Children's Home run by Supporting Futures Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 1 Registered provider: Supporting Futures Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a therapeutic children’s home. The provider offers care to four children who are experiencing difficulties relating to trauma. The home offers support to children who have displayed harmful behaviour. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, Ofsted 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress emotionally, educationally and socially. The children have secure and nurturing relationships with staff who are committed to them. One child said, ‘The staff are mega supportive. They have helped me with loads!’ As a result, children feel they have trusted adults in their life to help them achieve their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is personalised and there are visual prompts throughout the home to support children’s learning needs. However, locks on internal doors mean that children do not have access to all areas of their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress with their education. The manager and staff champion the children’s successes like a good parent would. However, not all staff have an understanding of the children’s academic levels. This prevents all staff from being able to support the children at the right levels, based on their individual assessed needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support children to maintain quality relationships with their families. They have been creative throughout the COVID-19 restrictions by meeting at parks, community venues, travelling to the children’s home towns and promoting telephone contact. This has resulted in children enjoying quality time and making memories with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans contain language that is difficult for children to understand. The plans do not contain therapy or education goals. The goals are not measurable, which means that the children do not know when they have achieved their goals.

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

Children are safe and protected from harm. Staff are confident about managing risk. They consistently follow the strategies outlined in the children’s plans, to keep the children safe. Staff are skilled in proactively identifying emotional triggers for children, which de-escalates incidents in the home. On occasions, this has prevented the children from being criminalised.

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

Children receive good support following significant incidents in their lives. The support focuses on triggers and educating the children on their choices to keep themselves safe. Consistent boundaries are in place that help the children to develop a sense of stability and safety. Children respond well to staff guidance on keeping safe.

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

The manager, staff team and professionals supporting the children do not have adequate reviews of risk. The are no monitoring systems in place to ensure that Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 4 restrictive measures for children are routinely reviewed. This leads to a lack of progress in relation to children being able to develop their independence.

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

The manager has a detailed understanding of the children’s needs and risks. However, she has not assessed the potential impact on the other children in the home before a child moves into the home. The manager has also not reviewed staff training to ensure that the staff have the skills to meet the child’s needs. This could cause disruption for children if they are not matched appropriately.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been registered since the home opened in 2019. She is experienced, qualified and leads a nurturing and child-focused culture in the home. Children and staff speak highly about the support the manager provides. As a result, the staff team is stable and committed to meeting the needs of the children. One staff member said, ‘The manager has a good heart and does her best to help everyone. When you lead like that it has a positive impact on the staff team. That’s why people like working here.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff value the reflective supervision sessions that they have with the manager. . However, the frequency of supervisions and appraisals has not been in line with the organisation’s internal policy. This is a missed opportunity for staff to reflect and set targets for their future. Improved monitoring systems are required to ensure that timescales are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular team meetings take place that lead to clear routines and boundaries being put in place for children. Staff are proud of the consistency within the team and children feel safe as a result. Daily debriefs also take place, allowing for appropriate challenge between staff. Staff are open to improving their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have training planned and some of this has been delayed due to COVID-19. Although some informal learning has taken place, more is needed to ensure that new staff have the skills and knowledge to keep children safe. Experienced staff have cascaded information to others and so this has not had a direct impact on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a lack of evaluation from the manager following significant incidents in the children’s lives. This means that there are no opportunities for the staff to review the learning that can be taken from these incidents, especially in relation to safeguarding. It also means that there is less focus on how to prevent such incidents from reoccurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is very knowledgeable about the lives of the children and the events in the home. However, she has not completed a review of the quality of care. This means that feedback has not been requested and actions have not been clearly identified and reviewed to improve the service. Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 5

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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, the 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 ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

This refers to all staff receiving regular supervision in line with policy, with increased support for staff in probation.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to ensuring that all staff receive training to meet the needs of the children. 31 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (3) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to completing the review of the quality of care in a timely manner. 31 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 31 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 6 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to removing internal locks on doors of communal areas.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Clear systems of review must be in place to ensure that plans are not overly restrictive for

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Recommendations

children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11) Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 7

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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: 2548403 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Supporting Futures Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sinclair, 300 St Marys Road, Garston, Liverpool, Lancashire L19 0NQ

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Inspectors

Sylvia Eboigbe, Social Care Inspector Carly Quinn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2548403 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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