Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: 2572133 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children aged between 10 and 17 years with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered.

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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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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. 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: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2572133 2

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inadequate

Safeguarding arrangements in the home are inadequate and this has had an impact on the overall experiences and progress of children living in the home. Two children currently live in the home. They have experienced instability due to changes within the staff team, including the registered manager. The lack of consistent staff and leaders has compromised the continuity and quality of care children receive.

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inadequate

Since registration, three children have come to live at the home and two children have left. One child left the home sooner than anticipated due to staff being unable to manage his behaviours. One child’s experience of moving into the home was poor. He moved into the home in an emergency. Despite staff being aware this was his first experience of residential care, they failed to seek his views, wishes or feelings. This means that children are not provided with a sense of belonging, which can leave children not feeling cared for or valued.

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inadequate

When children make complaints, these are not addressed or recorded appropriately. For example, a child complained about the actions of a member of staff following a physical restraint. There was no evidence to suggest that her complaint was discussed with her directly or that she received an outcome. This compromises the children’s rights to raise concerns about the quality of their care.

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inadequate

Children attend education but their progress is mixed. One child is near completion of a course but has stopped attending their education provision. When children are not attending education, staff do not provide a structured routine in the home. It is well documented that a lack of formal and regular education can have an adverse impact on a child’s learning, progress and ability to reach their potential.

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inadequate

When children express their views about their care during weekly house meetings they are not provided with feedback. Lack of regular feedback from consultation with children contributes to them feeling unsettled, not listened to and at times unhappy.

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inadequate

Some children are not happy in the home. For example, one child told the inspector that they hated living at the home and wished to return to their previous home. Inspection report children's home: 2572133 3 Inconsistent key-working does not fully support childrens welfare, safety and progress. Staff do not consistently provide children with sufficient opportunities to understand and manage the impact of their past experiences or current issues that are a cause for concern. This means that children continue to have difficulties in finding alternative ways to express how they feel and they continue to make negative and emotionally harmful choices in the way that they behave.

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inadequate

Children’s relationships with people who are important to them are promoted and maintained by staff. This helps children to spend positive time with family and friends.

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inadequate

The home is currently going through extensive redecoration throughout. This will help improve the look and feel of the home, making it more homely and welcoming.

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

Children have not been protected. Managers and staff are unclear of their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children effectively. Staff have failed to report concerns via the organisation’s whistle-blowing procedures. For example, on one occasion, one member of staff witnessed another using an unauthorised physical restraint, which caused a child distress. This was not reported until 22 days later. Due to the failure to report these concerns, the conduct of the member of staff in respect of physical interventions went unchallenged for a considerable amount of time. This left children at risk of harm.

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

A child was admitted to the home in September 2020. Although an impact risk assessment was completed, this did not thoroughly consider the children’s needs in light of the risks posed and experienced by the child already living in the home. This resulted in an increase in serious incidents within the home.

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

Staff do not always respond effectively to serious incidents. For example, staff failed to record an incident of sexual assault involving children in the home, in line with organisational policy and they failed to share this information with placing authorities. Furthermore, staff failed to find out if the child involved wished to make a formal complaint to the police.

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

Reviews of children’s risk assessments undertaken by staff and managers are ineffective and not completed often enough. They do not consistently include up-to- date information about children’s behaviours, such as self-harm, sexualised behaviours and going missing from home. Inaccurate or out-of-date information in risk assessments has the potential to mislead staff, which compromises children’s safety.

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

Staff use restrictive measures to manage children’s behaviour, which deprives children of their liberty. For example, staff shut a child in their bedroom to manage the child’s behaviour. This imposed restriction caused the child distress. This deprivation of liberty was not discussed with the child’s placing authority prior to taking place, so no agreement for this restrictive measure had been agreed. The Inspection report children's home: 2572133 4 placing authority only became aware of the incident when the child told them they wanted to formally complain.

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

On occasions, physical intervention is required to keep children safe. Staff do not ensure that records of physical restraint are factually accurate. This is poor practice and does not safeguard the welfare of children or staff.

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

Staff respond appropriately when children go missing from the home and take action to try and locate the children. They liaise with relevant agencies and ensure that children have the opportunity to talk to an independent person following their return to the home. This practice promotes children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children have been exposed to poor practice by managers and staff because of the inadequate leadership and management of the home. Inadequate leadership and management have led to a culture of poor safeguarding practice being adopted in the home, which has been left unchallenged.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspectors found that staff have failed to report safeguarding concerns and have not followed the organisation’s whistle-blowing procedures. Managers and staff do not work in line with the home’s ethos, aims and objectives as set out within the statement of purpose. Because of this, children have not been safeguarded or afforded good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers fail to use monitoring systems in the home. They fail to identify and address areas that need further improvement. Furthermore, managers do not understand the impact of poor practice of care on children’s experiences, welfare, safety and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When children make complaints, the actions taken by staff and managers to address complaints are not clear. The lack of a clear audit trail does not help staff and managers to monitor the service effectively or establish whether any lessons learned have been implemented.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite managers and staff receiving training in key areas such as physical intervention and PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy), the organisation’s model of care, the inspectors found failings in practice. Staff have failed to follow and use the organisation’s therapeutic approach as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. As a result children have been exposed to risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have used agency staff and staff from other homes within the organisation to cover staff shortages. This does not give children the opportunity to form meaningful relationships with people who they can grow to trust. In addition, this means that children are being cared for by staff who do not know them well. Inspection report children's home: 2572133 5 Managers and staff receive supervision, which provides them with the opportunity to receive feedback on their practice. Inspection report children's home: 2572133 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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers and staff understanding and conducting their roles and responsibilities in line with the home’s statement of purpose. 27 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This refers in particular to children being given feedback following house meetings and complaints. 27 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2572133 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

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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers and staff understanding and implementing children’s risk assessments, and their role and responsibilities in keeping children safe.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was also made at the last inspection and is restated. 27 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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lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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. 27 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2572133 8 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers leading by example and ensuring that poor staff practice is challenged and addressed. In particular, implement review and monitoring systems to evaluate the quality of care afforded to children and learn from incidents by monitoring patterns and trends.

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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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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staffing arrangements in the home provide continuity for the children living in the home. 27 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to children moving into the home being suitably matched to children already living there. In particular, ensure that robust risk assessments detail how decisions for matching have been made and how risks will be managed. 27 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2572133 9 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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is necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 21(b)(c)(i)(ii))

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This specifically relates to staff not restricting access to areas of the home to control children’s behaviour. 27 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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how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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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.

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within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (2) (3)(a)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that records of restraint include an accurate description of the method of restraint used. 27 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children's home: 2572133 10

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Agata Dokszewicz

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Inspectors

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick, Social Care Inspector Melanie Griffin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2572133 11 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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