Children's home run by Penn Inspires Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 1 Registered provider: Penn Inspires Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides placements for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties. This is the first inspection to the home since it was registered by Ofsted in May 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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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home was registered in May 2020, two children have lived at the home. One child who had lived in the home for eight months has recently left. Despite the best efforts of the staff, they were not able to keep the child safe and prevent him from going missing from the home. Staff worked closely with the child’s social worker to enable the child to have a planned move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is one child currently living at the home. The child has lived at the home since July 2020. The child’s social worker told the inspector that the child has a good relationship with staff which has enabled him to feel safe and to make progress. The child’s social worker has praised the staff for helping the child to gain essential self- care skills and for being a positive role model for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the child well. They talk enthusiastically about the child’s talents and hobbies, and about his future aspirations. The child told the inspector that he likes living in the home and that he likes all the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with the child’s family. Staff help the child to maintain important relationships by transporting him to spend time with his family and arranging regular online conversations. The child’s parent told the inspector that staff are ‘doing a great job and there is nothing they can do to improve’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When the child first came to live at the home, he was not attending school. Staff have worked with the child’s school to overcome the barriers that have impacted on his school attendance. Consequently, the child is now enjoying school and attends regularly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to attend routine health appointments and they encourage him to take regular exercise. Since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have been lifted, staff have supported the child to enjoy activities such as boxing and kayaking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Daily records are not always written in a way that helps the child to understand his life story. Staff complete the child’s daily records in a way that is impersonal and jargonistic. This means that the child does not have a balanced record of his time in the home that he can look at in the future and which may help him to build resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The communal areas of the home are well furnished and decorated. The child’s bedroom is personalised with the emblem of his favourite football club on the wall. However, staff have not considered making the communal areas more personalised such as adding photographs of the child. In addition, the garden looks uncared for in places with patches of weeds. Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 3

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

Staff are knowledgeable about the child. However, staff do not ensure that risk assessments include all the child’s known risks, for example the child’s risks when they are online. The previous child had a known risk of smoking in the home and having smoking paraphernalia in his bedroom, including a lighter. On a few occasions, the child went missing from the home in the night. Staff used various strategies to reduce the risks. However, the child’s risk assessment was not updated with this information. Also, triggers for the current child’s complex and challenging behaviours are not always identified. The child’s views about his own triggers and strategies that staff can use to de-escalate these behaviours are missing. This shortfall in record-keeping leaves a gap in how staff show that they successfully manage all known risks.

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

Staff are good at giving the child verbal praise and rewards for acts of kindness and for being polite and pleasant. Consequently, the home has a calm atmosphere and physical intervention is rarely used.

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

When a child goes missing from the home, staff follow the child’s missing-from-care protocol. When necessary, the staff will consult with and involve the police. When a child returns, staff talk with the child and arrange for an interview to be conducted by an independent person. This offer of an independent interview helps the staff to receive beneficial information about the child’s triggers and the reasons why the child decided to go missing from the home.

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

Managers ensure that the home’s location risk assessment is regularly updated with information from the local police. As a result, staff are constantly updated on known and emerging risks to children that are within the vicinity of the home.

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

When there is an allegation about staff, managers liaise with the designated officer. When asked to do so, managers are quick at carrying out a thorough investigation. This includes ensuring that children are told about the outcome. This means that children feel that managers listen to them and take their concerns seriously.

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good

When changes have occurred, these have been managed well. For example, the registered manager has recently taken on the role of responsible individual. This was a planned move and the deputy manager, who has worked in the home since it was registered, has taken on the manager’s position. This has ensured continuity for the child.

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good

Management oversight is sometimes weak. Managers have not ensured that risk assessments have been in place for some of the child’s activities. Information from the company clinician has not been used to update the child’s plans. This means that staff do not have important information to keep the child safe and to support his emotional needs. Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 4 Staff report that they feel supported by the responsible individual and the manager. Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. Agency staff are not used and any shortfalls in staffing have been covered by existing staff. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have gone above and beyond to ensure that the child has been cared for by familiar adults.

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good

Key information is missing from the child’s file. The manager has not escalated his concerns with the placing local authority. This means that staff do not have all essential information when they are planning the child’s care.

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good

Despite the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, managers have worked hard to ensure that staff have still been able to receive relevant training to help them to meet children’s needs. This includes training to keep children safe and to meet children’s emotional needs. It is acknowledged that the staff’s face-to-face training has been impacted by restrictions associated with COVID-19. Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 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, 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 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers updating risk assessments with the triggers for children’s behaviours or with strategies to help staff to keep children safe. 25 July 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))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers ensuring that children’s activity risk assessments relating to boxing and kayaking are in place. That consultations with the company clinician are included in children’s records. 25 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 6 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 each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers ensuring that they have a copy of the child’s education and health care plan, the most recent looked after child review minutes, and a copy of the child’s personal education plan. 25 July 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information about the child in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’ s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment and that communal areas of the home are personalised to children living in the home. Outside areas should be well maintained and attractive places for children to spend time in. (‘Guide to the children s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 13.9)

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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: 2569705 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Penn Inspires Limited

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2569705 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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