Children's Home run by Kingston upon Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull

Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 1 SC034746 Registered provider: Hull City Council 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 operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who plan to live in a medium- to long-term residential setting.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered in September 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/06/2019 Full Good 21/02/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/05/2018 Full Good 06/03/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 3

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inadequate

Children do not make good progress in most areas of their lives. They do not attend education and decline to undertake meaningful learning activities with staff. This means that children have minimal alternative structure to their day. The staff work with education professionals to remove barriers to school attendance but with limited results. The prolonged period when children do not attend school could significantly impact on their life chances.

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inadequate

Children say that they want to leave the home and express that they are not happy and do not like some of the staff. Sometimes, this is because they do not like the imposition of boundaries, or because they identify somewhere else they would rather live. This is compounded by the poor relationships between the children, a lack of a homely atmosphere and disengagement from the care team.

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inadequate

Children are consulted about their day-to-day care and supported to attend care planning meetings where decisions are taken. However, often, plans do not reflect what children want to happen and there is a lack of resolution when staff explain why their views cannot be acted on. This leaves children confused and feeling unheard.

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inadequate

Children spend time with their families, but this is often not in line with agreed arrangements. This means that children spend time with family or friends in an unplanned way. This can result in children being exposed to increased or unassessed risks.

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inadequate

When children have a culturally diverse heritage, there is no evidence that this is reflected through the provision of personalised care. Children are given the opportunity to compile a record of their time in the home, but only one child has fully participated in this. Staff have not made a sufficient attempt to arrange this for the other children. This practice does not promote a sense of individuality or promote their identity.

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inadequate

Children are supported by staff to access specialist help around their emotional and mental health. When the children do not accept this help, staff continue to arrange, promote and facilitate appointments. This means that children have immediate access to help at the point at which they are willing to accept it.

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

The manager and staff do not always take action to prevent children leaving the home to visit people and places that pose a significant risk of harm to them. Staff are unclear about when to use restraint when there is a risk of harm to a child. Staff Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 4 follow a policy which advises against the use of restraint in several circumstances. This does not promote consistent and effective safeguarding.

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

Risk assessments do not identify all known risks. This results in staff not having clear strategies and plans to follow to better protect the children. For example, there are insufficient safeguards to protect children from contact made by telephone, on social media and other applications. This means that children have unmonitored or unchecked contact with people who pose a risk to them.

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

The children in the home do not always enjoy positive relationships with each other, and there have been incidents of bullying. Inspectors did not find a bullying risk assessment to address these issues. On one occasion, a child contacted the emergency services from their bedroom as they felt unsafe. This means that staff are unclear about how to manage incidents of bullying between the children.

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

The anti-bullying policy is not fit for purpose and places the onus on children to intervene when incidents occur. This expectation potentially exposes children to further harm.

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

Locks are on bedroom doors. However, children do not have a key to these locks. This means that children rely on staff to facilitate access to their room and belongings. This results in children not having ease of access to their room to seek refuge if they are being bullied or to enjoy privacy at other times.

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

The home’s fire risk assessment is out of date. Some of the children have a history of fire-setting or arson. Inspectors identified that children smoke in their rooms. Staff try to engage children in link-work sessions to stop this, but these are proving to be ineffective. This exposes children to unacceptable levels of risk and vulnerability.

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

There are aspects of safeguarding practice which are more robust. The managers and staff work closely with others to share information, agree plans and to escalate concerns to multi-agency risk panels. Managers and staff also work with their counterparts in other homes in the local area when children have friendship networks, or similar risks, in common. This enables staff to identify risks at an earlier point and collaborate with others to better understand them.

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

When children go missing from care, staff follow plans and search for them. The number of missing-from-care episodes fluctuates month by month. The changes in how often and how long children are missing from care link mostly to their friendships and activities in the community. Staff complete link-work sessions to discourage these friendships and activities but with limited impact.

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

When concerning behaviours increase, safety plans are reviewed and changed. Staff will then use phone calls to check more often on children out of the home, but this does not always prevent them from being in harmful situations. Children are given the opportunity to speak to someone independent when they return from being Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 5 missing from care. When this does occur, the information gathered is shared with others to inform the safety plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Due to serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care and protection of children, the manager has not fulfilled their responsibility to support the children in a safe environment. Management oversight has failed to address the shortfalls, which has exposed children to harmful situations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records relating to the care of the children are not always up to date. The manager has regular oversight of these records but has not always noticed these inaccuracies. This does not promote staff having a universal understanding of the children’s current care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager uses systems to monitor the quality of care provided in the home. Some of these systems do not provide reliable data or have not been used consistently over recent months. As a result, the appearance and condition of the home have declined in some areas. This is not conducive to creating a home where children feel happy and want to live.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The requirements made at the last visit have been met. The feedback from children has increased, and gaps in staff’s skills and knowledge have been addressed. Staff use this knowledge to inform the support they provide to the children. There was a requirement made in respect of education which no longer applies as the children are now at different stages of their academic journey. However, concerns around the progress children make within education remain.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professionals and staff speak positively about the manager, and staff comment on the value and quality of regular reflective supervision. A strength of the manager is that she has a sound understanding of children’s histories and care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager is promoting a more restorative approach to difficult behaviour. This was evidenced in the changing nature of sanctions imposed on children to become less punitive. The staff are also currently being trained in using a more therapeutic approach. This is in its infancy and is yet to be embedded in practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring that a child’s ethnic and cultural heritage are reflected in the care provided and that they are supported to develop their own identity. 6 June 2021

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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. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to providing children with an alternative structure and activities during the days when they refuse education, which provides opportunities to learn. 6 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(v)(vi)(d)) 6 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

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))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring that monitoring systems are fit for purpose, and that no aspects of care are omitted or overlooked during audits and monitoring exercises, including those delegated to others. 6 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and 6 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 8 the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 6 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. Children and their parents should be supported to understand the nature of records kept by the home and how to access them. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. Staff should keep, and encourage children to keep, appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them to record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: SC034746 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kingston upon Hull City Council, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

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Inspectors

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Regulatory Inspector (Lead) Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC034746 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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