Children's home run by Oaktree Childcare Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2550082 1 Registered provider: Oaktree Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. The home provides care for up to two children who may have emotional or behavioural needs or a learning disability. At the time of the inspection, there were no children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a new manager in post who has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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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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: none Inspection report children's home: 2550082 2

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improvement to be good

Children have had some good experiences while living at the home, but overall, their progress has not been successful. This has led to children experiencing unplanned endings because their placements have broken down.

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improvement to be good

Children’s placement plans are individualised and include some child-centred information. However, they lack detail about some aspects of children’s needs. For example, one child’s placement plan did not fully address her communication needs.

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improvement to be good

Children are encouraged to maintain valued relationships. Staff ensure that children receive the necessary support to spend time with family and friends, where appropriate.

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improvement to be good

Staff closely support children to engage in education and have been creative in sourcing further education opportunities for an older child. However, staff did not make best use of information from another child’s education, health and care plan (EHCP), which means that they were not fully aware of the child’s personal barriers to learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that children have access to community healthcare services and provide support and guidance to children about healthy living. When safe and appropriate, older children are enabled to manage their own medication, which promotes their independence. However, on one occasion, a child was denied pain relief by staff, due to a misinterpretation of the home’s medication policy.

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improvement to be good

There are processes in place to enable children to express their views or raise concerns. However, information about matters such as raising concerns or daily routines is not always provided in a format that is accessible to the child. This means that some children may not have the same opportunities as others to have a say about their care.

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improvement to be good

There is good multi-disciplinary work undertaken, which ensures that information is shared between professionals. This helps to keep children safe. However, internal risk management is not always robust. In some examples, guidance for staff about how to keep children safe lacks detail and is not clear.

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improvement to be good

Staff and the manager have undertaken training in safeguarding matters. This ensures that they have some basic knowledge of safeguarding practice. Inspection report children's home: 2550082 3 On one occasion, the manager failed to follow safeguarding procedures. This led to a delay in reporting a safeguarding concern to the relevant authority. Failure to follow safeguarding procedures means that children may not be protected from harm.

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improvement to be good

There is a complaints procedure in place. However, the manager’s response to a child’s complaint was too direct and lacked empathy. Furthermore, the response was not provided in a format that was meaningful to the child. This means that the child may not be confident to raise any future concerns.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing, but when they do, there is a coordinated response between staff and agencies. Physical intervention is rarely required, but when it is, records are clearly detailed and monitored effectively.

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good

The manager is new to the role. He has submitted an application to Ofsted for registration. Staff describe the manager as approachable and child centred.

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good

Staff work effectively with a number of agencies, including social workers and education providers, who receive regular updates on the progress of children. However, managers did not sufficiently challenge an external professional who sought to stop a child from making complaints.

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good

Staff say that they feel supported by management. Supervision takes place regularly. Supervision offers staff reflection and an opportunity to learn from experiences and develop their skills.

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good

Staff are either qualified to the appropriate level or are currently undertaking the relevant learning. However, staff did not receive training in line with one child’s individual needs. Therefore, staff did not have a good understanding or sufficient knowledge about how to support the child.

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good

There has been some staff turnover, which has led to a shortage of staff at times. This has caused increased pressure on the existing team and manager. However, two new staff members have recently been recruited, which has helped to relieve some of this pressure.

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good

External monitoring is good. The head of care completes monthly audits and has identified shortfalls in practice. The independent visitor attends the home monthly. They provide an account of progress and identify areas for development. The manager has acted to address concerns raised through this process. Inspection report children's home: 2550082 4

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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 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.

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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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement specifically relates to the need to ensure that children are enabled to raise complaints and are provided with a thorough response, and the need to ensure that children are provided with a children’s guide that is accessible to their needs. 15 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. 15 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2550082 5 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vii))

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(g)(ii)) 15 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 15 July 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. (Regulation 23 (1))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates to the need to ensure that children receive medication when they require it. 15 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2550082 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home produce a children’s guide. The children’s guide must be made available to all children, must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards, page 24, paragraph 4.21)

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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: Oaktree Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ground Floor, Seneca House, Links Point, Amy Johnson Way, Blackpool, Blackpool FY4 2FF

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Inspectors

Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Rachel Springford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2550082 7 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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