Children's Home run by United Children's Services Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 1 SC489036 Registered provider: United Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children/young people with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, 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 6 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on our 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: SC489036 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/02/2019 Full Good 07/08/2017 Full Good 09/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 3

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improvement to be good

During this inspection, there were six children living at the home. Children do not have good relationships with the manager and have raised complaints about her. These concerns are under investigation. Relationships between staff and children are also weakened because staff have not always managed incidents of poor behaviour effectively.

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improvement to be good

All the children habitually smoke tobacco. Staff’s efforts to help children reduce or stop smoking have been unsuccessful. Children go unchallenged when they have tobacco. When efforts to discourage smoking have not been effective, staff have not identified new strategies.

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improvement to be good

Children cannot speak confidentially to someone independent of the home’s staff to raise any concerns they might have. This lack of independent advocacy means that managers might not be aware of children’s concerns.

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improvement to be good

Children are making good progress in education. This is a real achievement because many children have missed a considerable amount of education before moving to the home. They all now have clear education plans. Children’s attendance at education is good. Staff complete work at home with children to ensure that children make progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff undertake individual key-work sessions with children. The quality of these sessions has recently improved. They cover important issues, such as peer relationships and children’s feelings toward family members. These sessions help children to talk about the things that are important to them and help to develop the relationships between children and staff.

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improvement to be good

Children have good relationships with staff. Staff listen to children and demonstrate a genuine warmth towards children, which has led to the development of affectionate bonds.

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improvement to be good

The manager and the staff work creatively to ensure children get to see family and friends. Staff support children during and after visits because they understand that family meetings can create strong emotional reactions for children.

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improvement to be good

Staff interventions have not always been effective when managing negative behaviour. The manager and the staff have followed children’s behaviour management plans. However, staff are not pro-active enough. They do not always Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 4 use their knowledge of children to de-escalate situations before children become distressed.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not consistently ensured that children and staff involved in incidents are debriefed. This limits opportunities to learn lessons that might prevent future incidents. The failure to robustly review incidents also means that managers do not properly evaluate staff practice or identify areas of potential improvement.

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improvement to be good

Staff have imposed boundaries for children that are, at times, too inflexible. This can result in the children’s behaviour becoming heightened. A lack of flexibility in staff approaches has led to children becoming unhappy with some aspects of their care and has not supported children to improve their behaviour.

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improvement to be good

One child’s bedroom is in a poor state of repair. Damage to the room has not been repaired in a timely way, causing a potential hazard. Additionally, food items had not been removed. This meant the room was unwelcoming and potentially unsafe. This is in contrast to what is otherwise a well-maintained home.

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improvement to be good

Some children are vulnerable because they go missing from care. Staff help children to understand the risks associated with going missing, including the risk of exploitation. The manager has completed a good location risk assessment, which sets out clear actions that staff should take to locate children quickly if they go missing. When children do go missing, the manager and staff follow statutory guidance and work effectively with other agencies to return children safely. This has led to a reduction in the number of missing episodes overall.

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good

Children feel that they are not listened to by the manager. Some children have raised concerns that the manager is not sufficiently available to them and that she does not understand their needs, particularly in relation to their mental health. Senior managers have taken these concerns seriously and are investigating them.

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good

The manager has not yet attained the required qualification in leadership and management. She is enrolled on the course, however, and is committed to completing this award.

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good

Staff are positive about working in the home. They say that the manager provides them with regular supervision and makes herself available to them for support, guidance and direction. The staff team, over recent months, has become more stable, and the reliance on temporary staff has ended. This means that children receive care from a consistent group of adults.

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good

The manager has a clear staff development plan. The manager is harnessing the varied experience and skills of staff to enhance the overall quality of care. For example, she has staff with experience in providing careers advice supporting children to think positively about their futures. Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 5 The manager is very well supported by a visible and focused responsible individual. The responsible individual spends time with children, listens to children and responds positively to children’s views. Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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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.

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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

This relates to children having access to someone independent of the management of the home to raise any concerns they may have. 24 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The health and wellbeing standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

This is with reference to children smoking. 24 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 7 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; and

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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

This is made in relation to staff managing challenging incidents in the home and the relationships between children to prevent incidents escalating. 24 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

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

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This is about the manager assuring herself through quality assurance processes that all areas of the home are of an acceptable standard. Additionally, the manager must be assured that children can access independent and 24 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 8 confidential advice and guidance over any aspect of their care.

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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: SC489036 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: United Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Coach House, Drinsey Nook, Lincoln, Nottinghamshire LN1 2JJ

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Inspector(s)

Phillip Morris, Social Care Inspector Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC489036 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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

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