Children's Home run by Shropshire Council in Shropshire

Inspection report children's home: SC382730 1 SC382730 Registered provider: Shropshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children's home

The home offers a short-break provision for up to five children who have social and/or emotional difficulties. It is owned and operated by a local authority.

p.1

Information about this children's home

Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

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

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

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.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 4 February 2020

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC382730 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/02/2020 Full Good 27/02/2019 Full Good 29/11/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC382730 3

p.2

improvement to be good

During the COVID-19 pandemic, senior managers have changed the statement of purpose to enable them to respond to the needs of children and their families who need support at times of crisis. Difficulties in finding suitable placements for children with complex needs have resulted in some children staying beyond the 17 days.

p.3

improvement to be good

The manager has been proactive in keeping the regulator informed. Managers and staff have ensured that when new placements have been found, children experience positive moves that consider their unique needs. This child-centred approach enables children to experience a successful transition.

p.3

improvement to be good

The move to offering crisis placements means that children can arrive at short notice. This has recently resulted in a young child being admitted for a short period to allow time for senior managers to find the right specialised residential placement. This decision to admit the child resulted in another child’s placement ending a day earlier than planned.

p.3

improvement to be good

The home is registered to admit children for short breaks who have social and/or emotional difficulties . However, from reviewing the current child’s information and presenting needs, the child has a learning disability. During the inspection, the inspector identified information about another child who had previously been admitted and also had a learning disability. Consequently, managers have admitted two children outside of the home’s conditions of registration.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff are committed to providing high-quality care and work extremely hard to meet children’s individual needs. However, despite all of their efforts, they have struggled to meet the current child’s needs. Staff have used their imagination and creativity to source aids to help them to communicate with the child and to create a sensory space within days of the child arriving. The efforts of the manager and staff are commendable. However, their knowledge of caring for children with learning disabilities is limited and this has left them vulnerable at times in how to best care for the child.

p.3

improvement to be good

The child is supervised by two members of staff. Despite this staffing ratio, staff have sometimes reacted to the child’s presenting needs by locking internal doors and blocking of the gate with boards in an attempt to keep the child safe. However, in taking this reactive action, the staff have potentially compromised the child’s liberty.

p.3

improvement to be good

Despite the shortfalls in the care of the current child, children usually have a good short-break experience. Staff share children’s hobbies and interests, such as walking in the countryside, playing board games and playing football in the garden. This enables children to develop meaningful relationships based on shared interests. Inspection report children's home: SC382730 4 During day-to-day discussions and planned key-work sessions, staff gently encourage children to eat healthy food and to exercise with friends. This helps children to progress socially and emotionally. Children have the opportunity to influence decisions during their short-break stays. This includes the activities they do and what they like to eat. However, the current child is not able to benefit from these experiences because his needs are outside of the staff’s skills and knowledge.

p.3

improvement to be good

Managers have not updated the children’s guide with key information, such as up- to-date information about current staff and information about key agencies. The guide has not been adapted to reflect the diverse needs of children who may access the service. This means that children do not have information that takes account of their needs.

p.4

improvement to be good

Daily records are written in a child-friendly way using photographs and supporting text. This means that children have a balanced record of their time at the home, which they can look at in the future and which may help them to build resilience.

p.4

improvement to be good

When the home admits a child in crisis, this can mean that records relating to the child are not immediately available. This can create a delay in the staff having access to essential information to help them meet a child’s presenting needs.

p.4

improvement to be good

When children are known to the service, managers ensure that there are detailed risk assessments that describe children's behaviours and give staff guidance about how to keep children safe. On the rare occasion that children go missing from the home, staff look for them and try to contact them. When necessary, they contact the police. When children return, staff arrange an interview with an independent person. However, on one occasion, a child who was at high risk of going missing did not have an individual missing from care protocol. Staff were advised to follow a generic protocol that did not reflect the child's exceptionally high level of risk. This means that staff did not have sufficient information to keep the child safe.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff are not always safely recruited. Managers do not verify references with previous employers. This compromises the ability of managers to be assured that only suitable people work with vulnerable children.

p.4

improvement to be good

Managers usually ensure that all new children take part in a fire drill at the start of their short break. At the time of the inspection, the manager had not completed a personal evacuation plan or a fire drill for the current child. Staff were unsure how the child would respond to the sound of the fire alarms. Consequently, staff have been left ill-prepared on how they would manage a situation if the alarms were to go off and how they would get the child to a place of safety.

p.4

improvement to be good

When children self-harm, staff act quickly to keep them safe. Staff use their knowledge of children and their strong relationships to calm them and to help them Inspection report children's home: SC382730 5 to relax. Staff then ensure that children receive care and support that responds to their individual needs. This means that children feel confident about asking staff for help when they need it.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff are good at giving children verbal praise and rewards for acts of kindness and for being polite and pleasant. Consequently, the home has a calm atmosphere and children who are offered a short break want to spend time in the home. The home is a place where children can feel relaxed. As a result, incidents are few and physical intervention is rarely used.

p.5

improvement to be good

The location risk assessment is updated with information from the local police. As a result, staff are informed about known and emerging risks to children that are within the vicinity of the home. In-depth handovers ensure that staff are kept updated about children's developing risks.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has recently had a change of manager. The current manager has been in post six weeks and was previously the deputy. The manager has started to make changes to processes and systems, which will help to enhance the quality of care offered to children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When decisions have been made on who should be admitted to the home, the local authority has not considered the details set out in the home’s certificate of registration. This has resulted in the local authority breaching their conditions of registration.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff feel valued and are motivated to deliver care that makes a positive difference to children’s lives. However, this good practice does not always get evidenced through supervision. During supervisions, managers do not always talk with staff about safeguarding children or whistle-blowing. This means that managers are missing opportunities to develop staff practice and to promote a safeguarding culture in the home. Furthermore, some members of staff have not received an annual appraisal to enable them to have their performance formally reviewed.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have good access to training opportunities to ensure that their knowledge and skills remain up to date. However, staff have been left vulnerable when trying to care for children with learning disabilities as their training has not been extended to children with additional needs. Furthermore, managers do not include staff training and development needs in the workforce plan. Consequently, managers are missing an opportunity to evidence how they develop staff practice and improve the quality of care.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When children arrive for their short break, they are offered the opportunity to attend a welcome meeting where they can express their views and influence the quality of their short-break experience. However, the difficulties faced by staff in meeting the Inspection report children's home: SC382730 6 current child’s preferred methods of communication mean that the child has missed out on this positive feature of the service.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

All staff have a level 3 qualification in residential childcare and the majority have worked in the home for years. New staff receive a well-planned induction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have worked additional hours to ensure that children receive consistent care.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have worked hard to meet the requirements from the last inspection. When incidents occur, staff now have clear guidance which prompts them to inform social workers and the on-call manager. The manager then ensures that staff receive an in-depth debrief. The new manager is in regular contact with the local police and has plans for regular meetings when COVID-19 restrictions allow. Inspection report children's home: SC382730 7

p.6

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.

p.7

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—

p.7

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.7

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)) 12 June 2021

p.7

Requirement Due date

Nothing in paragraph (5) or regulation 46 (review of premises) requires or authorises the registered person to contravene or not comply with any conditions in relation to the registration of the registered person under part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

p.7

Requirement Due date

This relates to operating in line with the home’s certificate of registration. 12 June 2021

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or 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).

p.7

Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— 12 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC382730 8 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) (d))

p.7

Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers failing to verify references for new employees with previous employers.

p.8

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.8

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

p.8

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4) (b)(c)

p.8

Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to employees not receiving regular supervision and an annual appraisal. 12 June 2021

p.8

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs19 and 20) The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home's manager. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 53, para 10.8)

p.8

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that supervision of staff practice ensures that individual adults in the home are engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home so they understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 43, para 9.14)

p.8

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home's care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 61, para 13.5) Inspection report children's home: SC382730 9  The registered person should ensure that the children's guide helps children to understand: - what the day to day routines of the home are ('what happens in the home'); - the Statement of Purpose of the home (the care they can expect to receive while living there); - how to contact the Office of the Children's Commissioner. ('Guide to the

p.8

Recommendations

children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 24, para 4.22)

p.9

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: SC382730 10

p.9

Children's home details

Registered provider address: Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY2 6ND

p.10

Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC382730 11 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.

p.10

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.11

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.11

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.11