Children's home run by Ingleside Children’s Home Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 1 SC025799 Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home 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 home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children. The home’s statement of purpose states that it is a home for children with complex social, emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2017.

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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 children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At the last full inspection, the home was judged inadequate. Following that inspection, a compliance notice was issued to the home on 17 October 2019. The compliance notice set out that the home had to comply with Regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, by 30 November 2019. The home failed to comply with the compliance notice.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspectors conducted monitoring visits on 28 November and 4 December 2019. Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/10/2019 Full Inadequate 21/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/01/2018 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 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 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

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

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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; 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)(iii)(v)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that there is an up-to-date record of each child’s risks of harm and ensure that staff follow children’s care plans to help ensure that any risks to children are minimised. 30/04/2020

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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

promotes their welfare. 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care for each child;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of the children are best met; and feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) Fitness of workers

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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 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). 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 5 The requirements are that—

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(4)(a)(b)) Fire precautions

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 6 any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5)) Other records

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must keep a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and records of the actual rosters worked. The registered person must keep the register of children up to date. 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 7 are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must maintain an accurate record of all of the contact details of certain persons in relation to the child. Notification of a serious event

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Requirement Due date

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— is instigated; or

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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)(e)) 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 8 children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s developing health needs receive prompt medical professional consultation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders, managers and staff are unable to keep children safe. Staff fail to follow the home’s safeguarding procedures and do not follow plans to minimise risks to the children in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager has been absent from the home since December 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, leaders and managers have failed to prioritise the welfare of children. Leaders and managers’ planned actions to improve the quality of care provided to children has been ineffective. Children’s care and experiences remain poor and they are not making progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Episodes of children going missing from the home have increased. When children go missing from the home or are absent without permission, staff do not know where the children are. The interim manager appeared to dismiss the inspector’s concerns, describing a child who is frequently reported missing as a ‘smart person who is risk Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 9 aware’. This response suggests that staff working in the home do not take professional responsibility for the safety of the children in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home’s behaviour management plans are ineffective. Financial incentives and rewards to promote the children’s well-being and positive behaviours are unsuccessful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children do not meet their individual targets. These include maintaining their personal hygiene each day, eating a healthy diet, attending school on time and not leaving the home without permission.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not consistently record the progress that children may achieve in their semi- independence programme. Records showed that half of the children’s weekly targets, such as attending to personal care or not smoking in the bedroom, were left unreported. For this reason, staff do not know whether children are gaining sufficient independence skills or making progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff fail to ensure that children’s case records and other important documents are up to date and accurate. On one occasion, a child left the home to stay at their parent’s address. However, the home had no record of the parent’s address and, therefore, staff were unable to verify the child’s whereabouts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

On another occasion, the staff handover record noted that one child was settled in bed, while the home’s log book, for the same time period, noted that the child was missing from the home. These examples mean that staff do not know where children are, nor whether staff should be taking appropriate actions to safeguard the welfare of children in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home does not operate a system to monitor children’s progress. The inspector relied on staff reports of children improving their relationships with them and being better able to communicate their feelings. The inspector was unable to verify the progress children are making.

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

Children’s welfare is not sufficiently well safeguarded.

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

In one incident a child had spent time away from the home without permission and later returned to the home with a knife. In this worrying scenario staff failed to follow the home’s safeguarding policy and procedures. The knife was not removed from the child and the incident was not reported to the police or the home’s designated safeguarding lead. The child retained the knife overnight in the home. This placed the child, the other children and staff in the home potentially at risk of harm.

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

Staff fail to follow the strategies set out in the children’s care plans that are designed to mitigate the risks posed to them. This increases the risks to children. For example, one child was not supervised in the community, which was contrary to the child’s care plan. Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 10 The child also stayed overnight at unknown addresses. On one occasion, the same child returned home under the influence of alcohol and unknown substances.

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

Staff do not update risk assessments or complete new risk assessments to address any emerging risks. One member of staff said, ‘I don’t read risk assessments.’ This leaves children vulnerable as staff are unclear of the risks to children or the strategies to minimise those risks.

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

Children use electronic cigarettes and smoke tobacco and cannabis in their bedrooms. Staff interventions are ineffective. Children refuse to hand over their e-cigarettes or engage in key-work sessions to discuss their cannabis use in the home, and whether they will desist from its use.

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

Staff do not prioritise children’s health and well-being. A child failed to attend health appointments to address a specific health need that they had. Despite the appointment being important, the home’s appointments diary did not contain any future health appointments for the child. Furthermore, there was no evidence that staff planned to actively encourage or support the child to attend a local health drop-in centre.

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

There are insufficient staffing levels to meet the needs of the children. For example, staff members are working alone in the daytime and overnight. For this reason, staff have limited capacity to respond to children’s changing needs or safely manage any developing risks.

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

Leaders and managers do not ensure that all staff working in the home have the experience and qualifications to meet the needs of each child. Staff work in the home without a suitable residential children’s home qualification. This means that some staff do not have the necessary residential skills and knowledge to support the children in the home appropriately.

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

Leaders and managers fail to apply rigorous vetting procedures when recruiting staff to work in the home. This shortfall means that children are at risk from potentially unsuitable staff members working in the home.

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

The home environment is not maintained to a safe standard. The London fire brigade inspected the home and reported that certain fire safety conditions had been contravened. The home’s ‘handy man’ told the inspector that all the report’s requirements have been actioned. However, leaders and managers have not provided professional evidence that the home meets fire safety standards.

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

Serious incidents involving children in the home are not consistently notified to Ofsted. Staff’s failure to inform Ofsted of serious incidents that take place in the home removes an important measure of regulatory oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 11 Following the home’s previous inadequate judgement, leaders and managers designed an action plan to address all of the identified concerns to improve the service. However, leaders and managers have failed to implement the action plan and the service remains inadequate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers’ monitoring and review systems are weak. For example, the home’s quality of care review does not contain any feedback or opinions from children, staff, parents or professionals. In addition, the review does not contain any evaluation or analysis of the care that is provided to the children. This limits leaders and manager’s ability to identify the steps necessary to improve the quality of care in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that staff can meet the needs of children. The home’s statement of purpose sets out the range of children’s needs that can be accommodated by the home. This includes children with a diagnosis of oppositional defiance disorder. However, staff have not undertaken training to meet this specific need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s training schedule identifies that one member of staff has not undertaken any of the home’s training programme including safeguarding children or first aid. This lack of training means that not all staff have the sufficient skills to care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has been absent from the home since December 2019. An interim manager and interim deputy manager have been appointed. They are responsible for the management and day-to-day running of the home. The interim manager is a nominated safeguarding lead for the home. However, there is no record that he has undertaken training in this pivotal child protection role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

As part of the home’s improvement plan, the interim manager has recently updated the home’s statement of purpose, the home’s safeguarding policy, the home’s missing-from-care policy and the home’s location risk assessment. He has recently introduced weekly staff team meetings and has embarked on a programme of providing regular staff supervision. Despite these recent positive changes, outcomes for children have not improved.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 12 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: SC025799 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2LD

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Inspector

Victoria Jones, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025799 14 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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