Children's home run by Halliwell Homes Limited in Staffordshire Moorlands

Assurance visit report: SC470224 1 SC470224

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered for up to 10 children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: 18 December 2019

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Declined in effectiveness

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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: SC470224 2

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The care of children

Children at this home make continuous progress. Two children have made successful transitions into foster care after completing the therapeutic programme. Children report feeling loved and cared for. They provide consistently positive feedback about their experience of life in the home. One child reported that she was the happiest she had ever been since coming to live there. One child went so far as to comment: ‘I would give it 10 billion stars!’ External agencies also feel that living at the home benefits children and improves their outcomes. They spoke in highly positive terms about all aspects of children’s care.

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The care of children

Consultation with children takes place every day. Their views are listened to. Children are involved in deciding how their care is delivered. Their voices are clearly expressed in child-led planning and records. This makes them feel valued, respected and considered.

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The care of children

Direct work with children takes place frequently. They learn to regulate their emotions through such work. One example is the use of an ‘emotions thermometer’ for one child to help her express her mood and feelings to staff. Other examples of direct work are around current issues. These are delivered through workshops and help keep children educated and informed about things that are important.

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The care of children

Children’s health needs are met. Their health needs are identified in their health plans and their medication requirements are reflected in their MAR (medicine administration record) charts. One child broke his finger during play with another child. Although the child did not wish staff to get immediate medical attention, good practice would have been for staff to get medical advice sooner than they did. Since this incident, children have been educated about the risks of play-fighting and have been told that they must not engage in play-fighting due to risk of injury.

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The care of children

Children know how to complain and have made use of the complaints procedure. Where complaints are about other children, staff make good use of restoration meetings to repair relationships. This results in children having positive relationships with each other. They made comments such as ‘he is like my brother’ and ‘we are like a big family’.

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The care of children

Aside from the positive experiences children have, the home environment itself is in need of refreshing and redecorating in a number of areas. This includes the kitchen and some children’s bedrooms. Children are, however, very happy with the new ‘gaming room’ that has been designed and decorated for them.

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The safety of children

Children’s risks reduce over the course of their placements. They report feeling safe and can identify strategies that help keep them safe. Discussions with children evidenced that they are frequently spoken to, and educated about, reducing risks. Assurance visit report: SC470224 3 Children are involved in devising strategies to manage their individual risks and this ownership is instrumental in improving their safety.

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The safety of children

Some children administer their own medication and they have been educated around how to do so safely and responsibly. Not only does this keep them safe, it also promotes their independence.

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The safety of children

Some environmental hazards were noted at this inspection which have resulted in a requirement being made. These include some smashed glass close to a fire exit and some protruding nails from an outdoor table. These were made safe on the day of the inspection.

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The safety of children

Some children display exceptionally high risks in relation to impulsive behaviours linked to suicidal ideation. Incidents have been well managed and safety planning has resulted in robust arrangements to ensure one child’s safety. All staff spoken to were aware of the plan to follow to keep this child safe.

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The safety of children

Managers learn from safeguarding incidents. Following an incident where two children went missing while on an outing, changes were made to staffing arrangements. The care and safety of each child were allocated to a specific staff member while out of the home. This is a more robust approach to ensuring the correct level of supervision for each child.

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The safety of children

Children are educated about how to keep themselves safe online. They were able to tell inspectors what measures were in place to protect them. One child’s Instagram account was being monitored by a staff member on their personal phone, which is neither good, nor safe practice. Remedial action was taken immediately by managers to make alternative safeguarding arrangements relating to social media monitoring for this child.

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The safety of children

Children are well matched through detailed impact risk assessments which consider their risks at the point of placement. These are reviewed 72 hours after admission and then at 12 weeks to further assess the impact and to review strategies for minimising any detrimental impact. This is an example of good practice.

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The safety of children

Physical intervention levels have reduced significantly. This is due to several factors. Staff and child relationships have improved and staff have become more knowledgeable, and increasingly skilled at, defusing, de-escalating and redirecting children’s behaviours. Behaviour management plans provide clear and individualised instructions for staff about how to respond to each child at each stage of escalation and crisis.

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Leaders and managers

Staff are supported by a strong and stable leadership team. Staff say that the induction and training programme is beneficial in equipping them with the skills necessary for their roles. They report that they receive regular and good-quality supervision. Assurance visit report: SC470224 4 The leadership team is committed and proactive in making and maintaining improved standards of care in the home. Leaders have an exceptional level of knowledge about each individual child, including their care needs, risks, progress and unique talents.

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Leaders and managers

Monitoring activity is thorough, which ensures that records are of a high standard and have regular managerial oversight. Leaders are fully aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. They have worked hard to address deficits noted at previous inspections and to drive improvements in the standard of care.

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Leaders and managers

The home is sufficiently staffed, and the staff team is now stable. This has benefited children in respect of continuity of care. It has also given the staff team a chance to cohere and develop, which has had a positive impact on the quality of care provided.

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Leaders and managers

Records are generally of a very high standard. They are also well organised. Many are child-led and inclusive of the child’s voice. One deficit was noted where a recorded consequence did not match the actual consequence given. A recommendation is made to reflect this shortfall.

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Leaders and managers

The requirements and recommendations made at the home’s last inspection have been met.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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—

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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— 30/11/2020 Assurance visit report: SC470224 5 meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)(i)) 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 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)) 18/11/2020

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)) 18/11/2020

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Recommendations

 Staff should have sufficient understanding of relevant health services, including the functions of the designated nurse for looked-after children in their area. They should support children to navigate these services, advocating on their behalf where necessary and appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.8)  Regulation 19(2) details sanctions that are prohibited in behaviour management. Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38) Assurance visit report: SC470224 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Halliwell Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tape Street, Cheadle, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST10 1BB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Karen Mitchell-Mellor

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Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Charlie Bamber, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC470224 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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