Children's home run by Northumberland County Council in Northumberland

Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 1 SC468929 Registered provider: Northumberland County 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

The home is run by a local authority and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to four children and/orwho have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager was registered in July 2013 and is appropriately 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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: 29 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/01/2019 Full Good 10/01/2018 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— 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(2)(a)(i)) In particular, ensure that risk assessments contain all known and relevant information and strategies to mitigate against that risk. The standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(b)) In particular, ensure that adequate staffing ratios are in place to reduce the likelihood of any harm to children. 01/03/2020

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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)) 01/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected; 01/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 4 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises— is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) The registered person must ensure that the following items, which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner— the statement of purpose; the children’s guide; placement plans for children who are not looked after (see regulation 18); the policy for safeguarding children (see regulation 34);

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Requirement Due date

the policy for preventing bullying (see regulation 34); the missing child policy (see regulation 34); the behaviour management policy (see regulation 35); records of the use of measures of control, discipline or restraint (see regulation 35); children’s case records (see regulation 36); other records (see regulation 37); the procedure for considering complaints (see regulation 39); records of complaints (see regulation 39); the independent person’s reports (see regulation 44); quality of care reviews (see regulation 45); annual reviews of the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the home’s premises (see regulation 46). (Regulation 38) 01/03/2020

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Recommendations

 Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in Regulation 40(4)(a)–(d) Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 5 occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in the home on a long-term basis. There have been no transitions to or from the home since the last inspection. The home is bright, cheerful and very well presented. Any damage is quickly repaired to maintain the quality of the home, which gives the messagethat young people are valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people invite their friends to their home and enjoy activities with them, such as sharing meals they have prepared themselves, which shows that young people are proud of where they live. Young people also take part in trips and holidays with staff that are carefully planned to consider the group dynamics and their individual preferences. Because of these experiences young people are developing social skills, which for some is significant progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An educational psychologist makes regular visits to the home and provides individualised support. Staff use this resource to help them understand the issues that young people face. This understanding enables them to liaise with providers of education in order to advocate for young people so that problems are resolved.. As a result, young people are provided with educational placements that are specifically tailored to meet their needs and they continue to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people often attend meetings regarding the care that they receive, and their views are gathered regularly in a variety of ways. This participation enables young people to contribute to the decisions made about their lives, which gives them an element of control and shows them that their views are valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have individualised reward schemes in place to promote positive behaviour. These reward schemes show that staff know them well and take an interest in them. Young people have their successes celebrated, which gives them a sense of achievement.

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improvement to be good

Young people who face issues such as substance misuse or an addiction to smoking are helped to access specialist support. Some young people have been able to reduce or eradicate such issues, which demonstrates that they are helped to make positive changes to their lives, Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 6 Young people are helped to understand that there are consequences for their actions through a creative method of sanction. Young people complete helpful tasks in and around the home in place of a financial penalty. This gives young people the opportunity to make amends in a positive way, which helps promote their self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

There have been a high number of incidents in which young people have gone missing. The manager and her team work hard to determine the underlying issues and use a multi-agency approach, so that they can understand how to help young people. This has resulted in prolonged periods during which young people have not gone missing. There was one occasion when staff were not immediately aware that a young person had left the premises. The young person did not suffer harm, but staffing needs to be at a level which ensures that young people are supervised appropriately.

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improvement to be good

There are multiple risk assessments in place for each young person. Some are thorough and regularly updated, but not all reflect the current risks or the strategies for mitigating against risks. This means that staff are being provided with contradictory guidance, which makes it difficult for them to understand young people’s risks or the actions to follow to reduce risks.

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improvement to be good

Young people benefit from clear, consistent boundaries, and understand that rules are in place to keep them safe. A measure that has been intermittently imposed to prevent concerning behaviour is the locking of a communal area to prevent it from being accessed. This measure limits access to this area for all young people, not just those it is intended to safeguard.

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improvement to be good

Young people have regular one-to-one key-work sessions with staff that cover topics such as online safety and the effects of antisocial behaviour. Some records capture detailed and focused work, and it is clear to see the targets that have been set and when they have been met; others read as generic and do not reflect the individual’s current situation, limiting how useful they are to young people.

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

The manager is suitably qualified and highly experienced. There is a low turnover of staff. This means that young people grow up in the care of people who are familiar to them, which helps them to feel secure.

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

The manager keeps her team up to date with mandatory training, and arranges a broad range of additional training opportunities so that her staff can become increasingly skilled in their practice. Young people are looked after by carers who are committed to them and competent to meet their needs.

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

The manager and her team respond swiftly to safeguarding concerns, and put immediate and effective measures in place to protect young people. They work with safeguarding agencies efficiently and clearly record information in relation to these incidents. One Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 7 serious concern was not notified to Ofsted, as is required so that the regulator can be sure that all of the necessary action is taken to protect young people.

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

There is a new system in place for the storage of policies and procedures, but the manager is not fully conversant with this system. If the location of key policies is not known, it prevents them from being a source of guidance should the need arise.

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

The manager has auditing processes for reviewing records and documents. However, these do not identify inconsistencies in risk assessments or shortfalls in the quality of young people’s case records. This means that a system designed to quality assure the care that young people receive is not fully effective.

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

The manager is supported by a skilled and experienced assistant manager. They both provide staff with regular and thorough supervision that staff say is a valued resource. Team meetings are also held regularly. Both processes are used to reflect upon practice, challenge where weakness is identified and acknowledge strengths.

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

Managers accepted the issues raised during this inspection, and showed that they are committed to addressing the areas that require improvement. Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 8

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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: SC468929 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northumberland County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 2EF

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Inspector

Paula Kelly: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 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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