Children's home run by Northumberland County Council in Northumberland

Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 1 SC468929 Registered provider: Northumberland County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who may experience emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2013 and 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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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2020 Full Good 29/01/2019 Full Good 10/01/2018 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by staff who have an in-depth knowledge of each child’s needs. Staff provide children with consistent boundaries and expectations, which promotes structure and enables children to experience stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager assesses the suitability of admissions into the home, taking into consideration the impact on children already placed. The manager uses information shared by partner agencies to develop guidance for staff to follow, to help them to understand children’s needs and how to support each child and keep them safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop self-care skills. They promote good health and hygiene and encourage children to attend all routine health appointments. The manager shares information with health agencies so that children receive specialist input quickly when this is required. This supports children with their more complex needs and helps them to keep safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager collaborates with education professionals. All children are in education and have good attendance. For some children, this is significant progress from their starting point.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s care planning documents include individualised desired outcomes and how staff should support each child to progress. Plans are subject to regular review and are current. Occasionally, staff use stigmatising language in case records, which children could misinterpret and therefore not find helpful. Children’s views, wishes and feelings are captured in their care plans. This inclusion helps to empower children by showing them that their voice is important.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain contact with those who are important to them. Staff have adapted the arrangements for family visits when the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic have prohibited face-to-face visits, to enable children to maintain contact virtually. As restrictions have eased, face-to-face visits have resumed which incorporate measures to protect the children from the virus. Staff promote family connections, where appropriate, which supports children’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager proactively supports children to prepare to move on from the home. She initiates early planning and the involvement of other professionals so that children’s needs and the support they require are identified. Children are kept informed throughout this process, which gives them time to adjust and cope with the forthcoming changes. Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 4

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children have strong bonds with their caring adults. One child said, ‘The staff are all about you, they do everything to make sure you are alright, I’m happy here.’ Children develop trusting relationships with staff, which helps them to feel safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children know how to complain and are helped to raise any concerns that arise. Complaints are dealt with in a timely manner. Children receive feedback when their complaint has been processed, so that they know their views have been heard and taken seriously.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff use restorative sanctions to help children to take responsibility for their actions. The manager scrutinises this practice to ensure that it is fair. Key-work sessions are used to help children to further explore and reflect on their actions, including when they may have affected other children in the home. Children are helped to consider the feelings of others, which promotes harmonious living.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children who face issues such as substance misuse are supported to access specialist services to help them understand the associated risks and learn about healthy choices. There has been a significant decrease in substance misuse, which demonstrates that children become increasingly safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager acts appropriately when safeguarding concerns are reported. However, the current system in place for staff to report such concerns does not account for times when the manager is not available. This has resulted, on two occasions, in a delay in staff following safeguarding processes. While children have not suffered harm, the current system requires review to ensure that immediate action is taken to keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff use incentives to promote positive behaviour and to help encourage children to make safe choices. Children who formerly went missing from the home have not faced such issues for a considerable period. The support children receive helps them to become significantly safer.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

At the last inspection, a recommendation was made to inform Ofsted of any serious incidents that occur. However, a review of documents shows that two incidents have not been notified. The manager has taken the necessary actions during each incident and children have not suffered harm. Additionally, the manager has scrutinised the practice of staff and supported them to develop their practice. However, failure to notify Ofsted means that information cannot be scrutinised prior to inspection, to ensure that children are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably qualified and highly experienced. She is supported by a stable staff team, which includes an assistant manager. There has been a low turnover of staff. Safer recruitment processes are followed when staff are appointed, Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 5 which provides assurance that adults are suitably vetted to look after the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager nurtures her staff and provides them with access to additional guidance and support to promote their well-being. Staff consistently say that they feel well supported and that the morale within the team is high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed effective and thorough auditing processes to monitor the care that children receive. She invites scrutiny from outside agencies and uses the advice given to make further improvements, to raise the standard of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home was being completely redecorated during the inspection. Children have been consulted regarding this process and have helped to choose colours and new items to furnish the home. The manager ensures that health and safety checks are regularly completed, so that children live in a safe and well-maintained home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly and are well attended. They are used to help staff to reflect on their practice and to learn from each other. Staff have regular supervision, which is used to discuss children’s needs in detail. Occasionally, reflection is not evident in supervision records, which is a missed opportunity to support staff to develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have completed all mandatory training and have ongoing training in the chosen therapeutic model. This means that staff continually develop their understanding, so that they acquire further skills to support the children in their care. Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 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, the 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— that staff— 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; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)) 12 May 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child— is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 13 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff supervision enables staff to reflect and act on how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15)  The registered person should ensure that there are sufficient staff, including someone in a management role, on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC468929 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 2EF

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Inspector

Paula Kelly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC468929 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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