Children's home run by Homes 2 Inspire Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to five children who may be experiencing emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2018.

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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: 9 December 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/12/2019 Full Outstanding 12/03/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a good standard of care from a committed staff team. Staff know the children well and talk about them with affection. They provide the children with consistent boundaries, using appropriate sanctions when needed. Children and staff have good relationships and there is good humour in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made notable progress in many areas, despite the pandemic. They have individualised education programmes and, despite having been out of education for some time, make good progress. Children can take part in accredited Youth Achievement Awards. This provides them with the chance to try new activities, resulting in a sense of achievement and increased self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend regular time with their families where possible. They work closely with parents to achieve this. For one child, this has resulted in increased time with their family, which was not in place previously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are consistently met. Some children smoke and have tried alcohol. This is regularly addressed in day-to-day conversations. Children’s emotional needs are also very well met. External support is sought when needed. One child recently experienced a significant bereavement. The staff skilfully supported them through this. This meant that the child had a safe place to process the loss, in a way that met her specific needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have experienced some changes in the staff team. There are some new members of staff, who are still building relationships with the children. These changes have been unsettling for the children, but this is improving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Before children move in, the manager gathers detailed information about their individual needs to make sure that they can make progress at the home. When children move out, staff ensure that placement endings are child-centred and carefully managed. Children remain in contact with the home when they have moved on. This helps children to feel valued.

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

Children move into the home only after careful consideration. The manager makes a detailed assessment of whether the home is the right place for a prospective new child and makes sure that staff will be able to meet the child’s needs. The manager is knowledgeable about risks in the local area. However, the home’s locality risk assessment does not reflect the level and type of risk in the area and needs to be improved. Work to improve the locality risk assessment will further assure that children are appropriately placed and risks in the community are known and minimised. Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 4 Children are as safe as they can be at this home. The manager and staff follow safeguarding procedures and protocols. Staff respond effectively if a child is at risk. For example, staff follow missing-from-care procedures, and go out to actively look for children if they go missing. They continue to look for them until they safely

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

return. Staff respond well to any incidents of challenging behaviour. Staff restrain children only when absolutely necessary, and children have a voice about anything that they feel is unnecessary or unfair.

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

There is some particularly good work in relation to collecting information from children about their contacts and friends and from their social media platforms. This is a very effective starting point for staff to manage risk and to help children to learn about keeping safe.

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

There are strong relationships between staff and other professionals. This means that staff and other professionals can make very well-informed decisions about children’s safety and welfare.

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

Children feel able to talk to staff about their worries and problems. Children are willing to discuss their risks. Staff and children come up with plans together to reduce risk.

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

Children learn that their voice is important, and they do have their say. The manager and staff give the children the confidence to make complaints and to say what they think. This prepares them well for adulthood as they develop their confidence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a very effective leader. She advocates strongly for the children, as a good parent would. She listens carefully to the child’s views and ensures that these views are heard by other professionals. The manager holds other professionals to account if she feels that children have been unfairly treated in any way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team always focuses on the children’s needs. Leaders and managers are prepared to make decisions about the need for children to move on from the home, but they do not give up on children easily. Children are only moved on from the home if it is felt that the risks have become too great. The manager is not afraid to take a certain amount of risk to give children a chance. This has worked out well for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been several new staff members during the last 12 months. There has been a recent example of a child struggling to manage their behaviour when a newer member of staff was looking after them. However, these incidents are few and far between. The home has some vacancies that need to be filled but the organisation is recruiting to these posts. This will mean more change for the children to manage but the organisation is aware of the need for stability. It plans to have a reduced number of children at the home until the staffing situation is stable. Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 5 The manager keeps a close eye on her staff. Good performance management addresses staff training needs and any shortfalls in practice. The manager uses reflective practice in discussions with staff following any incidents, to review whether staff could have done anything better. There are often ‘lessons learned’ exercises,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

led by either the home’s manager or the organisation. This means that there is momentum to improve practice all the time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have a proactive approach to managing the home and they are creative. For example, recent plans during the COVID-19 pandemic have helped children to approach a stressful situation with positivity and confidence. Resources have been used creatively and children have engaged very well during this difficult time. Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 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 registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to recording known risks in the local area. 14 June 2021

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of Regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). This is in relation to contingency planning when there are shortfalls in staffing numbers. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 1255743 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Earnshaw

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Inspectors

Caroline Brailsford, Social Care Inspector Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1255743 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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

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