Children's Home run by Progressive Futures Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 1 SC066242

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Progressive Futures Care Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a small private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who may have emotional and/ or behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been absent from work since 30 May 2019. A new manager has been in charge of the home for over a year but has yet to submit a complete application for registration with Ofsted. She is also applying to register for another home in the organisation.

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This monitoring visit

The home was last inspected in February 2020. At that time, the overall experiences and progress of children were judged to be good and the effectiveness of leaders and managers judged to require improvement. This visit was undertaken due to concerns relating to poor-quality or missing monthly reports by the independent person and concerns about the length of time that there has been no registered manager.

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This monitoring visit

The monitoring visit included a review of documents off site and a visit to the home. Inspectors were able to speak to one of the children, staff and the manager face to face and have a tour of the home. There are two children currently living at the home.

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This monitoring visit

There has been no registered manager in the home since May 2019, although the current manager has been managing the home for over a year. However, at the time of this visit, she had still not submitted a completed application for registration. It is a concern that this has not been prioritised. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 2 The statement of purpose outlines the functions of the home. However, despite the document being updated since the new manager took up post, an updated document has not been sent to Ofsted, as required by regulation, since November 2019.

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This monitoring visit

Inspectors identified a lack of robust decision-making regarding admission of new children into the home. Impact risk assessments lack sufficient information and consideration of all known risks. Furthermore, information about children’s previous behaviours and risks have not been fully explored. Impact risk assessments do not include detail of any further information that has been taken into account, such as discussions with the child’s previous carer. Ultimately, these documents do not support the decision-making about the suitability of a child being admitted to the home.

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This monitoring visit

Staff are lone working and are usually on shift for a period of 48 hours, caring for up to two children in the home. However, individual lone working risk assessments are not completed. Consequently, it is not clear what matters have been taken into consideration or what additional support measures have been put in place to ensure that sufficient staff are on duty to provide safe levels of care for children.

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This monitoring visit

Management monitoring is weak. It is unclear whether staff are familiar with crucial information about children, as documents are not always signed. Incident reports and daily recording are not always reviewed by the manager, so required actions have not been followed through. Internal and external monitoring are not currently supporting the development of the home. Reports prepared under regulation 45 fail to critically evaluate the impact that the home has had or identify areas for development, limiting their effectiveness. Similarly, the monthly independent visits to the home are failing to address areas for development. There has been no on-site visit to the property since January 2020. There have been limited discussions with children as part of these external visits. Documents have not been routinely examined due to the remote nature of these visits. Consequently, the effectiveness of these crucial visits is compromised. One young person told inspectors that they

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This monitoring visit

were unaware of the independent visitor and their role.

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This monitoring visit

Risk management plans do not include key information relating to children living in the home. For example, one child’s missing-from-care risk assessment did not contain a known address of concern where they had previously been located. Strategies for staff to follow in order to minimise known risks are not clear. Arrangements in place to manage known risks, such as utilising the home’s on-call arrangements, are not clear. There are no rules about smoking and children having lighters in the home.

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This monitoring visit

The home is in need of some maintenance and refurbishment. Repairs are not always acted on swiftly. During the visit, the manager did take action to ensure that broken electrical sockets were repaired. However, this was only after this was Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 3 identified by inspectors. Furthermore, the shower cubicle is mouldy. This environment does not promote good hygiene for children.

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This monitoring visit

External and internal doors are locked with keys at night, which means that children’s movement in their home is restricted. This also means that the home is not following its own fire safety procedures.

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This monitoring visit

Monitoring systems have failed to identify the above shortfalls. Similarly, a lack of visits to the property by both the independent person and the responsible individual over the last year means that they have failed to identify the need to address the required maintenance issues in the home.

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This monitoring visit

The staff team is consistent, and staff reported that they enjoy working in the home. Social workers were largely positive about the home. One was complimentary about staff’s ability to build relationships and identified that missing-from-home incidents have reduced for her young person since he was admitted to the home. Staff are also supportive of home contact arrangements.

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This monitoring visit

One child is currently refusing to attend school, but staff are helping him to focus on his future and what he needs to do to achieve his goals.

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This monitoring visit

One requirement relating to obtaining up-to-date records from the local authority is repeated from the last inspection, as this was not explored as part of this visit. Similarly, a number of recommendations are also repeated, as these issues have not been explored.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 19/02/2020 Full Good 22/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/07/2017 Full Outstanding 12/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 4

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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—

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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

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

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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;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(b)(d)) 25 April 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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes children’s welfare.

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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

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; 25 April 2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 5 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)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h)) The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 25 April 2021

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation for each child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, children’s case records must contain up-to-date plans and reports relating to each child, including: personal education plans; a copy of any plan for the care of the child prepared by the child’s placing authority; and the date and result of any review of the placing authority’s plan for the care of the child, or of the child’s placement plan. 25 April 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month. 25 April 2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 6 When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (7)(a)) Care Standards Act 2000 Requirement to register

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Requirement Due date

Any person who carries on or manages an establishment or agency of any description without being registered under this Part in respect of it (as an establishment or, as the case may be, agency of that description) shall be guilty of an offence.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition to adult life is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 57, paragraph 11.9)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 61, paragraph 13.2). The record of supervision should provide evidence that staff have reflected critically on children’s progress, their work with children and their training and professional development. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to understanding children’s needs, experiences and outcomes. Ensure that records of direct work with children are detailed and show clearly the outcome that the work is trying to achieve; how it fits in with the child’s plan; the child’s views, wishes and feelings; an evaluation of the effectiveness of the work; and set out what needs to happen next to support the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the review of the quality of care (under regulation 45) should enable them to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o, 18a London Street, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0UE

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Justin Pagan Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 8

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Inspectors

Mandy Williams, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Genevieve O’Reilly, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC066242 9 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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