Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Today Children‟s Services

Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 1 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is run by a private organisation, and it offers care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in March 2019, and the manager is suitably qualified.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 2

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

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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–

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, monitoring should ensure that all records are fully completed and signed, and that managers’ reviews of incidents and sanctions are clear. 02/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37(2)(a) (Schedule 4(2), (3)) 02/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, the registered manager should include details of the experiences of staff, the timescales for the completion of core training and the timescales for supervision. Complete training records should also be kept for all staff.  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards page 58, paragraph 11.19) In particular, children should be encouraged to sign and comment on key-working records, incidents and sanctions. Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good educational progress. One child is now planning to attend college and is considering potential job prospects. Staff support children to achieve in their learning so that they understand that it is valuable for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff invest in giving good experiences to children, who have access to many activities. Staff recently took children on a successful holiday. Children will remember these positive experiences throughout their lives and the investment that the staff made in them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff manage and plan children’s transitions in and out of the home well, even if these are at short notice. This helps children to feel well supported to make the best of starts into the home or into their next placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children know how to raise a complaint and that they can expect to be listened to. This helps children to know that they are taken seriously by the adults who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have their health needs met. They take children to medical appointments and they implement any advice by medical professionals. Staff safely manage the administration of medication in the home. This means that children get the support that they need to grow up healthily.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to take controlled risks to help them to develop. Clear plans to increase independence help children to take increased responsibility for themselves, which is an essential life-skill. Children are proud of the progress that they make with their independence, which helps them develop self-esteem.

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

Staff have a good understanding of risks to children and supervise them appropriately. However, staff do not include all these risks and measures of control in children’s risk assessments. This shortfall means that, while staff have a good working knowledge of children and their support needs, they do not always have access to current information to ensure that they can keep children safe.

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

Staff proactively look for children who go missing from the home. When children return, they welcome them back with nurture and compassion. This helps children to feel safe in the home and understand that the staff care for them.

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

Staff work hard to develop good relationships with children and put clear boundaries in place. Staff use these relationships to challenge any poor behaviour or language used by children. One child said that staff ‘help you get it right’ and that the consequences that have been imposed on them for poor behaviour have helped them to learn. Children Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 5 begin to understand why certain language and behaviour are not acceptable, and develop different ways of behaving.

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

Staff make every effort to provide a warm, welcoming and stimulating home for children to live in. The home is well decorated and there are photos of children showing the activities that they have been part of. This means that the children live in a home that helps them to see their achievements and the good times that they have had. Staff ensure that children live in a safe environment. When staff realised that there were concerns with fire safety in relation to the fire doors, the managers and staff acted quickly and decisively.

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

The registered manager ensures that staff recruitment processes are robust. This helps to protect children from exposure to unsafe adults .

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

Managers have monitoring systems in place. However, the registered manager does not consistently use these, which has led to shortfalls in practice. For example, staff training records are unclear and the workforce plan does not detail the experiences of staff. This lack of management scrutiny means that the oversight is limited.

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

The registered manager does not consistently review incident records. This represents a missed opportunity for review and feedback to staff to develop practice. Children do not routinely sign these records or comment on them. As a result, children’s views about incidents are not known.

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

Staff understand that positive reinforcement is an effective approach to help children to change their behaviour, and they use this well. However, staff’s recording of rewards and sanctions lacks clarity and is spread across several different records. The registered manager’s review of rewards and sanctions is inconsistent, and she has not picked up recording errors. However, she has changed one sanction and helped staff to understand why it was inappropriate. This developmental approach helps staff to develop their practice, so this lack of oversight is a missed opportunity.

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

Staff receive regular supervision, which gives them the opportunity to explore practice and to develop.

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

Managers positively engage with children’s networks. External professionals hold the manager and staff in high regard. Where children are not attending school, managers challenge their networks to make sure that children have what they need. This means that children have educational opportunities, and this helps to safeguard their future.

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

Staff organise weekly house meetings at which children can raise any concerns and contribute to planning the week ahead. Staff give children every opportunity to be part of the home and its day-to-day running. This helps children to invest in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 6

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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: 2507391 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Karol Keenan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2507391 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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