Children's Home run by New Start in Liverpool

Assurance visit report: SC444411 1 SC444411

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for one young person with mild to moderate learning disabilities, ADHD, and social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered manager in post. Children were spoken to as part of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Visit dates: 30 September to 1 October 2020

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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:  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 identified the following serious concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit: Assurance visit report: SC444411 2  Staff fail to keep children safe.  Risk assessments are not robust and do not protect children from harm.  The current management arrangements are not robust.  The internal and external monitoring arrangements are ineffective.

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The care of children

The overall progress and experience of children is poor because there are weaknesses in risk management systems and management oversight. Despite this, the child has made progress in some aspects of her life.

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The care of children

Staff have worked closely with the child to help her engage with college. When the child has been struggling in college, staff have been effective in meeting with the education provision to look for solutions. As a result, her attendance in education has significantly improved. This improves the child’s opportunities in later life.

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The care of children

Staff support the child to maintain links with her family, enabling the child to maintain a sense of identity.

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The care of children

Staff are trained to respond to the child when she displays angry behaviour. Behaviour management plans include information from the child about what helps her when she gets angry. Following incidents of angry behaviour, key-work conversations are held with the child to help her reflect on her behaviour. Sometimes, the child engages in restorative work when she has caused damage.

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The care of children

While there are aspects of the provision that result in some positive outcomes for the child, the shortfalls in leadership and management and in how the child is safeguarded have resulted in two compliance notices. These are in relation to regulation 12 protection of children and regulation 13 leadership and management, being issued under section 22A of the Care Standards Act 2000.

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The safety of children

Safeguarding practice in this home is poor and does not promote the welfare and safety of the child. Managers and staff are not sufficiently aware of their roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting the child. When there is a serious concern about the child’s welfare, effective action is not always taken to protect them from harm.

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The safety of children

The manager’s response to incidents is poor. Not all serious concerns have been recorded as such, and some have not been investigated sufficiently. This means that the manager cannot be assured that appropriate action was taken to safeguard the child . Assurance visit report: SC444411 3 Staff fail to keep children safe. The child’s risk-taking behaviours, such as going missing from the home, are not challenged or addressed by staff. The inspector identified that patterns of children’s incidents of going missing from home indicate that they may be being sexually exploited, and this has not been addressed in a robust risk assessment. Staff do report the child missing to the police. Once this is done, however, they do not consistently look for her in familiar places throughout the night as a concerned parent would. Despite the registered manager being aware that staff were not following the child when she left the home in the early hours of

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The safety of children

the morning, due to them being fearful for their own safety, she failed to put alternative risk plans in place.

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The safety of children

Furthermore, although the registered manager had signed off incident sheets, she had failed to identify and report all safeguarding concerns to the relevant safeguarding professionals, including allegations made by a neighbour with regard to potential safeguarding issues. In addition, she did not act when a young person threatened to harm herself. This fails to demonstrate that the registered manager is fully aware of her roles and responsibilities in protecting children, and shows a failure to follow the company’s own policies and procedures for safeguarding children.

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Leaders and managers

The registered manager is not using existing internal monitoring mechanisms and is not providing any reports on progress of the children or the quality of care. Although the provider has an organisational system in place for managers to monitor and review the care provided to children, this is not utilised.

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Leaders and managers

The lack of rigour by the manager has not helped the home to sufficiently protect the child and maintain good enough standards of care. More effective systems are needed to ensure that the safety and well-being of the child are suitably scrutinised and always promoted. For example, incident forms, completed after the child was displaying aggressive and destructive behaviour, indicated that the manager simply signed the report, omitting any evaluation of the incident itself or the actions of staff. This means that leaders and managers are unable to identify and address shortfalls in staff practice, as well as being a missed opportunity to improve the quality of the service being provided.

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Leaders and managers

Staff receive regular supervision, which they say informs their practice. This is further supported by team meetings. Staff comments include, ‘My supervision is very good,’ and, ‘We have regular team meetings and they are good.’ While staff value the supervision that they receive, this has not been effective in ensuring that the quality and standards of practice at the home are maintained. Furthermore, the provider has failed to provide a robust induction for the registered manager into her role. Significant events involving the child living at the home have not been reported to Ofsted. A failure to share information with all relevant people compromises the safety and welfare of the child. Furthermore, the regulator is unable to carry out its Assurance visit report: SC444411 4 monitoring function to ensure that appropriate action is taken by the provider to safeguard children.

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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

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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)

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Requirement Due date

This refers to staff ability to understand and manage risk- taking behaviours to keep children safe and to understand their role in reporting allegations. 30/10/2020

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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— 30/10/2020 Assurance visit report: SC444411 5 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; and

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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)(2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

This refers to induction training for new managers into their role. 30/10/2020

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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;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; 30/10/2020 Assurance visit report: SC444411 6 a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

is instigated; or 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Job Bank, 4 Tunnel Road, Liverpool L7 6QD

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Inspector

Elaine Allison, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC444411 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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