Children's home run by Beacon Childcare Ltd

Information about this children’s home

This provider is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have suffered early childhood trauma and have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Following the inspection, the home is only accommodating two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered in November 2019. The registered manager’s post has been vacant since May 2020. A manager was appointed, but has recently resigned before registering with Ofsted. The manager will be leaving the home at the end of December 2020 and the provider is in the process of recruiting a new manager.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: Not previously inspection

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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. 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: 2546172 2

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Findings from the visit

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit:

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Findings from the visit

 Staff have failed to promote the safety and welfare of children in their care.  Staff do not consistently follow children’s plans and risk assessments.  Staff do not record physical interventions in accordance with the regulations.  The staff team does not have the skills to meet the needs of the children.  The manager has failed to take effective action when safeguarding concerns have arisen.  The manager has failed to report significant incidents to Ofsted.  The transition of children into the home is not safely assessed and planned by managers.

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Findings from the visit

As a result of these concerns, three compliance notices have been issued in relation to regulation 12 (the protection of children standard), regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard) and regulation 14 (the care planning standard).

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The care of children

Leadership and management failings and poor safeguarding practice mean that young people do not receive consistently good care. These failings have placed one young person, in particular, at significant risk of harm.

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The care of children

Young people’s initial health needs are met by the home. Young people are registered with local health services and attend routine health appointments. However, when young people require specialist support this is not always followed up by staff. For example, one young person requires the help of a dietician and, although a referral was made, this has not progressed. In addition, the young person’s care plan does not stipulate any specific diet or exercise plan to follow. Managers have not challenged these issues with the young person’s placing authority. These missed opportunities do not promote this young person’s health.

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The care of children

Young people’s relevant local authority plans are not up to date and do not contain essential information regarding young people’s needs and risks. For example, one young person’s placement plan is from 2018. It does not contain important information about safeguarding concerns and criminal behaviour. As a result, not all young people’s care needs are understood by staff and this hinders young people’s progress and safety.

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The care of children

Most young people receive good support through Covid-19 restrictions, including periods when there is a national lockdown. Staff engage the young people well with different activities in the home to try to keep them motivated. This helped when children were not in school due to the pandemic and were struggling to manage Assurance visit report: 2546172 3 their behaviour. One young person told the inspector that they found lockdown boring and hard, and he is looking forward to it being lifted soon.

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The care of children

Staff help young people to keep in touch with family and friends by supporting them with face-to-face visits or with telephone calls. This enables young people to keep in touch with people who are important to them.

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The care of children

The physical environment is well maintained and provides a homely place for young people to live.

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The care of children

Two of the young people in the home are in full-time education. One young person has been supported to start at a local secondary school and he told inspectors he is happy it is local so he doesn’t have to travel too far now. Another young person has recently started to engage in school, having been out of education since June. Good education support promotes children’s learning.

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The safety of children

One young person goes missing from the home regularly. When he is not missing, he often spends extended periods of time in the community. The manager and staff do not take the necessary steps to manage the risks associated with this. They do not follow missing from care protocols or undertake regular safe and well checks identified as necessary in the young person’s risk assessment.

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The safety of children

When there are concerns about where the young person is, managers do not escalate these concerns with the young person’s placing authority. Furthermore, managers and staff do not ask questions to clarify information discussed by professionals at strategy meetings. As a result, they do not fully understand important information and act on this accordingly. This lack of action compromises the safety of this young person.

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The safety of children

Managers have not taken sufficient steps to prevent young people leaving the home at night without staff knowing. For example, in response to one such event happening, during which a young person put himself and others at significant risk of harm, managers installed an alarm on one downstairs exit door. However, they did not do this for another exit door. This means that young people could still leave the home at night without staff knowing. Consequently, managers have not acted effectively to reduce a known risk.

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The safety of children

Physical intervention records do not contain an accurate description of each hold and its duration. In addition, records do not set out if any injuries were sustained and if any medical attention was necessary, or administered, as a result of the physical intervention. These shortfalls mean that it is not clear if restraint practice is proportionate and safe, and whether young people have access to medical assistance should they need it. In addition, records of discussions held with the young person and staff, following physical intervention incidents, are not completed. This is a missed opportunity to understand what happened and learn from it, and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Assurance visit report: 2546172 4 In some instances, staff lack professional curiosity. One young person is involved in significant criminal activity and has returned to the home with new clothing, possessions and money, which is unexplained. Staff have failed to identify indicators

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The safety of children

of criminal exploitation, and the risk assessment around potential exploitation and strategies to manage this risk are weak. Information shared at strategy meetings is not understood by the manager or acted on. In addition, there is a lack of professional challenge to ensure that there is a coordinated plan to help protect this young person from harm.

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The safety of children

Staff do not have the skills to engage young people in discussions about their risk- taking behaviours. Inspectors identified a lack of targeted work with young people on key issues of concern to help them understand why their behaviours are of concern and what can be done to reduce risks to their safety. This means that concerns related to young people going missing from home and exploitation have not been fully explored by staff with young people and this is a missed opportunity to support young people to keep safe.

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Leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have admitted young people to the home without fully exploring their risks and suitability, and without having a comprehensive strategy of how to manage these risks and keep young people safe. Insufficient assessment of risk has placed the new young person at risk of harm as well as those young people already living at the home. Furthermore, by agreeing to care for a young person at risk of exploitation and who goes missing from home regularly, leaders and managers have breached the home’s statement of purpose.

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Leaders and managers

Monitoring and oversight of the quality of care provided to young people is poor. Inspectors found that physical intervention records do not meet regulation, significant incident records are poor and some could not be located. These shortfalls have not been identified through the manager’s routine monitoring of records and day-to-day practice at the home. This lack of oversight undermines her ability to identify shortfalls and bring about improvement.

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Leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staff have the necessary training to meet the needs of young people living at the home. Staff have not received any training in managing missing episodes from home and only one member of staff has received training in criminal exploitation. This does not equip staff to identify and manage these risks effectively. As a result, staff lack the knowledge and skills to keep young people safe and they have missed key warning signs of criminal exploitation.

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Leaders and managers

Managers have not notified Ofsted about serious incidents in the home. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of the home Assurance visit report: 2546172 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— 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; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii))* 10 January 2021

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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— helps aspire to their full potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h))* 10 January 2021

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended 10 January 2021 Assurance visit report: 2546172 6 that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(a))* The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out— the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. The registered person must ensure that— within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is

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Requirement Due date

made which includes— a description of the measure and its duration; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")— has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(b)(3)(a)(iv)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c) 10 January 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e) 10 January 2021

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Children’s homes staff should encourage children to take a proactive role in looking after their day to day health and well-being. Where children have specific health needs or conditions, they should be supported to manage these subject to their age and understanding. When a child needs additional health or well-being Assurance visit report: 2546172 7 support, staff should work with the child’s placing authority to enable proper and immediate access to any specialist medical, psychological or psychiatric support required, and challenge them through regulation 5 - engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met, if this doesn’t happen. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.10)  Relevant plans are defined in the interpretation section of the Regulations (regulation 2) as: any placement plan; any care plan; any statement of special

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Recommendations

educational needs; any education, health and care plan ("EHC plan"). The essential point is that a child’s plans should form the basis of their care, and providers should use their judgement as to what is relevant in each case, taking the plans listed in the definition in the Regulations as a starting point rather than a complete list or a tick-box exercise. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 10, paragraph 2.1) In particular, managers should ensure that a copy of the most recent documents for each young person are kept at the home.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Beacon Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hazlewoods, Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham GL50 3AT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Ann-Cheri Callow

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Inspectors

James Tallis, Social Care Inspector Gareth Leckey, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: 2546172 8 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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