Children's Home run by Tees-Valley Care Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report children's home: 1272220 1 Registered provider: Tees-Valley Care 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 provider. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2020.

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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 carried out monitoring visits to this setting on 20 May 2020 and 22 June 2020. We last visited this setting on 20 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. These reports are 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. 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: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Ofsted carried out a monitoring visit on 20 May 2020 due to concerns regarding the leadership and management of the home. At that time, the home had been without a registered manager since October 2018. Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 2 At the monitoring visit, Ofsted identified serious and widespread concerns regarding management oversight of the home and the safety and protection of children. Ofsted issued two compliance notices and a notice restricting accommodation.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Ofsted carried out a further visit on 22 June 2020 to monitor the steps taken to meet the compliance notices. A new manager had been appointed at that time and was in the process of registering with Ofsted. The compliance notices were judged to be met, and Ofsted lifted the restriction notice. Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/08/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/04/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/09/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 4

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improvement to be good

Children’s overall experiences are restricted because staff do not have access to their up-to-date statutory care plans. They may not be aware of all the relevant and up-to- date information regarding children’s care and support needs. This means that staff cannot be assured that they are working in line with the aims and objectives of children’s placing authorities. The registered manager does not address this shortfall with children’s social workers. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that children receive integrated and personalised care.

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improvement to be good

Children are making progress, despite the lack of connection between internal care planning and the aims and objectives of the placing authorities. Staff offer children care and support that focus on nurture and encouragement. This helps children to understand how their past experiences influence their progress. One professional commented, ‘The care is not just child centred it’s totally focused on the child.’

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improvement to be good

Education is a priority in the home. Some children are now in full-time education and making sustainable and measurable progress. Children are proud of their achievements and this supports their self-esteem and confidence. When children are not yet able to attend formal school settings, they access in-house education. This gives them the opportunity to establish a learning routine and receive certificates for their efforts and achievements.

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improvement to be good

Supporting children’s physical and emotional health and well-being is central to the function of the home. The organisation’s therapy team delivers specialist interventions that support children to recognise how their experiences shape their future. This helps children learn a range of coping strategies to use to manage their frustrations and anxieties. For some children this means that the frequency of incidents, such as self- harming behaviour, has reduced significantly.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy spending time with staff, and their relationships are mostly positive. Staff and children do activities together, including taking regular walks, trips to the park and trampolining. The children grow in self-confidence, and this helps them to develop trusting relationships with the adults around them.

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improvement to be good

There are occasions when leaders and managers have not followed safe recruitment procedures. Application forms for some staff do not include all the relevant and required information, such as full employment histories. Although some shortfalls were rectified during the inspection, this does not promote safe care for children. Ofsted raised this requirement at the assurance visit in October 2020 and at the previous inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 5 Staff do not always accurately record the administration of children’s medication. For example, information regarding monitoring a child’s well-being after they have taken their medication is not always recorded, and the time that medication is administered is not consistently noted in documents. Discontinued medication is stored alongside new medication. This increases the risk of children receiving the wrong medication. This potentially places children at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

The use of physical restraint is rare. This is because children respond well to the therapeutic approach used in the home. Staff use de-escalation techniques to help children to calm themselves when they are upset or frustrated. Consequently, the number of incidents continues to reduce. Children say that they feel safe and feel that they are listened too. One child commented, ‘The house is mint, and the staff are mint. They listen to me and look after me.’

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are specific to the children’s individual needs. These are detailed and provide staff with guidance on how to respond consistently to risks to children’s safety. Risk assessments are regularly reviewed by staff and updated following all incidents. This ensures that staff responses help to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from the home. Staff work closely with the police in a co- ordinated way. On one occasion, staff and the police worked with the air ambulance service to ensure that a child was located quickly and safely. When children have been missing from the home, staff ensure that children’s risk assessments are updated. The clinical team carry out key-work sessions with children, on their return to the home, to understand why the incident occurred. This learning helps to prevent further incidents.

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improvement to be good

The use of social media is carefully managed to enable children to enjoy using this means of communication safely. The staff team take a consistent approach to educating the children around on-line safety. This means that children develop the skills and awareness that they need to keep them safe while on-line.

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good

Management monitoring systems are ineffective in some areas. Ofsted raised this shortfall at the assurance visit in October 2020 and at previous inspections. The registered manager has not addressed this issue and, as a result, has not noted that the staff do not have access to children’s up-to-date local authority care plans or that there are gaps in staff employment files. The lack of management scrutiny hinders the ongoing development of the service.

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good

The registered manager works with a range of other professionals, including teachers, social workers, and psychiatrists. However, on one recent occasion, she did not challenge a medical professional about a change in how a child’s medication was administered. As a result, this change was not discussed or agreed with the child’s social worker or any other relevant professionals. Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 6 Staff benefit from regular and structured supervision and team meetings. This helps them to reflect on their practice, develop their skills and have a better understanding of the children’s needs. This supports children’s progress and development.

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good

During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff training has been delivered in a variety of formats to ensure that staff development continues. As a result, staff learn the skills that they need to enable them to care for and support the children. Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 7

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)) 28 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)) 28 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(c)) 28 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 8 The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d)) 28 June 2021

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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)) 28 June 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: 1272220 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tees-Valley Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Tees-Valley Care, PO Box 547, Middlesbrough TS1 9HG

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Inspectors

Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1272220 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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