Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children's home: 1249264 1 Registered provider: Radical Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It provides care and accommodation for up to four young people irrespective of gender.

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s registered manager resigned in April 2020. Since then another manager has been in post, but is now no longer managing the home. A new manager has been appointed and is planning to apply to Ofsted to register.

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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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Following the full inspection on 28 April 2021, the home was issued with a notice of restriction preventing them from admitting any more children. This restriction is due to expire on 28 July 2021. The home was also issued with four compliance notices, under regulations 8, 11, 12 and 13. These were considered at this inspection, along with the other requirements made at the previous inspection. Inspection report children's home: 1249264 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/04/2021 Full Inadequate 27/11/2019 Full Outstanding 30/07/2018 Full Outstanding 23/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1249264 3

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improvement to be good

Some progress has been made in relation to children’s education. One child is now attending tutoring on a partial timetable, which represents significant progress from her starting point. Another child has recently begun to take part in some informal learning through activities with staff. College placements for both children have been secured for the autumn term. Incentives have been used to help children comply with expectations relating to their education. These have been successful and progress has been made. The compliance notice in relation to regulation 8 is met. However, a requirement is carried over to continue to drive children’s attendance and engagement with formal education.

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improvement to be good

Issues identified at the previous inspection relating to children’s relationships have been resolved. This is primarily through two children have left the home. There have been no further incidents of bullying since the two children left the home. Children are starting to develop better relationships with staff. Children’s feedback in this area was mixed. This corresponds to changes within the staff team and the length of time it takes for children to develop trusting relationships. Observations of children and staff together were positive. One child was seen having a friend over to the home to play on the Xbox and spend time together. This is a good example of the progress made. The compliance notice relating to regulation 11 is met.

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improvement to be good

Children continue to have mixed engagement with staff and with the activities on offer. They continue to spend much of their time in their bedrooms entertaining themselves. One child commented that, although they engage in some activities it is because they get money spent on them, rather than wanting to spend time with staff. Very recently, there has been some good progress in this area, although it is too early to establish whether this can be sustained and built upon.

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improvement to be good

Children have not been in positive sleep routines until recently. Although the progress is currently good, it has only been for a very short time and needs to be sustained in order to effect lasting change.

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improvement to be good

The home itself has undergone a significant transformation in respect of decor. The rooms have been decorated, artwork put on the walls and new flooring has been ordered. Children have been consulted and have got involved in choosing the decor.

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improvement to be good

The requirement in relation to regulation 10 is not yet met, although progress has been made. The looked after children’s nurse has visited the home to educate the children about healthy eating. However, evidence shows that children still have disrupted eating patterns and choose to eat junk food or highly processed food rather than healthier options. Staff still take children to fast food outlets on a regular basis. There are still days where records show that children do not eat at all. Inspection report children's home: 1249264 4 Children are supported to develop good personal hygiene routines, however, progress is slow with this and it is only in the past week that this has been achieved.

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

Children are safe. They say that they feel safe and acknowledge that they are much safer than they were previously. All staff have done a face-to-face safeguarding course, which has improved their understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children. The compliance notice relating to regulation 12 has been met.

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

Staff have been directed to read the bullying policy and feel confident that they can deal with any issues of bullying. Staffing ratios are high, which ensures that children are appropriately supervised, and that any instances of bullying-type behaviour would be immediately addressed.

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

There have been no further incidents of children accessing each other’s bedrooms and engaging in sexual activity. Appropriate action has been taken to address one child’s risk of sexual exploitation, with the imposition of a child abduction warning notice on a former resident. The manager has worked closely with external agencies in order to ensure that the correct safeguards are in place to protect children.

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

Children’s risk assessments have been rewritten. Staff have been consulted on the risk assessment format and helped to decide the format which worked best for them. Consequently, staff have greater understanding of children’s risks and how to mitigate against them. One child’s risk assessment did not contain recent information relating to a newly identified risk. There is no system in place yet to show that staff have read each child’s risk assessment. These two shortfalls have resulted in the regulation 12 requirement being repeated from the previous inspection.

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

Children are now educated about areas of risk relevant to them. Staff regularly have informal key-working sessions with children. During these sessions they explore children’s understanding of risk and discuss ways they can keep themselves safe.

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

The management of allegations has been improved. The manager now works closely with the designated officer to ensure the appropriate steps are in place to protect both children and staff.

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good

The home’s acting manager is no longer managing the service. A new manager has been appointed and has been responsible for meeting the compliance notices. The new manager intends to apply to Ofsted for registration. Inspection report children's home: 1249264 5 The compliance notice relating to regulation 13 is met at this inspection. The manager has shown commitment, tenacity and determination to drive changes in the home and improve outcomes for children.

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good

Staff spoken to reported a significant improvement in all aspects of management of the home. They felt supported by the manager and felt she was making a difference. They said the home felt like a different and more positive place in which to work.

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good

Additional training has been provided. Staff have had two further training sessions on the home’s therapeutic model, although they still have some way to go before they are fully trained in this. They have also had training specific to children, such as autism, self-harm and child sexual exploitation.

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good

The manager has supported staff to improve their practice. This has included using incentives to motivate children and improved behaviour management. They have also been consulted about, and supported in, improving recording systems.

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good

Staff can now recognise when children are making a complaint. They have been trained in the complaints process. The manager has created a complaints file which shows action taken when a child complains.

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good

There is now a stable staff team in place. Reliance on agency staff has reduced. This provides children with consistency of care and with the opportunity to develop strong, trusting relationships with the adults who care for them. Inspection report children's home: 1249264 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)) 3 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(v)(x)) 14 September

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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; 3 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1249264 7 children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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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)) 3 August 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) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: 1249264 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Radical Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Calls Wharf, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 7JU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew McFadzean

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1249264 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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