Children's Home run by Quality Protects Children Ltd in Knowsley

Inspection report children's home: SC356929 1 SC356929 Registered provider: Quality Protects Children Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns the home. The setting provides cares for up to three children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties. The registered manager resigned in March 2021. An acting manager has been appointed. Her application to register with Ofsted is being processed.

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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 last visited this setting on 21 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted 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/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 15 January 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: SC356929 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2020 Full Good 08/01/2019 Full Good 11/10/2017 Full Good 21/08/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: SC356929 3

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inadequate

Children’s overall experiences and progress are hindered by serious shortfalls in safeguarding practice.

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inadequate

Children do not have a positive experience of moving in and out of the home. Two children had to move out of the home as staff were unable to manage children’s complex behaviours. One child who recently moved into the home had no clear transition plan, despite being moved from another home operated by the same organisation. The poor planning compromised the child’s safety.

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inadequate

The manager does not ensure that children are provided with the specialist health services that they need. For example, there has been a long delay in a child being referred to child and mental health services. This delay has not been followed up by the manager. Therefore, children do not receive the support they require to help them with their emotional well-being.

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inadequate

Staff are not undertaking robust checks to ensure that children’s safety is prioritised. There have been several occasions when children have returned to the home under the influence of unknown substances. Staff did not conduct appropriate bedroom searches or detail how the children were monitored to ensure that they were safe.

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inadequate

One child is making measurable progress in some areas of their life, for example, improved attendance at school. Additionally, increased time with family has reduced incidents of going missing from the home, which has enhanced the child’s safety.

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inadequate

There has been some positive feedback, from a child’s social worker and a parent who reported that their child had made some progress.

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

Managers and staff do not always act to protect children from harm and not all child protection concerns are appropriately reported and investigated. This lack of understanding of safeguarding roles and responsibilities serves to compromise children’s safety and welfare.

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

The manager has failed to adequately identify and assess significant risks. For example, concerns about mobile phones and smoking are not captured within children’s risk assessments. This means that staff do not have a consistent approach when managing these known risks.

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

The manager does not ensure that return home interviews are arranged after each missing-from-home incident. As a result, children are not being provided with the opportunity to speak to an independent person about the reason why they are going Inspection report children's home: SC356929 4 missing. Furthermore, opportunities to gain a better understanding of the children’s experiences are missed and therefore do not inform future safeguarding strategies.

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

Staff demonstrate a lack of understanding in their assessment of risk and do not take sufficient action to determine the whereabouts of a child when they are away from home. One child repeatedly fails to return home from school until late in the evening. Staff do not actively ascertain the child’s whereabouts or who they are spending their time with. This means the child, who is at known risk of exploitation, is not sufficiently protected from harm.

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

Children’s behaviour support plans and risk assessments lack effective strategies and do not identify actions to reduce risks. Staff are unclear what is contained in children’s self-harm safety plans in order to keep the children safe. The failure to ensure that there are robust risk management plans in place means that children are not appropriately safeguarded.

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

Physical intervention records are not consistently completed when staff have reported that they had to use intervention to keep a child safe. This prevents the manager from ensuring that care practice is appropriate and safe.

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

Staff are not equipped with the appropriate skills and knowledge to care for children. They have not received training in substance misuse and not all staff have been trained in child sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation. This means that children are not adequately supported by suitably skilled staff to help them manage their complex needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not had a registered manager since March 2021. A new manager is in post. At the time of the inspection, her application to register was in progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider does not ensure that staff are suitably equipped with the knowledge, skills and training to meet children’s needs. For example, staff have not received substance misuse and exploitation training, despite this being an identified concern for children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Weak monitoring and review systems are preventing continued progress in the home. Requirements raised at the previous inspection have not been adequately addressed and a quality of care review has not considered the views and experiences of children. This does not demonstrate the manager’s commitment to achieving the necessary improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of all serious incidents in the home. This prevents the home’s regulator from monitoring safeguarding practice, which weakens children’s welfare and safety. Inspection report children's home: SC356929 5 Not all staff receive supervision in line with the home’s policy and workforce development plan. Furthermore, staff who are new to the home have not had a full induction or regular supervision to monitor and review their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the assurance visit in October, there have been several changes in the staff and management team. Staff report that the new management team is supportive, paperwork has started to improve and the home is more organised. Staff were complimentary about the new manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following this inspection, a compliance notice, under regulation 12 the protection of children was served on this home, due to the serious and widespread concerns identified. Inspection report children's home: SC356929 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 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

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to ensuring that children have access to services that support their emotional and social needs, such as child and adolescent mental health services. 23 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.

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(b)) 23 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC356929 7 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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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)(a)(c)(e)(h)) 23 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that supervision is received by all staff in line with the company’s policy. 23 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 23 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. 23 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC356929 8 in order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and after completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”). The registered person must — supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation (45) (1) (2)(b) (3) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

* This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC356929 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Quality Protects Children Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hill House, Archway Road, Huyton, Liverpool L36 9XB

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Inspectors

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Marina Tully, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC356929 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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