Children's home run by Acorn Homes (UK) Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 1 Registered provider: Acorn Homes (UK) Ltd

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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 is a privately owned children’s home that provides care and accommodation for up to five children. The statement of purpose says that children accommodated may have challenging behaviour and difficulties forming and sustaining relationships.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since July 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 November 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: 24 October 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: The home was made subject to a restriction of accommodation notice on 21 November 2019. This followed a notification informing Ofsted of the unexpected departure of the manager and a number of staff. Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 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 care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that their pre- placement assessment of a child’s needs contains a review of how the proposed child’s needs are compatible with other children already living at the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should also ensure that any issue identified in a child’s referral information is clearly investigated prior to a decision being made that they can come to live at this home. 14/01/20

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure risk assessments contain appropriate strategies for staff to follow in relation to any particular risk that is identified. 14/01/20 Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 4 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— (e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1)(a)(b)(2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the home’s child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures remain compatible with any updates to those of the local authority in which the home is situated. 14/01/20

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out— how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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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— a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(3)(a)(iv)) 14/01/20

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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— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d)(e)(h)) 14/01/20 Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 5 The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(f)) 14/01/20

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 14/01/20

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)) 14/01/20

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Recommendations

 Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child’s day to day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3) In particular, the registered person should ensure that there is a review of the availability of and quality of the outside space allocated for children’s use.  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for

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Recommendations

maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 6 In particular, the registered person should review the Ofsted inspection reports for any relevant service which an applicant has recently worked for. The registered person should use this information to consider whether there are any issues which need to be explored further as part of the recruitment process.

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improvement to be good

Children’s progress and experiences have been impeded by ongoing staff shortages and in November 2019 the whole staff team, including the manager, left the organisation’s employment. As a result, on 21 November 2019 Ofsted served a restriction notice preventing any new children from being admitted to the home. At the time of inspection, the organisation was complying with the restriction notice and working towards having a permanent team of staff working at the home who are familiar with children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

The interim manager has quickly identified children’s emotional and mental health needs and is taking prompt action to ensure that they are met. Her approach has reassured children, their families and professionals that there is an effective focus on children’s needs. This is providing some stability for children and helping them through a difficult and unsettling situation.

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improvement to be good

Assessments about the potential effects of a new child coming to live at the home are completed. The records of one assessment lacked detail in relation to the child’s compatibility with other children already living in the home. In addition, the information in the local authority’s referral form had not been carefully checked. Only recently, when the child told the interim manager about a significant safeguarding concern from their past, did the child’s care plan get changed to identify the support necessary to promote her safety and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Several children have moved in and out of the home over the last year, with some placements lasting for only a few months. While some children had been placed for short-term placements, others had not. Leaders and managers could not demonstrate that they had effectively analysed the data about unplanned placement moves to reassure themselves that stability of children’s placements is being promoted.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection, staff were seen to be attentive to children’s needs and to utilise a range of skills to keep children occupied and motivated throughout the day. Monthly summaries about how well children are achieving are useful documents which broadly outline children’s progress and describe how the staff have supported them.

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improvement to be good

Children’s views are now more evident in the decisions being made about their care and support. The staff consider children’s interests and tailor activities appropriately. Children are encouraged to support and care for each other, for example by helping to prepare a Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 7 birthday tea and making a big effort to make sure that this was a special day for their friend.

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improvement to be good

Two of the three children have been out of education for at least four months. Staff have very recently provided greater structure to children’s daily routines and made sure that education work is included. The interim manager has recently taken steps to help children access appropriate education placements. However, she acknowledges that this should have been done sooner.

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improvement to be good

The premises are being refreshed in all areas, with some doors being replaced and decoration improved. The external areas of the home are very small and the way these are configured does not support children to use this space or their need to be physically active.

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improvement to be good

Staff seen were able to identify safeguarding issues and say how they would follow relevant processes if they have a safeguarding concern. However, records of past safeguarding concerns contain gaps which had not been identified by the organisation’s monitoring processes. For example, previous managers pursued safeguarding agencies for responses to a referral over several months. When no response was received, managers did not escalate concerns to alert senior managers. The deficits noted at this inspection had not been identified by leaders and managers or the home’s independent visitor.

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improvement to be good

The relevant local and organisational safeguarding guidance and procedures for managing safeguarding referrals were not on-site at the beginning of the inspection. However, these were obtained before the inspection ended. The interim manager did not know whether the home’s procedures had been reviewed against any changes that the host local authority had made.

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improvement to be good

Care planning records are poor. Their focus is on children’s negative behaviours. Plans do not highlight children’s strengths and abilities or a child’s view of how they wish to be cared for. The plans do not guide staff on how to reduce or prevent difficult behaviours from occurring. This detail is especially necessary at the moment, when a number of new staff, who do not know the children well, are caring for them.

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improvement to be good

Incident recording lacks rigour. Some sections of the incident forms are not completed. For instance, the manager’s evaluation section of the form and a child’s view of the incident are not completed. Records are not consistently and clearly dated and signed by their author. For example, one record of a restraint contained the length of time the child was held but did not detail the type of hold used.

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improvement to be good

The development of restorative approaches to promote positive behaviour has not improved in response to a recommendation at the last inspection. The interim manager Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 8 has challenged some sanctions which have been issued and is now seeking to improve practice but there is no evidence of sustained improvement.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment practice is suitable. Nevertheless, managers do not check the Ofsted inspection judgement of a setting that an applicant has worked in previously. This is a missed opportunity to take this information into consideration in the interview and discussions that they have with an applicant.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the time of inspection, the application for the manager to be registered had been withdrawn following her leaving the post. The responsible individual was in day-to-day charge of the home and she is referred to as the interim manager in this report.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that they have effectively monitored the quality of care practice in order to inform service development. They have not identified or responded to a growing number of indications that staff are struggling to meet children’s needs. Leaders and managers did not notice that a notification about a safeguarding concern was not referred to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior managers, and the monthly visitor, did not identify or act on information in children’s records that indicated that staff lack an awareness of how children’s past experiences may affect their current behaviours. Subsequently, they did not identify that some staff responses to children’s behaviours potentially exacerbated situations. Staff recording does not demonstrate that they consistently reflect on whether their care and support are making a difference to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Retaining enough staff to work here has been a long-term problem which leaders and managers know is affected by the home’s location. The organisation has put in place several changes which have proved beneficial but, given the number of staff vacancies, this remains a long-term issue which affects the continuity of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The organisation intends to undertake a review to understand what led to the previous staff team leaving en masse, and to develop a plan to prevent this reoccurring, but this has not commenced. Leaders and managers have focused on developing security for children in the short-term and intend to commence the review in the new year.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 9 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: 1258199 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Acorn Homes (UK) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 424 Margate Road, Ramsgate CT12 6SJ

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Inspectors

Ruth Coler, social care inspector Chris Peel, social care inspector – for day one of the inspection only Inspection report children’s home: 1258199 11 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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