Children's Home run by Educare Support Limited in Enfield

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 1

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Educare Support Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home cares for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties (EBD).

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered by Ofsted in January 2020.

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Inspection date: 22 October 2020

Date of previous inspection: This home has not yet received a full inspection since it was registered.

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This monitoring visit

This monitoring visit was triggered by several complaints received by Ofsted. The complainants expressed the following concerns:  The registered manager and a number of staff were dismissed with immediate effect or have resigned within a short space of time.  The home is staffed by agency staff who do not know the children.  The director/responsible individual’s wife visits the home and has unsupervised access to children residing in the home.  Neither the registered individual nor his wife signs in or out when they arrive or leave the children’s home.  The director/responsible individual and his wife have concealed artefacts in the children’s home.  Fire exits have been blocked with a wide-screen television and a tumble dryer. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 2  Due to the number of staff members who have left, processes to report a child missing have not been followed.

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This monitoring visit

 There are an excessive number of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside and outside the property.  Staff members and children are not aware of whether they are being recorded by CCTV and are uncomfortable with the number of cameras around the home.

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This monitoring visit

The main outcomes of the visit are as follows :  Nearly all the staff team members were dismissed by the provider with immediate effect from 12 October 2020. This includes the registered manager, permanent staff and regular agency staff.  The registered manager and staff members were not offered the opportunity to have positive endings with children.  Children who had built significant relationships with staff members were affected by the changes in staffing and were unsettled by them.  The home has been staffed predominantly by agency staff members since 12 October 2020.  The high turnover of staff prevents children in the home from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs.  Children in the home reported feeling unhappy due to the instability that the sudden loss of permanent staff has created.

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This monitoring visit

During the monitoring visit, the inspector interviewed one child, the director/responsible individual, the interim manager and one member of staff.

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This monitoring visit

The home fails to ensure that children are adequately protected from adults who have not been deemed suitable to have access to them or the home. The inspector was informed by the director/responsible individual, that his wife has visited the home a number of times and has had unsupervised access to children. On one occasion, the director’s/responsible individual’s wife accompanied one of the children living in the home from a hair salon appointment to the children’s home in a taxi. The director/responsible individual’s wife has no defined staffing role in the day-to- day running of the children’s home. No evidence could be found of the required suitability checks being completed. When the inspector asked the director /responsible individual why his wife had been left unsupervised with a child out in the community, the provider stated that his wife had not been unsupervised as a taxi driver was present.

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This monitoring visit

An allegation has been made concerning the actions taken by the director’s/responsible individual’s wife during a visit she made to the home. The matter is currently being considered by the designated officer for the local authority. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 3 The home fails to keep accurate records of those who visit the home. The director/responsible individual, the interim manager and the provider/responsible individual’s wife do not sign into or out of the home.

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This monitoring visit

Recruitment checks do not ensure that children are only looked after by adults who are deemed suitable to care for them. The director/responsible individual employed an interim manager prior to dismissing the registered manager. However, there is no evidence of the interim manager’s references being verified, and they do not have a contract of employment. The interim manager has no previous experience of managing a children’s home. In addition, the one other permanent member of staff employed at the home has not had their references verified.

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This monitoring visit

Staff on duty are not always trained to care for children in an emergency. During the monitoring visit, the director/responsible individual and the interim manager were unable to evidence that, since 12 October 2020, there has always been at least one person on duty at the home who has a first aid qualification.

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This monitoring visit

The director/responsible individual confirmed that he and his wife have concealed artefacts on the premises. Although the director/responsible individual stated to the inspector that these were for the purposes of encouraging peace in the home, there was little regard shown for what the impact of concealing any item on the premises would be on children or staff.

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This monitoring visit

Staff do not always follow agreed missing from care protocols. The inspector found evidence that an agency staff member failed to report a child as missing from the home in line with missing procedures. The agency staff member was recorded as ‘attending to the needs of the younger child living at the home’, when the other child failed to return to the home in line with her curfew time. Team meeting minutes and memorandums to staff also show that staff have not consistently followed missing from care procedures when children have gone missing.

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This monitoring visit

During the tour of the home, the inspector noted that there are 24 CCTV cameras on the premises: 14 internal, 10 external and one doorbell monitor. The director/registered individual reported that CCTV was operational internally in communal areas until June 2020 but is no longer in use internally. However, children said that they were unclear whether the CCTV is currently recording, while some staff said that they believe the CCTV is in use internally and externally. The number of cameras and their use are not proportionate.

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This monitoring visit

Records lack accurate details. Daily logs of children’s activities are not always signed, dated or fully completed. In addition, records of the types of meals eaten by children, the activities they have engaged in and children’s general well-being are not routinely completed.

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This monitoring visit

A tour of the home confirmed that there was no evidence to support the complaint of a wide-screen television blocking a fire escape. However, the interim manager Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 4 confirmed that a clothes’ airer had been blocking a fire door in the laundry room on 12 October 2020. This has since been removed.

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This monitoring visit

In conclusion, most of the concerns raised in the complaints were found to have merit. The nature of the shortfalls means that there are serious and widespread concerns with reasonable cause to believe that children will or may be exposed to a risk of harm.

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This monitoring visit

Because of these findings, Ofsted took enforcement action and issued the home with a notice suspending the setting on 28 October 2020.

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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 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

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; 19/01/2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 5 ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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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

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 19/01/2021

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Requirement Due date

at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (1)(2)(a)) 19/01/2021

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home; and 19/01/2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 6 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the person in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b)(i), a person has the appropriate experience and qualification if the person has—

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Requirement Due date

within the last 5 years, worked for at least 2 years in a position relevant to the residential care of children;

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Requirement Due date

worked for at least one year in a role requiring the supervision and management of staff working in a care role; and

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Requirement Due date

the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 5 Diploma’); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level 5 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a person who starts managing a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 3 years after the date on which that person started managing a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a person who was managing a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2017.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider may defer the relevant date if the person—

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Requirement Due date

does not manage, or has not managed, a home for a prolonged period; or

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Requirement Due date

manages, or has managed, a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(2)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(3)(a)(b) (4)(a)(b)) Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

Maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)) 19/01/2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 7 In particular, a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked;

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Requirement Due date

a record of any persons who reside or work at any time at the home, who are not mentioned in the records kept in accordance with paragraphs 1 or 2;

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Requirement Due date

a record of all visitors to the home, and to children, including the names of visitors and the reasons for the visit. The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the excessive use of closed-circuit television cameras. 19/01/2021

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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 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to ensuring that individuals without a defined role in the children’s home do not have unsupervised access to children or the home. 19/01/2021

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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. 19/01/2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 8 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv) (v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to staff needing to take appropriate action when children are missing. 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 their 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to concealing items in the children’s home without the knowledge or consent of children or staff. 19/01/2021 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 9

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

This relates to maintaining detailed and accurate records of children’s daily activities.

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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 registration.

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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: Educare Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 453 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG2 6EW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher O’Nions

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2569345 10 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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