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

Assurance visit report: SC481209 1 SC481209

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered for up to seven children who have complex emotional and behavioural needs. There are currently three children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was closed for a considerable period and reopened in June 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: 29 August 2019

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Requires improvement to be good

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership.

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Information about this visit

This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Findings from the visit

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit. Assurance visit report: SC481209 2

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The care of children

Children have good relationships with staff, who know them well. They enjoy doing activities together and children are appreciative of these relationships. For example, children in the home asked staff to help them make a birthday cake for the registered manager. Staff use key-working sessions to discuss important issues for children, but records do not always show how children will be helped, and quality is variable. The responsible individual is aware of this, and of other areas where recording is weak, and has training planned to address this shortfall in practice. During the restrictions that were put in place due to Covid-19, children have enjoyed numerous activities, supported by staff. Children have pets, they cook, they play basketball and football at the home, and they go out to theme parks. Staff have worked hard to make sure that children can continue with their interests during this period of social restrictions.

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The care of children

Children are encouraged and well supported to stay in touch with friends and family, and parents feel welcome in the home. Staff make this a priority because they understand how important these relationships are for children. Staff have good knowledge of the needs of children who have diabetes. They offer advice about diet and exercise and know which medications are needed and when. Information about diabetes medication differs between documents because this information was not updated following a review. However, staff’s knowledge and confidence in this area have meant that there has been no negative impact on the child’s well-being. Where needed, staff contact specialist or emergency services. They do this at the right time, and this results in children being helped when they need it. Staff practice in this area gives confidence to children and professional partners. Children are all attending school. They are keen to attend education, and staff work

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The care of children

well with schools in children’s best interest. For some children, this is being built up gradually to meet their individual needs. Staff support a needs-focused approach to children’s education, and this is helping children to succeed.

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The safety of children

Staff do not include all known information in clear risk assessments, and some behaviours that concern staff do not have well explained strategies. However, staff have good knowledge of individual children’s risks, and therefore this has not had a significant negative impact on children. When managers consider whether a child is compatible with the home, their individual risks are assessed. This assessment does not consider effectively the impact of children’s risk on other children in the home. As a result, children’s compatibility is not adequately considered before they arrive. Managers do not review placement plans within an effective timescale and do not include all relevant information from risk assessments to guide staff. Managers have also failed to note poor spelling, grammatical errors and some copied text, which means information does not make sense. In some places, there is clear direction,

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The safety of children

but overall this leads to staff not having up-to-date guidance to refer to. Assurance visit report: SC481209 3 Managers undertake comprehensive investigations into concerns about staff. This has been particularly pertinent to staff who moved from another home in the provider group. As staff were away from the home during these investigations, this caused some inconsistency in staffing. Fortunately, a core group of staff has remained in the home throughout, and children have largely been settled. Staff use physical intervention as a last resort, and it is proportionate. Staff and children are given time to reflect on difficulties after they happen, and managers are working to ensure that these debriefs are always supported by someone who is independent of the incident. The quality of recording of these incidents is variable, and, as previously noted, the responsible individual is addressing the quality of

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The safety of children

recording in the home. Staff use door alarms to monitor children’s bedroom doors at night. This practice is applied to all children, even where this is not agreed with their placing authority. This generic practice means that some children have unnecessary intrusion into their privacy.

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Leaders and managers

Staff feel well supported by managers. Staff are concerned about morale in the team, and how that morale has been affected by the movement of staff due to investigations. However, they recognise the potential for the future of the home and are enthusiastic about this. Children benefit from this positive outlook from staff because staff work hard to provide good experiences for them. Managers do not have sufficient oversight of the home. Manager’s monitoring systems do not ensure that risk assessments and plans are updated as needed. Managers have not ensured that staff rotas are accurate. This means that it is not clear who has worked in the home and when. The manager has also failed to identify that the records for some children do not contain all the required information. This lack of oversight has meant that staff do not always have the direction and detail they need to provide comprehensive care that is in line with

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Leaders and managers

statutory plans. The responsible individual is aware of these shortfalls and is working with the manager to address them. In contrast, managers have put in place training for staff, as needed, to effectively manage one child’s diabetes. The training by the diabetes service was unavoidably cancelled, so the manager and responsible individual put in place additional safeguards to ensure that staff were competent to meet the child’s needs. This is an area of good practice in the home. The manager and staff have worked hard to develop relationships with partner agencies. The new responsible individual is clear on the value of, and investment in, these relationships, and this is reflected in the confidence that partners have in the care that children receive in the home. Assurance visit report: SC481209 4

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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

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

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

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 11/11/2020

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. 11/11/2020 Assurance visit report: SC481209 5 (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 11/11/2020

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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

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)) 11/11/2020 Assurance visit report: SC481209 6

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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 W14 8UD

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Inspector

Karol Keenan, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC481209 7 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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