Children's Home run by Progressive Futures Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 1 SC066242 Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for two children who have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been absent from work since 30 May 2019. An interim manager is in charge of the home and is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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 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: 22 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/07/2017 Full Outstanding 12/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a friendly, nurturing and very comfortable home. Staff provide children with the warmth and understanding that they need to feel at home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of parenting and support that children receive is making a positive difference to their lives. Children are making important progress in their education, health, emotional well-being, personal safety and social skills, and in building positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy healthy and trusting relationships with the adults caring for them. Staff understand that children may struggle to trust adults. They think carefully about the best ways to engage children and find ways to help them. A counsellor said, ‘I have known the child for over four years and she has never been more stable. This is because of the way staff treat her. She trusts them. Staff see her for who she is and not for what has happened to her.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel listened to and know that their views are taken seriously. The interim manager and staff listen to children’s wishes and feelings and respond appropriately. They help children to develop the skills to manage difficult feelings and to express their views in a mature way. Staff support children to take part in meetings and make decisions affecting their lives. For example, staff supported a child to negotiate a later coming-in time with her social worker.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children have been out of school, the interim manager and staff have worked hard to get them back into full-time education and training as soon as possible. Staff help children with their homework. They work closely with schools to make sure that children get the right support to help them do well. Staff support children’s aspirations and ambitions. For example, staff have helped a child get work experience with a local hairdresser.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to see their families. They make sure that spending time with these important people is a safe and positive experience for children and their families. Staff understand and follow the arrangements that have been agreed by the local authority and court. Staff work successfully to help children rebuild their relationships with their families so that children are able to spend more time with them. For one child, staff have built a very positive relationship with her family. Staff and the family work closely together to support the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s physical health and emotional well-being. They encourage children to play a role in looking after their own health. Staff help children to recognise the importance of healthy lifestyles, a nutritious diet and being active. Children get good health advice and guidance so they can make informed choices about their own health needs and care. Staff make sure that children always get the treatment and medication they need to be healthy. Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 4 Staff allow children to take age-appropriate risks to help their development, including using public transport independently. Staff encourage children to develop practical skills such as cooking, shopping, and decorating their bedrooms. However, older children would benefit from a more structured programme to help prepare them practically and emotionally for adult life.

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

The interim manager and staff have created a home where children feel safe. Children have a strong sense of safety and well-being. They see the staff as people they can trust. They talk to staff when they are worried or have a problem. A child said, ‘I bottle things up, then go to staff when I’m ready to talk. They’re always there for me.’

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

The quality of care that children receive from staff protects them from harm. Since coming to live at this home, children have become increasingly safer and the risks to them from abuse, neglect, violence, drugs, alcohol and exploitation have reduced significantly.

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

The interim manager and staff use well-established partnerships with children’s services, the police, the youth offending service and counselling services to understand the dangers for each child and provide the support that children need to be safe. Children engage positively with counselling and the youth offending service. They believe this support is helping their emotional and mental health.

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

Staff work closely with other professionals to help children to understand risks and how to manage their personal safety. They encourage children to make good choices about their safety, and to understand about unsafe relationships and how to get help when they need it. Children have let staff know when they have had phone calls from unsuitable people or felt unsafe.

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

Children do not go missing from home. Staff make sure that they know where children are when they go out. They keep in regular contact with children and their families.

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

The interim manager and staff provide children with secure and consistent relationships, which are helping children to become resilient. Staff know children very well and how best to help them to manage their feelings and frustrations. Staff are calm and patient. They give children the time and space to talk through what is upsetting them. They are helping children to develop the skills to understand and manage their emotions safely. Children are now much more able to manage their anger before it escalates into violence.

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

The recruitment of staff is thorough and minimises any potential risks to children. The responsible individual and interim manager make sure that they only employ people with suitable experience, skills, personal qualities and values. They verify people’s employment history and written references from previous employers. Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 5

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good

The registered manager has been absent from the home since 30 May 2019. The responsible individual has taken effective and timely steps to appoint an appropriate interim manager. The interim manager is a suitably experienced manager and has started the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare. She is now applying to Ofsted for registration.

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good

The interim manager is providing effective day-to-day leadership and management. She knows the children and staff extremely well. The interim manager has a clear understanding of the progress each child is making and acts when children are struggling. She has worked effectively with children’s social workers, families, teachers and support services to improve children’s safety and learning opportunities.

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good

The interim manager leads an experienced and cohesive staff team. She makes sure that staff have the right support, skills, qualities and training to provide children with a high standard of personalised care that meets their needs.

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good

The interim manager and an independent person scrutinise carefully the quality of care children receive. Consequently, the interim manager has detailed understanding of what is working well, identifies weaknesses, and has plans to deal with them.

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good

The interim manager has started work to improve the quality of children’s case files. However, children’s records do not provide a detailed picture of the children’s experiences and the support they receive from staff. These records are not kept up to date or signed and dated by the author. The files do not always include the local authority’s care plan for the children and up-to-date information about children’s progress at school.

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good

Children’s written risk assessments and management plans do not always show the current level of risk. The plans are not personalised to each child’s circumstances. Also, the plans lack the detail needed to help staff know the specific steps that they should take to support each child and manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. The plans do not include children’s views about what staff should do to help them when they are upset or worried.

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good

The written assessments used to consider the impact of a child moving into the home do not clearly show the potential risks to each child, how these risks will be managed safely, and the reasons for the interim manager’s decision about the child’s placement.

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good

Staff supervision records do not show evidence that staff have reflected critically on their work with children, children’s progress and their training and professional development. Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 6 The review of the quality of care report does not clearly identify what needs to be done to tackle any weaknesses over the next six months. Adding a clear action plan to the reports would help the interim manager and responsible individual use the reports as tools to make improvements. Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 7

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that promotes children’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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)(b)(2)(h)) 22/03/2020

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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 for each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, children’s case records must contain up-to-date plans and reports relating to each child, including:

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Requirement Due date

a copy of any EHC plan or statement of special educational needs in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

every school report received in respect of the child while the child is accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

a copy of any plan for the care of the child prepared by the child’s placing authority, and of the placement plan; and

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Requirement Due date

the date and result of any review of the placing authority’s plan for the care of the child, or of the child’s placement plan. 22/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 8

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) In particular, risk assessments and behaviour management plans must be kept up to date, individual to each child’s circumstances, and include the specific steps staff will take to support each child in different situations and manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis.  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the child will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) In particular, the impact risk assessment should clearly show any potential risks to

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Recommendations

each of the children, how these risks will be managed safely and the reasons for the decision about the child’s placement.  The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition to adult life is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) The record of supervision should provide evidence that staff have reflected critically on children’s progress, their work with children and their training and

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Recommendations

professional development.  The home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to understanding children’s needs, experiences and outcomes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Ensure that records of direct work with children are detailed and show clearly the outcome that the work is trying to achieve; how it fits in with the child’s plan; the child’s views, wishes and feelings; an evaluation of the effectiveness of the work; and what needs to happen next to support the child.  The review of the quality of care (under regulation 45) should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and

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Recommendations

the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 9 home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC066242 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 55 Hoghton Street Southport Merseyside PR9 0PG

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066242 11 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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