Children's Home run by Homes 2 Inspire Limited in Nottingham

Inspection report children's home: 1254745 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to five children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private company owns and operates this home. There is a registered manager in post, who is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 7 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: 1254745 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/10/2018 Full Good 15/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1254745 3

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improvement to be good

In order to meet the additional staffing requirements of children, staff from other homes within the organisation have been deployed to this home. Although the core staff team has a clear understanding of children’s needs and behaviour management strategies, deployed staff have not fully understood children’s needs. At times, they have not been able to provide appropriate support when children’s anxieties and behaviours have escalated.

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improvement to be good

When writing records, staff sometimes use language that could stigmatise children. This is particularly when recording children’s behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Healthcare plans are comprehensive. Staff ensure that children are able to access therapeutic support for their mental and emotional health needs. Staff are good at supporting children who are anxious about attending health appointments.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to maintain good physical and emotional health. A healthy and well-balanced menu is on offer and the children are supported to have active lifestyles, including going to the gym, swimming, bike riding and walking.

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improvement to be good

All children are receiving some form of education. Their educational progress is variable, but this is due to their personal challenges, rather than a lack of support from staff and managers. The manager has advocated strongly on behalf of the children. She has ensured that they have access to education that is tailored to their needs and interests.

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improvement to be good

When children leave the home, staff and managers ensure positive endings. Children leave with beautiful memory books, capturing their achievements at the home. This enables the children to reflect positively on their time at the home in later life.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance to enable them to keep children safe. For example, staff are not clear about safety arrangements when children are cycling or travelling in the car. This has the potential to place children at risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff’s approach to behaviour management is not consistent. There have been occasions when staff have not taken every opportunity to de-escalate challenging behaviour before resorting to physical intervention.

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improvement to be good

Records of restraint are sometimes poor because they do not include all required information. Also, after being restrained, children have not always been given the Inspection report children's home: 1254745 4 opportunity to talk about the restraint. Consequently, managers are less able to gain an insight into why restraint was used, and to monitor the performance of staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff carefully follow missing-from-care protocols. They work effectively alongside safeguarding agencies to locate children quickly. When children have been missing, staff have maintained contact with them and ensured that they are offered independent return interviews so that risks and vulnerabilities are explored.

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good

The manager has been registered since December 2020. In this short time, she has worked hard to improve the home and has made some positive changes. The manager has prioritised direct work with children and staff. She provides staff with high-quality support. However, some management monitoring systems are not yet effective.

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good

Staff who are deployed from other homes have not been supported to fully understand the needs of the children they are caring for. As a result, children’s behaviour is not consistently well managed.

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good

The manager has completed a thorough analysis of the strengths and areas for improvement for each staff member. This has enabled her to develop individual training programmes. However, there are still some gaps in staff training.

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good

The core staff group receive regular supervision which supports them to improve their practice and develop within their role. Inspection report children's home: 1254745 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to children having the opportunity to express their views about any restraints that they are involved in. 24 May 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

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

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)(a)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to improving the accuracy of risk assessment and restraint practice. 24 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 aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. 24 May 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1254745 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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

This specifically relates to management monitoring systems.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii) (c)) 24 May 2021

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Recommendations

Inspection report children's home: 1254745 7  The registered person should ensure that when restraint involves the use of force, the force used must not be more than is necessary and should be applied in a way that is proportionate, i.e. the minimum amount of force necessary to avert injury or serious damage to property, for the shortest possible time. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.50)  The registered person should ensure that staff are 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

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Earnshaw

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Inspectors

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1254745 8 Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1254745 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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