Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Herefordshire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 1 SC476486

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Priory Education Services Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns this home. It is registered for up to seven children, whose complex emotional and behavioural needs may include autism spectrum disorder and related difficulties. The registered manager has managed the home since January 2014.

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this monitoring visit was to investigate a number of concerns that Ofsted has in regard to the running of the home.

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This monitoring visit

Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Ofsted did not physically visit the home. Instead, the inspector gathered evidence in several different ways, including by talking to the responsible individual, young people’s social workers, the police and members of staff. The responsible individual also provided electronic documents for the inspectors to review. Children chose not to participate.

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This monitoring visit

The new responsible individual had notified Ofsted about concerns relating to staff and managerial practice that resulted in significant safeguarding issues throughout May and June. The provider recognised that they had not kept children safe.

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This monitoring visit

During the inspection, the provider notified Ofsted of their intention to voluntarily close the home. Notice has been given to placing authorities. Arrangements are under way to move children into alternative placements and to do this as quickly as possible.

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This monitoring visit

At the last inspection in October 2019, Ofsted found that children were not effectively safeguarded. Staff lacked basic training in how to meet children’s needs. The home was in a poor decorative state. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 2 This inspection finds significant weakness in the ethos and operation of the home. There has been no improvement. The ability of the service to keep young people safe within the home has deteriorated.

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This monitoring visit

In-house care practice has diverted from the organisation’s policies and procedures. Staff have not worked as a team in children’s best interests. This has put children at risk of harm.

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This monitoring visit

Poor safeguarding practice is a recurrent regulatory shortfall. Staff, including the registered manager, have not recognised their role or responsibility to protect children and act in accordance with the home’s policies and procedures. They did not refer child protection concerns to the local authority or seek medical advice following injury. They did not implement the anti-bullying procedure.

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This monitoring visit

Staff at all levels have not taken children’s disclosures of abuse or concerns seriously. They have failed to recognise risk or act to help children when they were vulnerable to bullying, sexual exploitation and injury, or when children talked about historical abuse. Staff failed to supervise children adequately. Consequently, there was a serious assault by one child on another.

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This monitoring visit

Risk management is weak. Risk management plans omit significant information about how staff should keep children with health conditions, such as asthma, safe during any behavioural incident or restraint. Drug risks are not clear. Bullying, including online bullying, is missing or is not detailed in risk management plans in a way that is helpful to staff or the vulnerable child. Some staff have not passed on to each other or to managers information that would protect children. This places children at risk of harm.

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This monitoring visit

Staff minimise the impact of bullying on children’s lives and the culture of bullying in the home. They do not recognise or act to reduce bullying. They do not help children to build positive relationships with others.

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This monitoring visit

Staff do not act as good role models. Some staff breach children’s privacy and trust. They share children’s confidential personal information with other children. This has resulted in distress and a serious bullying incident.

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This monitoring visit

Children’s records are poor. There is no evidence of meaningful conversations between staff and children about the important things that happen to them in their life. Staff have not made accurate or reliable records of incidents or have made no record at all of significant issues.

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This monitoring visit

Important incidents and significant events in children’s lives have not been notified to Ofsted. Such shortfalls affect Ofsted’s ability to monitor the service effectively.

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This monitoring visit

Unreliable record-keeping makes it very difficult for the responsible individual to get a clear picture of events and incidents. The organisation cannot be assured that they Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 3 know about children’s real experience of life in the home. Children have no reliable record of their life and experience in the home if they later ask to see their records.

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This monitoring visit

Staff lack training and skills in helping children who self-harm or are vulnerable to exploitation or in how to reduce bullying. One member of staff does not have current skills and training in restraint and yet has taken part in restraint. Not all staff have completed the required training in residential care within the expected timescales. The service is not able to meet the organisation’s basic requirement to ensure basic training for all staff. As a result, children are at risk of harm.

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This monitoring visit

The home environment is badly maintained. Children’s bedrooms remain in a poor decorative state, and damage to children’s bedrooms and bathrooms has not been swiftly repaired. This does not encourage children to develop a sense of belonging or take pride in their home or make them feel that they are valued. This is a recurrent regulatory shortfall.

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This monitoring visit

Staff practice is adrift from the provider’s statement of purpose, which claims their mission is to become ‘a Centre of Excellence for Residential Care and Therapy.’ Instead, children have experienced distress and anxiety as a result of poor care.

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This monitoring visit

Staff supervision does not help staff to aspire to the aims of the service. Supervisors do not provide staff with support to enable them to reflect on significant issues in children’s lives or engage staff in the safeguarding culture of the home.

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This monitoring visit

Close family and personal relationships link more than half the staff team to the registered manager. This has had an impact on standards of transparency and accountability to the organisation and to Ofsted.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has initiated an internal investigation into the culture at the home, disciplinary action for some staff and the transferal of some staff to work at other homes. This leaves the home currently without a registered manager and not enough consistent staff to provide stability or deliver continuity of care for children.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has drafted in temporary managers and additional staff. However, the children are not familiar with them. He has taken remedial action to ensure that the police and the local authority have the information they need to protect children.

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This monitoring visit

Ofsted will continue to monitor the home until it closes. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 4

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 24/10/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/07/2019 Full Good 05/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 18/04/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 5

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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 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;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 6 (1)(2)(b)(ii)(v)) 30/07/2020

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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.

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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

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)(2)(c)(i)) 30/07/2020

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that 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 30/07/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 6 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—

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to seeking medical advice when required.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(viii)(xiii)(b)) 30/07/2020

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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 requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

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)) 30/07/2020

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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— 30/07/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 7 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; 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)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) 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 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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; and

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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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to close family or personal relationships among employees, whistleblowing and decision-making responsibilities. 30/07/2020

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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— 30/07/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 8 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and 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

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 to each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d)(e)) The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)) 30/07/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must implement a policy for the prevention of bullying in the home, which must in particular set out the procedure for dealing with an allegation of bullying. (Regulation 34(3)) 30/07/2020

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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;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to maintaining a useful, lasting, accessible record for the child of their life at the home and their most important experiences. 30/07/2020

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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; 30/07/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 9 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—

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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))

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Priory Group, 80 Hammersmith Road, London, Middlesex W14 8UD

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Inspector

Christy Wannop, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC476486 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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