Children's home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 1 SC039414 Registered provider: Sheffield 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

A local authority operates this children’s home. The home provides care for up to four children or young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The children and young people live at the home for medium- to long-term care. There have been a number of manager and staff changes in the last 12 months.

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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: 23 January 2019

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2019 Full Outstanding 22/06/2017 Full Good 01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)) In particular, ensure that children have access to wi-fi for social activities and to support education. 28/02/2020

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; 13/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 4 maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training

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Requirement Due date

provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment; help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)) In particular, ensure that all children are attending school or

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Requirement Due date

education placements. 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 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 risk assessments and strategies for managing incidents of missing from home are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain effective. 28/02/2020

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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— the name of the child; details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; 21/02/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 5 details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and of any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person

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Requirement Due date

to do so (‘the authorised person’)— has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within five days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(b) and (c)) In particular, ensure that detailed records are kept of restraint and sanctions in line with the regulations. Ensure that records include consultation with the children, discussion with staff and demonstrate that the effectiveness has been fully reviewed. The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 14/02/2020

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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— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the homes statement of purpose; understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child 10/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 6 and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(a)(f)(h)) In particular, ensure that the staff team remains stable. Ensure

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Requirement Due date

that placements are well matched and prompt action is taken if children and young people’s needs cannot be met. Ensure that the quality of care is robustly monitored, that all records are maintained to a good standard and fully completed. Ensure that records are available for inspection.

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Recommendations

 Registered persons have a key role in seeking to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons which may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community, e.g. police, schools, health and youth offending teams. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3) In particular, continue to improve the quality of communication with parents.

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improvement to be good

The children have made variable progress since the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

There have been two major changes to the staff and management arrangements since the last inspection. This has had a negative impact on the children. Consequently, some children have displayed challenging behaviours that reflect their complex backgrounds and their current experience in the home. Although the staff have worked hard to provide consistent care and approaches, the reality of all these changes has prevented them being fully successful and they have affected the day-to-day experiences for children. In recent months, with the re-establishment of more consistent boundaries and building positive relationships, the children’s experiences have improved and they are becoming more settled. The staff constantly encourage the children to engage in education or training. Staff have been respectful to the children’s requests for a change in education placements. Some children have had good school attendance, while for others this has not been the

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improvement to be good

case. For several months, no children have attended education and the approaches used Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 7 to re-engage them have proved ineffective. More recently, a more stable environment has resulted in some children re-engaging back in their education placements. The staff recognise the importance of developing trusting relationships with the children. The effect of all the staff changes has delayed building positive relationships. Recently, the children are building positive relationships with the staff. The staff regularly offer their time and activities to the children to maintain or forge these essential trusting relationships. A mental health professional attends the monthly staff meetings to work alongside the staff. This helps by informing the children’s care plans and identifies areas of work and approaches that will best support the children. The children have an allocated mental

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improvement to be good

health worker. However, children’s engagement with the health worker is mixed. This reduces the overall progress of children’s emotional well-being and mental health. Some children positively engage in completing work to improve their life skills, whereas others need support and encouragement, for example in helping to cook, clean their bedrooms, doing the food shopping and washing their own clothes. All of the children can travel independently using public transport. However, for those children over 16 years old, individualised pathway plans have not been promptly devised by the local authority. This means that the children are not fully prepared for independence. The children and their families have received good support and positive transition planning. This has resulted in two children successfully returning home to their families. The home environment is suitable, with some areas personalised with homely touches.

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improvement to be good

When damage has been caused to the home, repairs have been promptly addressed. There has been great effort to provide a comfortable home for the children. It is positive to see that there are plans to continue further personalisation of the home and involve the children in making these choices. However, the children have been unable to access wi-fi in the home for social or educational activities for some time.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been a high number of serious incidents of challenging behaviour and violence in the home. However, these incidents are reducing. As a result of building sufficiently stronger relationships with children, the staff now understand and respond to the children’s triggers for negative behaviour. When situations cannot be de-escalated, and there is a risk to children or others coming to harm, the staff use physical intervention. The interventions are in line with regulations. However, the records fall short of meeting the regulations, as not all required information is recorded and the records have not been sufficiently reviewed by the manager. Consultation with the children has not taken place. These shortfalls have not been detected by the monitoring systems. The number of missing from home incidents has been high for some children, but these have now started to reduce. The staff follow the written protocols and involve all other

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improvement to be good

relevant professionals to ensure that all avenues of action are taken to ensure that children are better protected. Although the staff respond to incidents by following and Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 8 searching to try and find the children, the strategies used do not always work. This means that children remain at risk while they are missing. Independent return home interviews do take place, but children often refuse to engage in them. The same missing from care strategies are used which are not fully effective. The children have risk assessments which identify their current needs and the strategies to be used by the staff to reduce or eliminate the identified risks. The assessments are regularly updated. However, risky behaviour remains high for some children. When children are at risk of child sexual exploitation, they have an allocated worker to undertake work with them. This is to help them to recognise and understand the risks

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improvement to be good

and to make changes. A worker said that she had visited the child a few times and was still trying to build a trusting relationship. Multi-agency meetings have taken place regularly to agree safeguards for the children who are at risk of child sexual exploitation. Nevertheless, the actions and strategies put in place are not always successful in protecting children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, there has been a period when the daily life experience of children has been poor, and their progress has declined. This has occurred due to several factors. The local authority has made changes to the services offered in children’s homes across the city. As a result, several staff changes have taken place at the home. This has affected the operation of the home. The matching of some new placements has not been suitable and has not been well planned or managed. The needs of the children have not been fully considered while the significant changes have been imbedded. Some children have been placed during a difficult time when the behaviours of the existing residents have deteriorated. The impact risk assessment has not considered all relevant factors in sufficient detail. As a result, children have experienced a chaotic home environment for several months. There is now a stable staff team and an interim manager in post. In the last three

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

months, priority has been given to helping children to feel safer and secure. After the last staff changes, the staff team has come together and put in place clear rules and boundaries for the children. The staff are working hard to provide consistent care, which has started to have a positive effect on the children’s daily life experience. The children have begun to respond, with some progress being made which needs to be sustained. The requirement from the last inspection has not been met, as children still do not have access to wi-fi in the home. This has hindered the delivery of online tuition. Monitoring systems are in place, including the independent visits. The interim manager, senior and staff team have already identified a number of areas for improvement. However, the inspection found omissions and numerous shortfalls in the quality of record-keeping. These include records relating to the direct work with children, restraint

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

records, consultation with children and staff meeting minutes. Several records could not be located during the inspection, for example multi-agency meeting minutes and sanctions records. There are deficits in the management of the home and oversight by the local authority. Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 9 The home’s statement of purpose has recently been reviewed but has not been sent to Ofsted as required by the regulations. Professionals report that communication with them is consistently good. The staff inform professionals of the progress of the children, as well as when safeguarding or other serious matters arise. This keeps key professionals up to date about the children’s care and circumstances. A parent said: ‘Communication has improved recently. The staff do inform me about my child’s care. However, it still could be better, as sometimes they don’t have all the facts.’ The staff have appropriate experience and are child centred in their approach. There is a

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

core of staff that have worked at the home for some time. Most of the staff hold the level 3 diploma in caring for children and young people, while others need to complete it within the required timescales. Weekly staff meetings take place, as do regular formal staff supervision that include discussions about the children’s care. Consultation with children takes place; however, engagement has been limited but is now slowly increasing.

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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: SC039414 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

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Inspectors

Debbie Foster, social care inspector Aaron McLoughlin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC039414 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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