staff to be employed at the home, which would put children at risk of harm.

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

The training package at the home is good. Staff receive a wide range of training to develop their skills and knowledge. Additional training has been sourced to support staff working with complex needs, such as self-harm. Not all staff fully understand the model of care used in the home. This model is not yet fully embedded in practice.

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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: SC481844 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Living Life (UK) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 60 Overstone Road, Sywell, Northampton NN6 0AW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Lorraine Andrews

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Inspector

Sarah Orriss, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC481844 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 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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