Children's home run by Sherico Care Services Limited in Westminster

Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 1 SC010700 Registered provider: Sherico Care Services Limited 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 one of several homes owned by a private organisation. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children, as specified in the home’s statement of purpose. The last registered manager left her post in April 2017. The current interim manager has been in post since 27 July 2019 and applied to be registered on 26 September 2019. The application is currently in progress.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not judged

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2019 Interim Not judged 26/09/2018 Interim Not judged 05/06/2018 Full Inadequate 06/12/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 3

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improvement to be good

There is an improving picture in the quality of care provided at this home. From June 2018 until October 2019, there were no children living at the home. A new interim manager and staff team are beginning to offer more personalised care and support for children. Positive relationships are developing between the staff team and the children placed at the home. This positivity extends to the relationships developing between placing authorities, parents and wider professionals. One social worker stated, ‘The relationship with the key-worker has been amazing. She listens, understands and has just clicked with the child.’ Children are making progress in relation to their starting points. One child has engaged in home tuition after spending a significant period refusing to attend any education. However, some children do not have access to more than a few hours of education each week. Some children are not registered with universal health

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improvement to be good

services. This has an impact on their access to regular and timely health check-ups and care. Children feel listened to and say that they have good relationships with most of the staff members. Children are encouraged to attend and contribute their views at important meetings. Although children’s feedback and views are being collated, it is less obvious to see how this feedback changes practice at the home. Children’s views are not yet recorded when sanctions are imposed for poor behaviour, which means that it is not clear how effective these sanctions are or how children experience them. Children are being encouraged to engage in consistent routines and more predictable patterns of care. Regular key-work sessions are taking place which are helping children to understand the impact of their behaviours, encourage healthy eating and a more productive lifestyle. Children are supported to engage in activities, accompanied by staff, which helps them to try new experiences and build

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improvement to be good

up their confidence and self-esteem. Since the home’s reopening in October 2019, transitions have been well planned for children and have supported them to settle into the home. Despite children not being at the age where they are leaving care, they are encouraged to help with shopping, food preparation and undertaking self-care tasks such as cleaning their rooms and helping with their laundry. The manager and staff at the home are fully supporting one child’s contact with family members who live a long way from the home. The family have been welcomed to the home and staff have accompanied, transported and facilitated regular contact sessions, despite the distance involved. Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 4

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improvement to be good

Since the home reopened in October 2019 it has not admitted to its registered capacity. This has enabled the manager and staff to work more effectively in identifying risks and to work with children to reduce unwanted behaviours. Risk assessments detail known risks well and are regularly reviewed and updated. The assessments identify triggers for children and offer staff strategies to manage risky behaviours. All of the children have behaviour management plans. Incidents of challenging behaviour have remained low at the home. Children said that they feel safe and have more individual time with staff, which has reduced their frustrations. There have not been any notifiable incidents at the home since it reopened. Incidents of children going missing are also low. When incidents have occurred, staff have taken appropriate actions. They follow children, try to persuade them to safely return and continue to keep in touch with them by mobile phone if possible. Records

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improvement to be good

of missing incidents are well maintained and demonstrate a positive working relationship with the police and placing authorities. The organisation has appropriate policies for safeguarding which offer staff guidance about what to do if child protection concerns are raised. All staff recently attended safeguarding training in January 2020 and the police have talked to staff about what to do when children go missing. Further training is planned for staff on the prevention of terrorism and risk of radicalisation strategy and in managing safeguarding allegations. The organisation undertakes all required checks to ensure that new staff are suitable to work with children. When concerns have been identified, risk assessments have been completed. However, assessments are not yet robust and do not offer any analysis of the concerns and what needs to be in place to minimise risks.

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good

The current manager has worked for the organisation since July 2019 and became the interim manager when the home reopened in October 2019. She has applied to be registered by Ofsted and this application is in progress. Although the manager has some previous management experience, she has limited experience of regulated settings. She is aware that if her registration is successful she will need to undertake the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management. Prior to reopening the home, recruitment took place to establish a new staff team. Some of the staff recruited have no previous experience of working in a children’s home. Some staff working at the home have not achieved the required Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) by the relevant date. However, all staff have been expected to go through an induction and training process as part of the reopening plans. Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 5

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good

Staff duty rosters are available at the home. However, these rotas do not yet indicate who is leading the shift or who the responsible workers are for fire safety and first aid. It is unclear who, in the event of an incident or emergency, would be the responsible worker with the relevant skills to undertake these roles. Staff say that they feel well supported by the new manager. Supervision is happening regularly, and clear records of meetings are maintained. However, supervision is not reflective, and it does not follow up on agreed actions from previous meetings. Supervision notes are not signed, so it is unclear if they are agreed between supervisor and supervisee. Most workers at the home do not have an appraisal as they are new to the home or are newly recruited. Appraisals that are due are not completed in a timely way, thus missing an opportunity to develop staff skills or challenge areas of poor practice.

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good

Objectives are set with appraisals; however, some of these are personal rather than work-related issues. Monitoring of the home has been inconsistent. The regulations do not exempt the provider from monitoring the home even when children are not present. Since the home reopened in October 2019, the independent visitor has visited the home regularly and has submitted monthly reports to the regulator. There has not, however, been a quality of care review at the home since March 2018. The interim manager has started to collate feedback which will help to review practice and inform her report. Had regular reports been prepared, this would have helped the manager to understand the home’s strengths and areas for development from the outset. The home’s statement of purpose has been updated to reflect the new staff team. Staff meetings are supporting the understanding of the home’s purpose and function. Minutes of meetings indicate that regular discussions are taking place

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good

about children’s needs and how staff can work together to meet them. Professional relationships are beginning to develop. A recent review meeting showed good partnership working to ensure that a child had access to an advocate to challenge a placing authority’s care plan. Leaders and managers promote children’s identity needs well. One child has verbalised how she feels the staff meet her diverse needs and are reflective of her own culture and identity. Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 6

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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

Other records The registered person must— maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37(2)(a)(b)) In particular, the staff duty roster must identify the shift leader, the fire marshal and the appointed first aider working at the home. 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— 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). The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. 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

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Requirement Due date

attained— the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 7 a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. The relevant date is— in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(d)(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) Specifically, in relation to ensuring detailed risk assessments where staff hold previous convictions and to ensure that staff hold appropriate qualifications and have relevant experience.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are 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) Specifically, in relation to recording children’s views about sanctions made against them.  Ensure children are in full-time education whilst they are of compulsory school age, unless their personal education plan contained within the care plan or other relevant plan states otherwise. The home must aim to support full time attendance at school unless the child’s relevant plan indicates this is not in their best interests. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.17) Specifically, in relation to ensuring consistency of education attendance and

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Recommendations

promoting such attendance.  Homes have a key role in organising and ensuring each child’s attendance at the necessary primary and secondary health services. Most health services that a child needs to access will be provided by other organisations. If these services are not accessible, or are withdrawn, staff should inform and engage with those who also hold a responsibility for the child’s health to ensure their health needs are met under regulation 5 - engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.11) Specifically, in liaising with the nurse for looked after children to ensure that health needs are met.  Ensure good practice by making a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions and ensure that both the person giving the supervision and Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 8

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Recommendations

staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4) Specifically, ensure that supervisions are signed, dated and actions are followed up.  Ensure that the registered person undertakes a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC010700 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sherico Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sherico Care Homes Ltd, 2-4 Balmoral Road, London E10 5ND

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Inspector

Christine Kennet, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC010700 10 to 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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