Children's home run by Leeds City Council in Leeds

Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 1 SC033389 Registered provider: Leeds 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 operated by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for up to five children or young people aged between 11 and 18 years old. The home aims to provide a caring and safe environment in which all the children and young people can grow. The manager was registered in September 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 17 January 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/09/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 27/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 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 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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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

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)(b) and (2)(f)) 14/02/2020

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; 14/02/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 4 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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi) and (vii)) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii) and (e)) 14/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that staff are trained to manage the young person’s behaviour safely and consistently. The staff must be able to address the young person’s specific issues, such as substance misuse. 14/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is currently one young person living at the home. The young person is experiencing a lack of support from professionals to help him manage family relationships positively. The young person’s emotional well-being and progress are being negatively affected because the young person is taking on the adult role of caring for his sister.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person uses an illegal substance which is detrimental to his physical and emotional well-being. The staff’s efforts to engage the young person with a specialist substance misuse service and discourage the young person from using the illegal substance are having little effect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person has begun to access a few hours of education in the home through a personal tutor. The young person’s engagement is not yet stable enough to demonstrate educational progress. The young person does not always experience a positive daily routine. The staff’s efforts to engage the young person in constructive activity are not always successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff are making efforts to get to know the young person’s likes and dislikes. This is helping the young person to start to build relationships with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person’s social confidence is slowly improving. He has taken steps to start to access new environments. The young person has been out with staff on a number of occasions. Trips have included going out for a meal and going aeroplane viewing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person is developing skills which will help him to be independent in later life. The skills he is learning include cooking, cleaning and doing his laundry.

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

The young person is at risk of harm when the staff do not respond to immediate risk. The young person regularly leaves the home to buy and use an illegal substance. On some occasions, the young person has sold his belongings, such as clothes, mobile phone or electrical items from the house, such as televisions, a speaker and the games console, to get money or swap items for illegal substances.

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

At the time of the inspection, the young person’s sister had come to stay at the home without appropriate authorisation, planning or any assessment of risk. The two young people have known risks which have a negative effect on each other. No plans are in place to manage the young people’s relationship or the current situation safely. Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 6 The young person’s risk management and behaviour plans do not contain all the young person’s known risks and behaviours. The lack of information leaves the staff without clear identification of risk and with blurred boundaries. The young person’s risk management plans do not always help staff identify the level of risk because the dates showing when risks last occurred are not routinely recorded. The young person’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans do not effectively reflect the multi-agency involvement to support the management of high risks and behaviours.

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

The young person’s risk management plans do not make it clear what the staff need to do to make sure that the young person is safe. Consequently, when the young person leaves the home to buy substances or goes missing from home, the staff’s actions to keep the young person safe are inconsistent and, on some occasions, he is left at risk of harm.

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

Work by specialist professionals has commenced to try and educate the young person about the risks of crime and substance misuse. The specialist work is new and is not yet having a positive effect on the reduction of risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders of the home have delayed putting support plans in place to help the young person manage a family crisis. As a result, a second young person came to the home and did not leave. There was no formal admission and no planning for this young person. The young person slept on the sofa in the home for six nights and was living in the lounge. This was a poor experience for both young people which had a negative effect on their emotional well-being, experiences and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s monitoring systems are not effective. Consequently, there is no learning from deficiencies in the care practice because the managers do not quickly identify problems and reflect on them. The poor management review of care planning and risk assessments leaves staff without clear direction and results in inconsistent and at times unsafe care practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Incidents that require notification are not notified in accordance with regulations. This hinders the regulatory body in monitoring safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The managers regularly meet with other professionals to discuss the young person’s needs. The outcome of these meetings is not consistent for the young person and has recently resulted in a delay in plans being put into action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff team feels well supported by the registered manager and the deputy manager. The staff have regular supervision. One member of staff said: ‘I can talk to the managers about any issues at any time.’

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 7 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: SC033389 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : Leeds City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Merion House, 7th Floor West, Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8TU

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033389 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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