Children's Home run by Care and Management Services Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report children's home: SC470457 1 SC470457 Registered provider: Care and Management Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of a group of four homes run by the same organisation. The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children who display complex behaviours as a result of their childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2020.

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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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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 failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 13 November 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC470457 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/11/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 01/04/2019 Full Good 10/12/2018 Full Inadequate 31/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC470457 3

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inadequate

A child, who has recently been admitted to the home, is at risk of significant harm due to their self-harming behaviours and a history of ligaturing themselves. The registered manager failed to ensure that the child’s risk assessments contained all known information, or that they accurately reflected the level of risk and likelihood of repeat incidents. As a result, staff were not provided with the necessary information to safeguard the child effectively, compromising the child’s welfare.

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inadequate

Children are unable to leave the home or access the garden freely. The front door and back door are kept locked, and both require a key to exit. Currently, only staff have access to the keys. Therefore, children have to ask staff if they want to use the garden or to leave the home. This places unnecessary restrictions on children’s freedom and compromises their safety should they need to leave the home in the event of a fire.

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inadequate

The registered manager has failed to take action to ensure that children have appropriate privacy when in their bedrooms. One child’s bedroom is overlooked by houses across the road. Their bed lies beneath a large bedroom window. There is no curtain or privacy screening in place. This means members of the public are able to see into the child’s room. As a result, children’s privacy and dignity are not promoted or protected.

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inadequate

Children have good relationships with staff. This helps children to feel valued and cared for. One child said, ‘Staff feel like family. They are amazing, and I can trust them.’

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inadequate

Staff work with health professionals and therapists to inform the care they provide for children. For example, staff have encouraged one child to use coloured bands to tell staff how they are feeling when in distress. This demonstrates positive child- centred practice and ensures that staff are able to respond quickly to support the child.

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inadequate

Children have made progress, despite other significant shortfalls in managers’ and staff’s practice. One child is being supported to study an apprenticeship. Children’s education professionals are complementary about the home and the support they have provided to the children. As a result, children are being supported to achieve positive educational outcomes. Inspection report children's home: SC470457 4

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

The registered manager does not ensure that all risk assessments inform staff of the risks to children, the likelihood of those risks occurring and what actions staff should take to mitigate the risks. Since coming to the home, one child has used their shoelaces to ligature themselves on two occasions. The child’s risk assessment did not contain information relating to historic incidents of the child using their shoelaces to ligature and this document was also not updated after the first incident. This resulted in a second incident of the child ligaturing themselves in this way. Although staff were able to respond quickly, staff had not been given the necessary information to prevent these or further incidents occurring. As a result, this child’s welfare is seriously compromised.

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

Requirements set out in a court order, depriving a child of their liberty for their own safety, are not adhered to. The manager believed them to be guidance and was unclear regarding the home’s legal obligations under this order. There is no internal guidance for staff on what action they should take to comply with the court order, and there was no evidence that the required checks were being carried out. The child has previously said to staff at the home that she is not consistently checked on by staff. This lack of clarity about what the level of monitoring should be, and what is being carried out, does not provide the necessary assurance that the required risk mitigation is in place. This increases the risk of harm to the child.

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

For one child, there has been no session work undertaken with them. Although the child had been at the home for a short period of time, no work has been recorded that indicated that the child was being supported to keep themselves safe or was able to explore their thoughts after significant incidents. This does not support the child to progress or to develop skills to keep themselves safe.

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

The manager and staff have not taken all necessary steps to ensure that the home environment is safe for the children. Inspectors found a loose light fitting with a cord. This could present a risk to the child who is known to ligature. This has not been identified or risk assessed by the manager. There were also loose carpets that could present a trip hazard. The failure of the manager and staff to identify these risk factors and put mitigations in place, compromises the safety and well-being of the children.

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

The fire safety of the home is compromised. The front and back doors are kept locked and only staff have access to the keys both during the day and at night. This means that children are unable to leave the home independently in the event of a fire. Also, the manager has not ensured that an adequate fire evacuation plan is in place. The fire evacuation plan does not consider that both fire exits require a key to exit. This places children and staff at risk of significant harm.

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

The registered manager’s assessment of risk from the location of the home is poor. There have been two incidents when a child has entered waterways in the local area. This information has not been used to inform the location risk assessment. This demonstrates a lack of learning from incidents and a lack of consideration to Inspection report children's home: SC470457 5 risk factors. As a result, staff are not provided with all the necessary information they need to safeguard children when they are out in the community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight of the home is poor. There are no systems in place that enable the manager to monitor the quality of the care provided. When asked, the manager was unable to provide examples of any monitoring that he had performed. There were no records of actions identified from audits or if these have been acted on. Consequently, the care provided is not reviewed and monitored effectively to ensure that children receive an improving service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor placement planning has placed a child at significant risk of harm. The manager has not taken steps to ensure that comprehensive assessments are in place for this child. The risk assessments and actions within these documents do not take into account the history of this child. The manager told the inspector he had not reviewed the risk assessments for this child as it is company policy to do this within 14 days. The inspection started on day 15 of this child’s placement. This approach meant that staff were not provided with the necessary information to enable them to keep a child safe, and significantly compromised the welfare of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not ensured that all notifications of significant events have been provided to Ofsted. For example, one incident involved a child self-harming while with staff in the community. The child also made threats to harm members of the public. Due to these concerns, the staff with the child contacted the police. While staff tend to take appropriate action, the failure to notify Ofsted of significant incidents hinders its oversight of the care provided to children by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not kept the admission book up to date. The admission book was sampled because children have left and been admitted to the home since the last inspection. The details of one child were not available. This does not ensure that the register in place for children is up to date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have received appropriate training to meet the needs of the children they care for. It is recognised that, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, the home has still continued to provide training to staff. However, there are six out of nine staff who have not had their missing-from-care training. Due to low missing-from- care episodes, the impact of this has been minimal.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has ensured that supervision is in place. This is recorded effectively and staff value this. This provides staff with the opportunity to develop and reflect on their practice. Inspection report children's home: SC470457 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

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

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that risk assessments include all relevant information and inform staff of all risks to children, including the action they must take to mitigate the risk and safeguard the child.

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Requirement Due date

The manager must also ensure that if a child is subject to a Deprivation of Liberty Order that clear guidance is in place for staff. The daily records should demonstrate that observation levels are being adhered to. 8 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC470457 7 The home environment is to be maintained in order to protect each child from avoidable hazards.

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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

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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager is to ensure that a system is in place to monitor and review the quality of care provided to children and that continuous improvements are made to the home environment. 8 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that —

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises —

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 8 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC470457 8 In particular, the registered manager is to ensure that the privacy of children at the home is appropriately protected. The manager is also to ensure that children are not unnecessarily restricted from using the garden or leaving the home.

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Requirement Due date

*After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must —

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of a fire.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must review the current arrangements for locking the front and back door and ensure that there is a clear fire evacuation procedure in place that considers both fire exits requiring a key to exit. 8 August 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

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

In particular, the registered manager is to ensure that a notification is made to HMCI when a serious incident has taken place. 8 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purpose of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager is to ensure that incidents inform the location risk assessment and updates are made to the location risk assessment to reflect these. 8 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 8 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC470457 9 maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager is to ensure that the register of children includes all children admitted to the home.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person is to ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. In particular, the manager should ensure that staff undertake training in relation to children going missing from the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)

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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: SC470457 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care and Management Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Park Business Centre, Hastingwood Industrial Park, Wood Lane, Birmingham, Warwickshire B24 9QR

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Inspectors

Melanie Griffin, Social Care Inspector Michelle Spruce, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC470457 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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