Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 1 SC394283 Registered provider: Salford City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a local authority setting that is registered to care for up to five young people who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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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. An assurance visit was completed on 8 October 2020. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2012.

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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

Date of last inspection: 23 January 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 3

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improvement to be good

Young people said that they are happy, safe and enjoy living at this home. They said that staff are friendly, approachable and that they could talk to staff if they had a concern or if they were worried about anything.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not prepare young people to move in and out of the home in a planned way. Three of the young people should be preparing to move on from the home. However, there is no transition plan in place for them. One young person said that he had visited his semi-independence home and that he had a date to move in, but he did not know the timescale for this. Similarly, there is little information about how young people transition into the home, for example whether the move was planned or an emergency, whether they visited the home prior to moving, or how the move went.

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improvement to be good

Generally, the young people’s care documents include all the necessary information for staff to care for the young people. However, there is little information on the young people’s starting points and how they have progressed, for example how college and semi-independence placements have been sourced, whether young people were involved in these decisions and whether further support is needed. This means that the young people will not have a clear understanding of their journey through care, when accessing their information now or in the future.

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improvement to be good

Young people get the right support and encouragement from staff to take part in education and do well. Three young people have taken their exams and have identified college placements. The young people have ambitions for their future, for example one young person would like to be a teacher and another would like to be an actress. The young people said that they were looking forward to this new step in their lives.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff have a good understanding of the young people’s health and development needs. They ensure that young people attend routine health appointments and that they seek specialist help when required. Young people are encouraged and supported to engage in social and recreational activities that promote a healthier lifestyle.

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improvement to be good

The contact young people have with their friends and family is important to them and the manager and staff work hard to promote this. The manager and staff have liaised effectively with placing local authorities and parents to allow the young people to have unsupervised contact with parents and friends. The staff ensure that contact is meaningful and safe and is always in the best interests of the young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 4 The young people’s independence plans are poor. There is brief information of what skills the young people have to be able to care for themselves, but the plans lack detail on how these were achieved, what support was given and whether further support is needed. As a result, young people are not well prepared to move into adulthood.

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improvement to be good

There are appropriate procedures in place should the young people or staff need to raise a safeguarding concern. External professionals said that the manager and staff were good at discussing concerns, initiating strategy meetings and making sure that the young people understood the risks. However, risk assessments lack clarity because the history, triggers, strategies and actions for the staff to follow are all mixed together. The plans lack any evaluation of the risks posed or guidance to staff on how to manage them in a safe way. This has the potential to impact on the consistency of the response staff give to the young people or in the action staff may take. Additionally, staff have not received refresher training on a range of safeguarding topics. This does not ensure that the staff have their skills and knowledge updated regularly.

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improvement to be good

Young people have not received any sanctions for unacceptable behaviour and there have been no physical restraints. Young people said that they enjoy working towards their incentives and rewards. The young people’s achievements have been celebrated with additional monies, trips to theme parks and with cinema tickets for them and their friends.

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improvement to be good

There have been occasions when young people have been reported missing from the home. Members of staff have followed the local authority’s protocol for reporting these instances to the police. The staff search for the young people in the local area, but this is not always recorded in the daily record. Further to this, some information, such as dates, do not correspond with other documents. This shows a lack of oversight of the records by the manager. In addition to this, the manager has not informed Ofsted when young people have been missing for a significant period of time. This reduces the regulator’s oversight of the home.

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improvement to be good

Good recruitment and selection processes ensure, where possible, that staff are suitable to work with young people. Regular health and safety checks mean that the home environment is physically safe and secure.

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good

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager. Although she has had long periods off work because of ill health, she has now returned to work. A deputy manager has overseen the home in her absence. There are sufficient staff to meet the needs of the young people. Gaps in the rota, due to sickness and Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 5 holidays, have been covered by staff from the authority’s other homes and regular bank staff. This helps to reduce the levels of disruption for the young people.

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good

Care planning is poor and does not promote the continued progress of young people. Internal placement plans and risk management plans are not reviewed effectively to identify the changing needs of individual young people. Records do not provide an insight into the young people’s lives and care experiences, and there is limited information to measure their progress or identify the effectiveness of the support provided. The records for some young people were not clear, signed and dated by the author or other staff to indicate that they had read and understood them.

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good

All staff hold a suitable recognised childcare qualification. Staff have regular opportunities, through practice-related supervision and team meetings, to reflect on the young people’s progress, how to improve the support they give to young people and the emotional impact of the work. However, staff training has not been refreshed within timescales.

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good

Although the provider has a system to monitor and review the care provided to the young people, this is not fully utilised. Her monitoring report does not refer to the outcomes of consultation with the young people and external stakeholders and it lacks evaluation and analysis. As a result, the manager does not have a clear overview of the home’s strengths or areas for development.

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good

At the assurance visit in October 2020, the manager was asked to ensure that she had a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16 schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). Although this was done, it requires further information, such as the timescales for induction, probation and supervision. Therefore, the recommendation has been repeated. Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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 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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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 located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)) 31 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

promotes their welfare. 31 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 31 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that all training is refreshed within timescales. 31 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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; 31 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 8 an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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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

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16 schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the steps taken by staff, to secure good progress and outcomes, are clearly recorded within the young person’s documents.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records kept in the children’s home are signed and dated by the author. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) In addition, ensure that recordings have the correct dates and information.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) In particular, ensure that regulation 45 reports are evaluative and include areas for consultation, improvement and development. Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 9  The registered person should help each child to prepare for any moves from the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27) In particular, ensure that children’s independence skills are assessed and recorded, including any additional help that is required by staff or external professionals.

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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: SC394283 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Pam Nuckley, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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