Children's home run by Wolverhampton City Council

Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people with complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has resigned since the last monitoring visit. The home is being managed by an interim manager who is appropriately qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: Not previously inspected

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Not previously inspected

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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. Assurance visit report: 2496288 2

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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.

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The care of children

Children have good relationships with most staff, which are based on genuine warmth and affection. Staff understand the importance of kind words and hugs for children and make sure these are frequently offered to them. When children have difficult things to do, such as attending court, staff ensure that they go along to offer support. This investment in children is appreciated by them, their families and professionals.

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The care of children

Children have continued to see their family and friends during the period of restrictions due to COVID-19. Staff support this family time, where needed, to help parents develop their parenting skills and help them have more positive time with their children. They also make sure children are able to get home safely if they visit friends and family independently, as a parent would. Staff do this because they understand how important these relationships are to children.

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The care of children

Children are offered many activities by staff and this has kept them busy during lockdown. Staff also support children to develop their independence using activities and setting clear expectations. These are age appropriate and helps children to build confidence.

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The care of children

Staff are overwhelmingly proud of children and their achievements and this is most clear when staff talk about children’s education. Children have been supported to continue and progress with their education during the period of social restrictions due to COVID-19. For one child this has involved meaningful engagement with their tutor after years of struggling with their education. During this visit, one child received a certificate for their work at school and staff immediately framed this for them. This immediate and positive response helps children to see the pride staff have in them, so they continue to want to achieve.

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The care of children

Staff have worked hard to improve the environment for children. Children gave ideas for an impressive piece of graffiti art in the home and they are individually represented in this large piece of art. However, there are several areas where this home has an institutional feel to it, such as the lack of carpet and echoey corridors and metal push plates on doors. This does not make the environment as homely as staff and children would like it to be.

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The safety of children

Staff are able to show a clear understanding of risks for individual children. This has been helped by the newly developed risk assessment and behaviour plans which are now embedded into the home. However, risk and behaviour plans are not always updated in a timely way and strategies to manage risk require development in some Assurance visit report: 2496288 3 areas. Due to how well staff know children, the delay to updates has not impacted on the safety of children.

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The safety of children

Staff now rarely use physical intervention but when they do it is proportionate and necessary. A new clear pro forma has improved the way staff record physical intervention and it now meets regulation. This supports managers and staff to reflect on and learn from any incidents.

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The safety of children

Where children make disclosures of potential abuse staff act quickly to share information with key professionals. Children are supported by staff through direct- work sessions and giving them space to talk. Cohesive records are not easy to access, and, at times, this makes it harder to understand all of the work staff do for children.

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The safety of children

Staff have worked hard over the last few months to better manage behaviour. There have been no calls to police for several months and feedback from the police makes it clear that they are not currently concerned about the home. The police are particularly complimentary about the interim manager. The reduction in incidents in the home shows the clear progress staff have made in their management of children.

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The safety of children

Managers have not ensured that all areas relating to staff employment are complete. This means that where staff are on secondment managers cannot be assured of their work history and why they left previous roles.

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Leaders and managers

Since the last monitoring visit, the registered manager has resigned, after being absent from the home for several months. The operations (deputy) manager has continued to manage the home and drive improvement in care for children. The provider has created a senior residential manager post to support the interim manager and has seconded an experienced deputy to strengthen day-to-day management. These interim arrangements are providing the support and direction needed for staff and have improved staff morale.

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Leaders and managers

The interim manager has continued to develop the use of monitoring tools for the home. These enable her to have a broader oversight of practice and ensure that nothing falls off the radar. The interim manager has also introduced a daily oversight system that helps staff to structure the day better and make sure essential tasks are complete. As a result, all staff are held to account and everyone is involved in improvement.

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Leaders and managers

Due to the social restrictions put in place during the lockdown, several staff are out of timescale for completing observations for their level 3 qualification. However, for some staff the work not completed cannot be attributed to these restrictions. This means that the workforce is not appropriately qualified within the appropriate timescale, even taking the recent restrictions into account. Assurance visit report: 2496288 4 Staff now receive regular supervision and appreciate the support from managers. Records of these meetings do not always capture discussions in detail and do not make it clear that staff are supported to reflect on their own behaviours. Actions are also not clearly recorded, so while there is improvement, accountability in these meetings is not clear. The interim manager is aware of the need to improve supervision recording and has introduced a pro forma to help make records clearer.

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Leaders and managers

Staff work to ensure they are part of children’s professional networks and will challenge others where needed. Feedback from professionals indicates staff have good knowledge of children and their needs, and managers are visible and making a difference. External professionals now have confidence in the care that children are receiving, which was not the case during monitoring work carried out during lockdown.

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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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma").

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years 16/12/2020 Assurance visit report: 2496288 5 after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1)(3)(b)(d)(4)(a)(5)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response.

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Staff supervision must enable staff to reflect and act upon how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15)  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Wolverhampton City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, St Peters Square, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 1SH

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Inspector

Karol Keenan, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: 2496288 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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