Children's home run by After Care (NW) Limited in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 1 SC037181 Registered provider: After Care NW Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children aged between eight and 17 on admission who have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has obtained her level 5 qualification in leadership and management and has been registered with Ofsted since January 2014.

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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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/05/2018 Full Good 31/10/2017 Full Good 01/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 26/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been periods where the home has been unsettled. One young person who had lived at the home for a short period had to move out of the home into an unregistered provision. This was due to a significant increase in her risk-taking behaviours, both in the home and in the local community. Despite the registered manager raising her concerns about the admission with the responsible individual for the home, the admission went ahead. Staff were unable to keep her safe despite their best attempts.

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improvement to be good

The two young people who had moved into the home both engage in risk-taking behaviour, in the home and in the local community. This has resulted in police involvement and criminal proceedings. Although these admissions were planned, there was incomplete referral information in place for one young person. Again, the registered manager had raised concerns around the appropriateness of the placement with the responsible individual, but the placement went ahead. This hindered the manager’s and staff’s abilities to keep young people safe.

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improvement to be good

Although there have been recent complaints from neighbours about the level of noise and disruption at the home, the detail about these complaints and the action taken by the manager are not always recorded so that there is a clear audit trail about the actions taken by the manager in response to complaints. Complainants have not received a formal response from the organisation.

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improvement to be good

Educational outcomes for young people have been varied. One young person made good progress in her education and went on to study at college before moving to independence. Others educational progress was not so positive, including one child who although being recently admitted to the home, does not have access to education, but a referral has been made to source some education.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people are supported to address their health needs and are registered with all local health services. The Statement of Purpose states that children and young people have access to an in-house therapist, who offers support the children and young people and also offers guidance to staff about how best to support the child. However, following a life threating incident there was no evidence to support that the in-house therapist offered any support following this serious event, though a key conversation had taken place with staff.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people are encouraged and supported to take part in a variety of activities. The young people who have moved on from the home have memory books containing photographs of the activities they have enjoyed. Transitions for some children and young people have been positive including staff producing visual aids for one child about their new placement and offering support and guidance to Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 4 another young person throughout their placement and subsequently when looking for a mother and bay placement.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the young people to spend quality time with their family members. The staff understand the importance of helping the children and young people to maintain these significant relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff undertake direct work with children in respect of sexual exploitation, bullying and self-harm. However, at times, this work has been reactive to incidents that have happened and not as a result of risks that have been identified. As a result, staff do not always carry out proactive or supportive interventions. This has had an impact on children’s and young people’s experiences of living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are generally robust and regularly reviewed by managers. However, on occasions, staff are unable to take into consideration all known risks and behaviours of individual children. This is because children will speak in their first language on the telephone which are required to be supervised. This means that some information has the potential to be lost and not acted on appropriately by staff. This does not fully promote children’s welfare.

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improvement to be good

A child on a 2:1 staffing ratio was able to leave the home without staff being able to stop her. She was collected in a car and taken to a flat in another part of the country and was missing from home for three days. The child’s missing from home procedure stated that due to the risk of child sexual exploitation she had to be reported missing immediately., there was a delay of 20 minutes until the police were notified.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager had failed to ensure that all physical interventions are recorded and reported appropriately. Copies of the incident report were stapled into a book which did not have all the information that is required to be recorded following an intervention.

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improvement to be good

All staff are suitably checked and vetted prior to appointment. This helps to prevent the appointment of adults who may pose a risk to children and young people’s safety. On one occasion, following the renewal of a Disclosure and Barring Service check, a conviction was recorded that had not been shared with the employer. The organisation made the decision not to take any further action around this despite it happening previously on application for the role.

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improvement to be good

Young people who had lived at the home for some years report that they felt listened to and could identify a trusted member of staff to talk to. This means that children and young people can share their worries and know that they will receive an appropriate response. Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 5

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good

The manager is experienced and has her national vocational qualification (NVQ) level 5 qualification. She is supported by a new deputy. There is a permanent staff team in place. Three staff team members are suitably qualified and two are working towards the NVQ level 3 qualification.

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good

Since the last inspection, agency staff have been used to cover staff shortages within the home. This has created some inconsistency for children and limits their opportunity to form positive and lasting relationships with adults who are looking after them. On one occasion, there were only agency staff in the home. At this time, an incident occurred in the home which resulted in a child being taken to the police station for questioning. The registered manager challenged the use of agency staff at the time with the operational manager but was overruled.

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good

Managers have implemented monitoring systems to evaluate and assess the quality of care. Due to the manager being absent for three weeks some incidents have not always been effectively reviewed and evaluated. The monitoring reports undertaken by the independent person lack evaluation and furthermore are not being commented on by the responsible individual. Therefore, it is unclear how he is monitoring the home.

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good

Managers and staff receive regular supervision and all staff have received an annual appraisal. This provides managers and staff with the opportunity to receive regular feedback on their practice while having their performance formally reviewed. Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 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

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

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 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 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 promotes their 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)) 30/04/2020

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that arrangements are in place to— plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(b)(iii)) 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. 30/04/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 7 The requirements are that the individual is of integrity and good character. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(a)) The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 30/04/2020

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, regarding stapling incident forms into the physical intervention log book.  Those with a leadership and/or management role should be visible and accessible to staff and able to deliver their leadership and/or management responsibilities. Any registered manager employed in the home should have sufficient capacity to ensure that the Quality Standards are met for each child in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)  No more than half the staff on duty at any one time, by day or night at the home should be from an external agency. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.17)

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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: SC037181 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: After Care NW Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 45 Kensington Road, Southport, Lancashire PR9 0RT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy Blundell

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Inspector

Elaine Clare, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC037181 9 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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