Children's Home run by Crusoe Care Limited 06843979 in East Sussex

Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 1 SC484302 Registered provider: Crusoe Care Limited 06843979 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children who have complex behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned by a company which operates another children’s home in the area. The manager has been registered since 2011.

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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: 19 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection: None

Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/04/2019 Full Good 29/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children living at this home benefit from positive relationships with the staff. Staff know the young people’s needs and are dedicated to supporting them to make progress. Relationships are based on mutual respect. This enables the children to build trust in the staff who provide predictable and consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is promoted. The children have 100% attendance and were supported to engage in online learning during the periods of lockdown. Although at times the children found this difficult, with support from the staff they continued to complete their planned education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are encouraged to develop life skills. They have gained experience in using public transport, shopping, cooking and budgeting. There are plans in place to develop and extend the service to provide semi-independent care for one child as he progresses to adult services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are at the centre of staff practice, who encourage them to get involved in community-based social clubs. Through these social links, the children have developed their interests and friendship groups. As a result, they are supported to develop their identity through social learning experiences.

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

The staff have received recent safeguarding training. In general, the staff know what they need to report, to whom and when they need to do so. Where the children have specific needs, they are provided with specialist support from external agencies to address unwanted behaviours.

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

The staff are vigilant. They notice small changes in behaviour that may indicate the children require more intensive support. They work in partnership with the children’s families to provide consistency of care. They value the importance of relationship- based work and support the children to maintain positive relationships with their families.

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

Relationships with key stakeholders are positive. Professionals are positive about the progress the children are making. They describe communication as excellent and that the staff are child centred. An independent reviewing officer described staff as ‘Always going the extra mile for the young people.’

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

The staff demonstrate intrinsic knowledge of the children’s risks. However, records do not reflect the staff’s knowledge and do not reliably inform new staff of the strategies to use in the event that a risky behaviour occurs. Although this has not yet impacted on the children, the gaps in the children’s plans risk the staff not being suitably informed. Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 4 There are currently no safeguarding concerns for the children living at this home. They are settled and making progress. However, on one occasion, the staff failed to notify Ofsted when the police became involved in the case of one child as a result of unsafe behaviour. This prevented Ofsted from being able to take action to review this incident.

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good

Leaders and managers do not ensure that the staff are provided with regular supervision, or that they receive this themselves. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that all staff are given the time and space they need to reflect on their practice.

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good

Managerial monitoring is weak. Managers do not make effective use of the independent reports. Many actions identified in these reports drift, due to insufficient oversight and response by the registered manager and responsible individual. Their own monitoring activity does not identify practice shortfalls. For example, the children’s care plans are not routinely updated and do not contain relevant up-to- date information. In addition to this, managers are not regularly reviewing the quality of care provided, nor submitting the report to Ofsted.

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good

Most staff training is in date. The staff have the required level three qualification, and one new staff member is working towards this. Some disruption to training occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While leaders and managers have plans in place to address any shortfalls in staff knowledge or skills due to this disruption, they have not continued their own professional development. This is a missed opportunity for them to keep their knowledge and skills fresh.

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good

Staff are delivering care in line with the statement of purpose. However, the statement of purpose is not routinely updated or sent to Ofsted. In addition to this, it contains information relating to another home which is a separate registered service.

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good

The provider’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was good. Leaders and managers went to great lengths to ensure that the staff had the right equipment to keep the children safe. The home developed and implemented specific protocols to meet government guidelines. Changes to the rotas ensured sufficiency of staff who worked in smaller groups in order to reduce the risk of infection to the children. However, these protocols have not been updated with the most recent government guidance.

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good

During the periods of restriction, video calls have been used for staff meetings. This ensured that key information was shared with the staff. However, minutes of the meetings are not provided to the staff in a timely way. This has the potential to dilute the significance of the meeting outcomes. Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iii)) 11 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.

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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)(2)(h)) 11 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, children’s care plans are routinely updated to reflect the changes in their care, identify and development. 11 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 11 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 6 notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1)(3)(a)(b)) If the registered provider is an individual, the individual must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the individual has the skills needed for carrying on the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the registered manager has the skills needed for managing the home. (Regulation 29 (1)(4)) 11 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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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 (1)(a)(4)(b)) 11 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)) 11 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.

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Requirement Due date

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)(4)(a)) 11 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) Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 7 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crusoe Care Limited 06843979

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Crusoe Care Limited of 25 Clinton Place, Seaford, East Sussex BN25 1NP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy McIlwaine

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Inspector

Sarah Olliver, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC484302 9 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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