Children's Home run by Personal Security Service Limited in Essex

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 1

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PSS Care Group Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home, which is one of three run by a private organisation, provides care for up to four children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left on 31 March 2021. At the time of the visit, there was an interim manager in post who had been redeployed from one of the organisation’s other homes.

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This monitoring visit

At the time of the visit, one child was living at the home. Since the last monitoring visit, on 1 April 2021, two children have moved out of the home. No children have moved into the home. The purpose of this visit was to monitor the provider’s adherence to a restriction of accommodation notice, and to establish the provider’s progress in meeting the steps set out in a compliance notice that Ofsted served on 8 April 2021. This visit combined on-site and remote activity.

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This monitoring visit

The inspector found that the provider has taken insufficient action to meet the steps in the compliance notice. The provider has adhered to the restriction of accommodation.

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This monitoring visit

Several members of the organisation’s senior team and the home’s management team resigned immediately prior to, or shortly after, the last monitoring visit. This left the home without clear management and leadership and lacking oversight. The responsible individual brought in an interim manager from one of the other homes within the group. However, this person is now also leaving. A new deputy manager has been appointed. However, this person has no previous management experience and does not hold a suitable level 3 qualification. The management arrangements are not sufficiently reliable to provide the required level of leadership and management oversight of the staff team. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 2 A significant proportion of the staff team is inexperienced. However, the number of more experienced staff has improved since the last monitoring visit. This is because

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This monitoring visit

some staff have been redeployed from another home within the organisation. On several occasions, staff members have acted as shift leader as they are the most senior member of staff on duty, without the provider having assessed them as competent to do so.

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This monitoring visit

A child who lives at the home has particular additional needs. Not all staff have received suitable training to meet these additional needs. On several occasions, there have been no staff on duty working at the home who have the relevant training to meet this child’s additional needs. Only three staff members hold a relevant level 3 qualification. Therefore, many of the staff are unqualified and inexperienced in working in residential childcare and with children with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties and further additional needs.

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This monitoring visit

Managers now meet and review areas for development. However, managers do not always have a shared understanding of the actions needed. As a result, the required actions that were identified at previous monitoring visits have not been addressed effectively. Managers have not monitored the training records to ensure that all staff have undertaken all the required training. Ensuring that all staff complete suitable training to meet the particular needs of the children living at the home was a requirement at the two previous monitoring visits in February and April 2021, and the timescale for completion has passed. To date, several staff have not had training to enable them to meet the children’s needs.

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This monitoring visit

Records management at the home is not consistently of good quality. Important information about children is not shared effectively with others in the organisation, to ensure that the children’s needs are met. Records cannot always be located. On one occasion, records that were not accurate were shared with the inspector as ‘reliable’ records.

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This monitoring visit

Supervision records are not available for all staff, and the records that are available do not evidence appropriate support or reflection on practice when staff return from suspension.

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This monitoring visit

At the last monitoring visit, it was noted that it would not have been possible to escape from the kitchen in the event of a fire because of a locked fire exit. The provider has now installed a lock which ensures that the door can be safely exited in an emergency.

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This monitoring visit

Some of the previous requirements were outside the scope of this visit and were not reviewed. These requirements are therefore restated. Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 3

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 24/07/2019 Full Good 04/10/2018 Full Good 22/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 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.

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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

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

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)(i)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

children’s risk assessments and the suitability of the location assessment are consistently updated with new risks;

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Requirement Due date

the fire risk assessment is updated to reflect practice at the home and risk-reduction measures. 11 June 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

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 11 June 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 5 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that children receive care from an experienced, trained and skilled staff team;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that management capacity is sufficient to provide advice, guidance and support to the staff working at the home;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that management monitoring is comprehensive and effective, and results in any necessary action being taken to meet the children’s needs and keep them safe.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 11 June 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 6 In particular, ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

records are accurate, clear and dated, and evidence the support that the children receive;

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Requirement Due date

records of physical interventions demonstrate suitable discussions with staff and children;

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Requirement Due date

records of staff performance reviews demonstrate the ongoing suitability of staff and any support in place to promote professional development.

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children moving into the home are suitably matched with the existing resident group and the staff’s skills and experience. 11 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s 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; 11 June 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 7 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

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) (3)(a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that no staff work at the home until all suitability checks are received and the person is assessed as suitable. Furthermore, obtain a full employment history for every person working at the home in a care role, and ensure that appropriate overseas checks are completed for staff who have lived abroad.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff who have worked in a children’s home for more than two years achieve a suitable level 3 qualification. 11 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

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

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)) 11 June 2021 Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 8 In particular, ensure that staff duty rotas are clear and accurate.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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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

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (1) (4)(a)(b) (5) (7)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the independent visitor’s reports are of consistently good quality, are reviewed by the responsible individual and are sent to Ofsted promptly. 11 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should request that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that details of any planned approaches to restraint, such as locking the front door at times of escalated and risky behaviour, are documented as agreed with the child’s placing authority and included in the child’s education, health and care (EHC) plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.43)  The registered person should ensure that children’s case records are stored securely while they remain in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 9

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the provider’s adherence to a restriction of accommodation notice and to establish the provider’s progress in meeting the steps set out in a compliance notice that Ofsted served on 8 April 2021.

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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: PSS Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 284 Chase Road, London N14 6HF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Frederik Booysen

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Inspector

Joanna Heller, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home – monitoring visit: 1258658 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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