Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered to provide care and accommodation to up to three children or young people with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager recently resigned. A new manager is now in post but has not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 20 January 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/01/2020 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 3

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improvement to be good

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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improvement to be good

We last visited this setting on 14 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on our website.

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improvement to be good

During this inspection, one child was living at the home. She is currently subject to a court order that restricts her liberty. Her experiences are not yet good because staff practice has not always been effective when responding to challenging behaviour. Some areas of the home have also not been made as safe as possible considering the specific vulnerabilities of the child who currently lives at the home.

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improvement to be good

The child is, however, making progress in many areas. She is doing well at school. Her attendance is good, and she has now been enrolled onto GCSE programmes. Her headteacher reported that the home’s staff share information well with the school. The manager and staff are ambitious for the child. They set high expectations. Good routines ensure that the child is well prepared for the school day.

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improvement to be good

A real strength of this home is the relationships between the child and staff. The child feels that she can trust staff and confide in them. Staff have persevered through some challenging and difficult times, which has led to the development of trusting relationships. Staff know the child well and they enjoy spending time with her. The manager has recently introduced a system to ensure that the child receives positive feedback and supportive comments each day. This helps to reinforce the good relationships and improves the child’s self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff ensure that the child’s health needs are met. The child is registered with local primary healthcare services and receives good primary healthcare. The manager has also engaged well with specialist agencies to ensure that emotional and mental health needs have been carefully assessed. This assessment has ensured that there is now a clear understanding of the child’s needs.

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improvement to be good

The manager makes sure that the child sees her family as often as possible. Staff sensitively support the child to cope with the emotional impact of seeing family members.

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improvement to be good

The home is not consistently well presented. Some decoration, furniture and carpets appear worn and tired. Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 4

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improvement to be good

Staff responses to incidents of negative behaviour have, at times, fallen below expectations. Staff have not always intervened effectively to prevent the current child and a previous resident accessing potentially dangerous items.

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improvement to be good

The home’s bathroom contained potential hazards during the inspection. Although managers acted immediately to remove hazards, these had not previously been identified through the home’s own health and safety checks.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, the child is safer as a result of moving to the home. The frequency of missing-from-home incidents has reduced. Flexible staffing arrangements mean that additional staff can be deployed when the child’s vulnerabilities increase. Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities of the child and know what actions they should take to keep her safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment is carried out in accordance with safer recruitment protocols. This means that all staff, including agency staff, are subject to rigorous vetting processes.

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improvement to be good

The manager has recently reviewed and updated the home’s location risk assessment. In undertaking this review, she consulted with partner agencies and now has a good grasp of the local areas where children might face risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Following the recent resignation of the home’s registered manager, senior managers acted quickly to appoint a new manager. There was a smooth transition between managers. This has ensured that the home has stable management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak positively about the new manager. They say that staff morale has improved because they feel valued and are encouraged to share their views. Professional supervision of staff takes place regularly and has a focus on staff training and development. Staff supervision records are difficult to access. This makes it more difficult for managers to address staff performance issues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is strong partnership working with other agencies. This ensures that the restrictions on the child’s liberty are regularly reviewed. The manager and staff work well with the other agencies to ensure that care plans give the child as much freedom as possible while keeping her safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed several systems to monitor and improve the quality of care in the home. She has taken steps to address the weaknesses in behaviour management. The manager benefits from good and insightful independent visitor reports. Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 5 A number of staff have recently left the home and been replaced by new staff. The manager is aware that high turnover of staff has the potential to impact on the consistency of care provided to children. Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 6

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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

that the homes day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and

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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. (Regulation 12 (2)(b)(d)) 19 May 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 to aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

ensure the homes workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the manager and responsible individual ensuring that staff turnover is minimised so that children can receive care from a consistent staff team. 19 May 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 7 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home records in schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the manager ensuring that records of staff supervision are kept up to date and accessible. 19 May 2021

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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 and domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Limited, Suite 1, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Phillip Morris, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2539201 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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