Children's homes – interim inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 1 SC035105 Registered provider: Durham County 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 managed by a local authority and is registered to provide care for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning difficulties. The manager’s post is currently vacant.

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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. The home was last inspected in February 2020. The report is published on our website.

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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 are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 3 February 2020

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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: SC035105 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/02/2020 Full Good 02/10/2018 Full Good 16/01/2018 Full Good 09/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 3

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inadequate

Children receive poor care and do not make progress as staff do not provide children with care and support in line with their care plans. This does not provide children with positive experiences.

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inadequate

The home is sparsely furnished and in need of a deep clean. Maintenance of the home is poor and managers fail to make sure that damage to the home is addressed quickly. The home is not personalised to reflect children’s likes or interests. The poor state of the living conditions does not provide children with positive messages that staff value and care about them.

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inadequate

Children’s experiences of moving into the home are poor. Contributing factors include unsuitable living conditions and insufficient staffing. Additionally, poor care planning and the lack of impact risk assessments have led to children’s risks increasing, causing them harm.

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inadequate

Children are not registered with a general health practitioner. This means that they do not have access to the services that they require to support their health needs.

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inadequate

Not all children have access to education in line with their personal education plans. The manager advocates on behalf of children to access additional services to better support children’s learning and development. However, the effectiveness of this is not known, as the steps taken by the manager have only happened in recent weeks.

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inadequate

Staff rarely support children to engage in activities. Therefore, children spend prolonged periods of time out in the community without staff supervision. This compromises children’s safety and welfare, as serious incidents in the community involving the children have increased.

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

Children are not protected from the risk of harm. An incident took place where an adult male was able to access a child’s bedroom. The child joined the male for a short period of time before leaving with the male. Staff did not take steps to protect the child. This prolonged the child being at risk of significant harm.

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

Children who misuse substances do not receive sufficient support from staff. In addition, staff do not always seek medical advice for children when they become unwell from misusing substances. This leaves children vulnerable to further risk of harm. Inconsistent and unsafe care impacts on children’s health and well-being.

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

Missing-from-home incidents have increased. Staff recognise the links between children being missing from home and increased risk of exploitation. However, staff Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 4 do not take adequate action to reduce children’s risks, particularly when children are out in the community. Children’s vulnerability to exploitation, criminal activity and substance misuse has increased.

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

Children’s risks are not reducing as staff do not support children to learn how to stay safe. Key-working sessions with children are poor and are often reactive to situations. In addition, the manager has failed to ensure that the staff complete key- working sessions in line with children’s risk management plans. This leaves children vulnerable to risk of continued harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager left in April 2021 to develop a new service in the organisation. The staff team and three children moved with her. The acting manager who started around the same time does not have a stable staff team to support her.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The acting manager has a good understanding of the issues and shortfalls found by Ofsted. However, she has not had sufficient time to address all the shortfalls found.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider has used external agency staff to provide most of the care to children. The acting manager has challenged senior leaders and managers about staffing issues. She has also raised concerns about poor staff practice. However, senior leaders and managers have not addressed these issues. A professional commented: ‘They are doing what they can. It has improved since they got rid of some agency staff, but that has just been in recent weeks.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recordings in children’s documents are poor. External agency staff do not have access to the provider’s electronic systems. This has resulted in there being two separate systems for recording information in children’s documents. The two systems are not effective at tracking children’s progress and experience. Recordings do not clearly show accountability of staff practice. Therefore, Ofsted is not assured that children are helped and protected adequately.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The acting manager states that she has been ‘fire-fighting’ situations daily. The provider has no clear plan in place to meet the aims and objectives as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Poor leadership and management of the home means that children are not safe. Ofsted has taken urgent action to suspend the service. Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 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 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

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that children receive personalised care to support their progress and development. 4 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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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 each child is registered as a patient with a general medical practitioner and a registered dental practitioner; and 4 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 6 that each child has access to such medical advice, treatment and other services as the child may require.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to staff seeking appropriate advice and treatment for children when they are under the influence of illegal substances.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to children being registered with a general medical practitioner.

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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.

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d)) 4 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 7 This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that prompt action is taken in relation to safeguarding concerns where children are at risk of harm and that staff follow guidance in children’s risk management plans.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that children live in a home that is suitably furnished and maintained to a good standard.

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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

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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1) (2)(a)(f)(h)) 4 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.

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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 4 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 8 that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

This refers specifically to the provider not using more than half the staff on duty at any one time, by day or night at the home to be from an external agency. The provider must ensure that children receive care from a consistent staff team. 4 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; and

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that staff record accurately and consistently in children’s documents, demonstrating accountability of the action taken to help and protect children. 4 July 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: SC035105 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Durham County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Durham DH1 5UJ

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Inspectors

Jacqueline Tate, Social Care Inspector Susan Atkinson-Millmoor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035105 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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