Children's Home run by Hennessy Living Group Limited in Hartlepool

Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 1 Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited 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 private organisation. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who may have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Ofsted registered this home in December 2020. The registered manager left the home in April 2021. There is a new manager in post. He has not yet applied to register with Ofsted as required.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 8 March 2021 to complete a monitoring 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: Not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 3

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improvement to be good

The children’s overall experience and progress is not yet good. The behaviour of some children is detrimental to other children. This is because staff are not always able to manage children’s behaviours or reduce the risks to their safety effectively. For example, some children encourage other children to use cannabis. There are also occasions when children enter each other’s bedrooms without consent and have tried to take money from the staff office. These incidents mean that children do not always live in a stable home environment that helps them to make progress.

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improvement to be good

Positive relationships between the children and the staff are in their infancy, although these are starting to grow. When the children engage in activities with staff, such as day trips or visiting local parks, these help to strengthen the children’s bonds with staff. The children say that staff listen to them. When possible, staff act on children’s wishes and views. For example, children recently requested that the lounge was redecorated, and the staff made sure that this happened.

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improvement to be good

Children have allocated educational provisions according to their needs. For some children, this is the first time they have engaged in education for a long time and they are making progress. For other children, their engagement is not consistent. Managers and staff are not effective in supporting all children to understand the importance of education. When children are not engaged in education, this affects the quality of their daily routine; they are awake late into the night and remain in their bedrooms for long periods in the day.

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improvement to be good

The staff help children to understand the importance of good health. When children have specific health conditions, such as diabetes, the support they receive means that they are now better able to manage their own health needs. However, some children regularly use cannabis. The staff complete work with the children to help them understand the dangers of substance misuse and to support them to engage in work with specialist agencies. The children’s engagement with these services is very recent and the impact cannot yet be assessed.

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improvement to be good

Children maintain a sense of belonging and identity. The staff support children to see and spend time with their families, and staff help children to build and maintain positive relationships with their families.

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improvement to be good

Children gain skills which help them to be independent in later life. For example, children are learning how to use public transport, manage their money, cook and wash laundry.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 4 There is a potential risk of fire because some children smoke in their bedrooms. During the inspection, smoking paraphernalia was found in one child’s bedroom. The manager took immediate action to reduce this risk by speaking to the child about the dangers of smoking in the house. He also put additional monitoring systems in place to make sure that staff check children are not smoking in bedrooms.

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improvement to be good

The manager does not always ensure that children’s risk assessments are updated following significant incidents. For example, a child took a knife from the kitchen and went out into the street, and this information was not included. The lack of information in risk assessments means that staff do not gain the necessary understanding with regard to how to manage and reduce specific risks to children’s safety. Consequently, risks to children’s safety increase.

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improvement to be good

At times, staff struggle to manage the children’s behaviours safely. On some occasions, serious incidents occur. These incidents include children forcing their way into the office and setting a fire in the garden. The inability of staff to manage these situations leave children at risk of harm and of being criminalised.

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improvement to be good

There are occasions when some children go missing from the home, although the frequency of these incidents is reducing. The staff complete work with children about the dangers of going missing. When children go missing from the home, the staff respond quickly. The staff search local areas where children are known to go. The manager works in partnership with the police to ensure that children are quickly and safely located.

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improvement to be good

The staff complete safeguarding and child protection training. They are confident in reporting any concerns they have with regard to children’s welfare and protection. However, Ofsted is not consistently notified of significant events or safeguarding concerns. When incidents are notified, there are occasions when the manager has not made sure that all relevant facts are included. This prevents Ofsted from maintaining oversight of the effectiveness of safeguarding practice in the home.

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good

The manager has been in post for four weeks and has yet to apply to Ofsted for registration. He is starting to understand the strengths of the home and the areas that need to be developed. Since his appointment, he has taken some action to address identified shortfalls. For example, he is planning to improve staff practice and skills by providing therapeutic training.

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good

The manager uses a range of monitoring systems to assess, review and evaluate the quality of care for children. Nevertheless, not all of these monitoring systems are effective. For example, there were no means in place to monitor if children were smoking in their bedrooms, and no systems to ensure that children’s risk assessments are kept up to date. This prevents the development of the service. Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 5 Many of the staff team are new to working with children living in residential care. Some of the situations and incidents that occur are first-time experiences for staff. As a result, children’s experiences are not consistently good. The staff are working towards completing qualifications to develop their understanding of care practice. However, they do not yet have the skills, experience or knowledge that they need to deliver consistent good-quality care and support to children.

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good

The manager is working to improve the care experiences for children. He takes complaints seriously and responds to these quickly. All concerns are quickly investigated and appropriately addressed.

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good

The staff say that they feel supported by the manager and by the responsible individual. They receive regular supervision which is helping them to reflect on their practice and to consider how their actions may affect children’s progress. This helps the staff to understand their role and responsibility for meeting children’s needs.

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good

The manager works closely with other professionals to ensure the children can access the external support services that they may need. Some children are starting work with specialist professionals for the first time. This supports their development. Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(v)) 1 July 2021

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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

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;

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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 premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(d)) 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— 1 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 7 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 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

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, there should be sufficient detail in these notifications to ensure that the regulator is fully informed. 1 July 2021

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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: 2613032 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rickleton 1B, Bowes Offices, Lambton Park, Chester Le Street DH3 4AN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Goundry

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Inspectors

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2613032 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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