Children's Home run by Bristol City Council in Bristol

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 1 SC034184

p.1

Bristol City Council

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by the local authority to provide care for up to five children, aged up to 18 years, who have social and/or emotional difficulties. The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2020.

p.1

This monitoring visit

This visit was completed to review the compliance notice issued at the last inspection, on 20 to 22 January 2021. At the time of this monitoring visit, one child is living in the home.

p.1

This monitoring visit

This monitoring inspection included a visit to the home to speak with the child and staff, and to check the environment. In response to the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown restrictions, a review of records and telephone discussions with professionals took place remotely.

p.1

This monitoring visit

Appropriate steps have been taken to address the actions listed in the compliance notice, Regulation 6: The quality and purpose of care standard. However, the registered provider’s action plan is in the early stages of implementation, and further development is required to assess its impact. The manager has identified shortfalls in relation to the training needs of staff. He is ensuring that the required training is completed so that staff have the skills to care for the individual needs of children living at this home. Staff have received behaviour management and restraint training from an external provider. Further training in managing challenging and aggressive behaviour is planned. The inspector identified that some staff also require training in first aid and fire safety.

p.1

This monitoring visit

Staff spoke positively to the inspector about how the mandatory training they have received has assisted their confidence. In addition, they feel highly supported by the registered manager. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 2 As a result of the findings from the last inspection, leaders and managers appropriately moved a child from this home to another home within the service, to prevent further negative impact on her progress. Familiar staff supported her with this move to ensure that it went smoothly.

p.1

This monitoring visit

The progress of the child still living at this home is varied. His health needs are being met, as staff have supported him to receive dental treatment and to have blood tests. Staff help the child to engage in activities such as baking, playing on his scooter, walks to the park and playing with a science kit. Staff have been unable to help the child to make consistent progress with sleeping through the night and with attending school regularly. Staff have not always followed the child’s risk management plan and made sure that they do not care for him alone. Senior leaders shared that alternative plans are being considered to meet the complex needs of this child.

p.2

This monitoring visit

Physical intervention records show that the child is spoken to after the use of restraint, within timescales, to check his welfare. However, the recording form still does not include information about any injury to the child during restraint, or whether medical treatment is offered. Discussions with staff after the use of restraint are not recorded in detail. Managers’ oversight of incidents does not consistently include a review of staff practice and any learning to reduce future incidents.

p.2

This monitoring visit

The management of child protection concerns has declined since the last inspection. Leaders, managers and staff do not always prioritise the safety of the child living at this home, as they do not consistently follow safeguarding procedures. For example, when the child makes allegations or staff have concerns about other staff members’ practice, the staff do not immediately report these concerns to managers and the designated officer as required. There have been three such serious failings since the last inspection. One incident was not reported to the designated officer for almost a week.

p.2

This monitoring visit

On several occasions, referrals to the designated officer have not been made and recorded properly by managers. The quality of safeguarding investigations is weak and the outcomes of safeguarding concerns are not routinely recorded. Safeguarding records are mismanaged, and dates are inaccurate. The quality of recording of incidents is chaotic, and actions taken in response to incidents are not clear. This lack of a clear audit trail is concerning, as leaders and managers are unable to assure themselves and the regulator that the child is protected.

p.2

This monitoring visit

Not all managers who are responsible for this home demonstrate a robust understanding of the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015; important regulations are breached. For example, on six occasions, notifications about allegations of abuse against members of staff and the instigation of a child protection enquiry have not been made to Ofsted as required. In addition, some notifications that have been made have been delayed. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 3 Senior leaders assured the inspector that urgent action is being taken to address the safeguarding concerns identified at this inspection.

p.2

This monitoring visit

Ofsted will continue to monitor developments at this service. The requirements will be reviewed at the next inspection.

p.3

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 23/07/2019 Full Good 19/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 07/08/2018 Full Good 28/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 4

p.3

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard

p.4

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

p.4

Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

p.4

Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

p.4

Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

p.4

Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

p.4

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

p.4

Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

p.4

Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 5 provide to children personal items that are appropriate for their age and understanding; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice;

p.5

Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

p.5

Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

p.5

Requirement Due date

relates to the child’s development (within the meaning of section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

is not arranged or provided as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006(a),

p.5

Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

p.5

Requirement Due date

that the care is approved, and kept under review throughout its duration, by the placing authority;

p.5

Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

p.5

Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

is under the supervision of a person who is appropriately skilled and qualified to supervise that care; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

that the registered person keeps the child’s general medical practitioner informed, as necessary, about the progress of the care throughout its duration. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 6 The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

p.5

Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

p.6

Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

p.6

Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

p.6

Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

p.6

Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

p.6

Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 7 de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

p.6

Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)(xi)(b))

p.7

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.7

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;

p.7

Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

p.7

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;

p.7

Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e)) 31 March 2021

p.7

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

p.7

Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 8 have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.8

Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

p.8

Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

p.8

Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

p.8

Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

p.8

Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

p.8

Requirement Due date

that, subject to regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), contact between each child and the child’s parents, relatives and friends, is promoted in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

p.8

Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

p.8

Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs;

p.8

Requirement Due date

the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or

p.8

Requirement Due date

the child requests a review of the child’s relevant plans.

p.8

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(iii))

p.8

Requirement Due date

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

p.8

Requirement Due date

The registered person may only— 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 9 employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

p.8

Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

p.9

Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

p.9

Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

p.9

Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

p.9

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

p.9

Requirement Due date

sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

p.9

Requirement Due date

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

p.9

Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located;

p.9

Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about past abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the alleged abuse or neglect occurred;

p.9

Requirement Due date

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

p.9

Requirement Due date

describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect; and

p.9

Requirement Due date

describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 10 In particular, the registered person needs to ensure that staff understand and follow safeguarding procedures to safeguard children, and keep accurate and accessible records with clear actions and outcomes recorded.

p.9

Requirement Due date

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 made which includes—

p.10

Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure.

p.10

Requirement Due date

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—

p.10

Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

p.10

Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(viii)(b)(i)(ii))

p.10

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that debrief discussions with staff are recorded in detail, and that managers’ reviews of incidents include how to improve practice and reduce the use of restraint. 31 March 2021

p.10

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.10

Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

p.10

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

p.10

Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

p.10

Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

p.10

Requirement Due date

is instigated; or 31 March 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 11 concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

p.10

Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

p.11

Requirement Due date

This is with regard to ensuring that notifications of significant events are made to Ofsted, and that they are made promptly after concerns have been raised or allegations have been made.

p.11

Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

p.11

Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bristol City Council

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Bristol City Council, Director of Legal Services, City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR

p.11

Inspector

Anna Gravelle, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: SC034184 12 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.

p.11

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.12

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.12

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.12