Children's Home run by T-Junction Children’s Services in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 1 Registered provider: T-Junction Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company and provides care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager is yet to register with Ofsted and has been in post since June 2020.

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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. We last visited this setting on 30 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring 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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good

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

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: 27 November 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

An assurance visit was carried out on 14 October 2020, which led to serious and widespread concerns being identified. A compliance notice was issued under Regulation 12, the protection of children standard. A monitoring visit took place on 30 November 2020. That visit identified that sufficient progress had been made and the compliance notice had been met. Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/10/2019 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. They speak positively about their care and have aspirations for the future. Children have experienced improvements in their emotional health and well-being, and this is contributing to improved outcomes for children in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have education placements and they are engaging well. One child receives additional support to re-engage with education. Professionals gave positive feedback about the progress children are making educationally and in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to the children and provide them with consistent care. Children have positive, nurturing and trusting relationships with the adults in the home. This means that the children experience stability and they have secure attachments to the adults who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s healthcare needs are met. This includes appropriate management of self-injurious behaviours. Staff work well with external agencies to access additional support when this is required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are not fully prepared practically or emotionally for moving on from the home. They are not encouraged to develop practical life skills. This has the potential to impact on their ability to cope without the home’s support when they move on to independence.

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improvement to be good

Children have positive relationships with the staff at the home. Children say that they feel safe and that they are treated with respect in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide children with consistent boundaries. They speak confidently about the children, demonstrating a good understanding of their needs, risks and vulnerabilities.

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improvement to be good

Children’s plans and risk assessments are not consistently shared with the staff team in a timely way. This means that, on some occasions, staff have not worked with the most current information and risk-management strategies in place. Some risk assessments are confusing, and do not reflect the action taken by staff in the home.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of children going missing from the home and unauthorised absences are not managed consistently. Agreed strategies for managing missing-from-home incidents are not yet fully embedded in the team. This is due, in part, to incidents of going missing being a new behaviour in the home. Information-sharing is not taking place in a timely way within the team. Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 4 On occasions, there has not been a qualified first aider on shift. There have been recent concerns around self-injurious behaviours in the home. The lack of a qualified first aider could impact negatively on the availability and administering of immediate first aid for children and staff in the home. This has the potential to cause harm.

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improvement to be good

Allegations of harm are managed well. The manager responds appropriately to any allegations, consulting with external safeguarding agencies, in order to protect the children in the home.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment procedures in the home are not sufficiently robust. The manager does not have access to staff recruitment files. This restricts the manager’s oversight of recruitment of staff for the home. Some information on file is out of date. There has not been sufficient scrutiny of the references provided for staff. This means that there is an increased risk of potentially unsuitable people being employed to work at the home.

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good

The manager has yet to register with Ofsted. There have been significant delays in this application. This has the potential to impact on the stability of the home.

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good

The manager does not have clear oversight of the paperwork used in the home. Processes to monitor and review the quality of care in the home are ineffective. Key documents in the home are not easily accessible due to the online system that is being used. The manager does not have access to some documents and has difficulty in locating information. This impacts on being able to share, review and update plans and risk assessments in a timely way.

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good

The induction process for staff is not robust. New staff do not have to complete specific training, such as around safeguarding, prior to working alone with children on shift. This means that children are being cared for by staff who may not have sufficient knowledge or skills to protect them from harm.

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good

The independent visitor reports are limited and, as such, they do not fully support the ongoing development of the home. Access to records has been difficult due to the recording system in place in the home. Children, and professionals external to the home, are not routinely consulted with during independent visits. The independent visitor does not comment on whether children are safeguarded effectively. This means that professionals external to the home are not provided with a clear evaluation of the home.

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good

Staff are positive about the manager and the support and leadership that they receive. Staff have regular supervision and team meetings. They have access to a range of training to further develop their skills and knowledge. Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 5 The manager has established positive links with external agencies and professionals. The manager and staff work well within a multi-agency team and communication is good.

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good

The manager has a clear view of how the home can be developed. There is a good understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 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 staff— have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to staff training around safeguarding and ensuring that children’s plans are shared and followed by staff each time the plans are updated. 1 July 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 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 manager 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 1 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 7 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the management oversight and monitoring of all aspects of the home.

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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 (2)(a)) 1 July 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

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that information held on file is in date and that there is sufficient scrutiny of references provided by applicants. 1 July 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should endeavour to prioritise their application to become the registered manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 60, paragraph 12.1)  The registered person should endeavour to review how staff’s reports could be more child-focused, transparent and meaningful to children. Children could be more included in understanding the progress that they are making. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  The registered person should provide a plan to support each child to prepare for a move to independent living. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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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) Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 8 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: T-Junction Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 27 The Pastures, Narborough, Leicester LE19 3DS

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Inspector

Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2495951 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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