Children's Home run by Zone Central Ltd in Lewisham

Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 1 Registered provider: Zone Central Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children who have learning disabilities within the autism spectrum. The manager was registered by Ofsted in June 2020 and is currently undertaking the required level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children accessing the home on a short-breaks basis at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Sectary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by caring and patient staff who continually put the progress of children at the heart of their work. For example, the staff have supported one child to begin to use single words to express his needs, where previously the child was non-verbal.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build strong positive relationships with children and understand their needs very well. Staff make sure that children receive personalised care that meets their needs. Children staying in the home are well supported to settle in quickly. The staff are increasingly becoming more skilled in alternative methods of communication to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the wishes and feelings of non-verbal children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents reported that their children receive good care and always seem happy at this home. Professionals are equally positive about the care children receive and the progress that they are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress over the course of their stay in the home. Staff communicate well with children’s teachers and help to provide good routines to support children’s learning. All children have part-time education programmes to meet their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s interests and social activities are supported well. The staff take every opportunity to provide engaging and interesting activities in and outside the home, for example, cooking with them, visiting local parks and playing in the well-equipped garden.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders recognise that the home needs refurbishment. They have clear development plans to commission work for it to become a more welcoming and friendly environment in order to enhance opportunities for children and promote their personal development. The home is maintained to a good standard and is kept clean and tidy.

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

Children’s safety is promoted well, and risks are minimised effectively. Parents and carers spoken to during the inspection reported that they are very satisfied that children are kept safe in the home.

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

The staff talked confidently and knowledgably about the safeguarding risks for children and they respond to safeguarding concerns appropriately. They always ensure that they effectively monitor and supervise the children to keep them safe. Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 3 Staff are diligent in identifying risks and making appropriate changes to the living environment to minimise these. They effectively incorporate strategies to keep children safe thorough behaviour support plans.

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

The staff skilfully understand and support children to find ways to address difficult behaviours. Care plans and risk assessments appropriately identify how children should be managed. The guidance available for staff promotes consistent and positive care for children. The staff give children clear messages to reinforce what behaviour they expect from children, using visual cues that are appropriate for children’s individual needs.

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

The recruitment of staff is undertaken well. Leaders are suitably robust about safer recruitment to ensure that adults are deemed to be suitable to work with children. They are good systems in place to check ongoing suitability.

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good

The registered manager has been absent from the home for some time. However, the responsible individual and a recently appointed interim manager have ensured that children’s care continues to be well managed and their needs are met well.

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good

There are significant weaknesses in the oversight of the home’s operation. For example, leaders requested a variation from Ofsted to offer a home to three children on a permanent basis. Despite the variation being effective from January 2021, the home has continued to offer a service on a short-breaks basis to children. Consequently, it is operating outside of its statement of purpose.

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good

The independent visitor’s reports are not received by Ofsted in a timely manner. Six monthly monitoring reports do not evidence the views of children, parents or stakeholders. The children’s guide fails to contain sufficient information for children or their parents on how to make a complaint and the process for this.

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good

The appointment of an interim manager means that staff are now benefiting from regular supervision, which they appreciate and consider helpful. Staff training has mainly relied on online training during the pandemic. Most of the staff are awaiting training in first aid and restraint. Staff, however, gave good information about how they are expected to support children to prevent the use of physical intervention. Leaders have a detailed training matrix in place that outlines how face-to-face training will be re-introduced. Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 4

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1) (2)(d)(i)(ii)) 31 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 31 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 5 notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b) (5)) The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44(1) (4)(a)(b) (7)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the independent person’s report must be sent to HMCI in a timely manner. 31 August 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

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. 31 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 6 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’).

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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: and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2590934 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Zone Central Ltd, 4 Cedar Park, Cobham Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne BH21 7SF

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Inspector

Juanita Mayers, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2590934 8 inspects 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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