Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in Surrey

Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd 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 and was registered in September 2020. The statement of purpose says that the home provides the highest quality care and substitute parenting for up to four children who experience emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 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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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people inadequate

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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

In this home, inspectors identified serious and widespread failures. Children and young people are not adequately protected, and their welfare is not consistently promoted. The experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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Inspection dates: 4 to 5 May 2021

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 2

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Inspection type Inspection judgement

Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 3

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inadequate

Children have made limited progress since moving to the home, and their day-to-day experiences have not always been positive. One child’s mental health deteriorated during her time at the home, and another child has experienced an abusive peer relationship within the home. The police have been called on six occasions to assist in managing behaviour since the home opened in September 2020.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers liaise with education professionals when children have no suitable provision. One child has maintained her placement in mainstream education and is taking examinations. However, a child who has struggled in education for several years has not made progress. This child does not have a daily plan to promote and encourage education activities and work towards developing independence skills. The activities undertaken provide little challenge, and staff have failed to motivate and engage the child.

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inadequate

The quality of the relationships between staff and children is varied. At times, children engage positively with staff. However, records indicate that one child has been verbally abused by a member of staff. Children have also made allegations of physical assault against staff. All but one of these allegations have been investigated.

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inadequate

Children’s emotional well-being is not always given sufficient priority. Staff have not effectively supported a child to overcome a recent negative experience. The registered manager told inspectors that regular discussions had taken place with the child about wellbeing and safety. However, records of these discussions are not always kept. This means that key information could be missed and staff may not all be familiar with the challenging circumstances that some children have experienced.

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inadequate

Overall, children’s healthcare needs are being met. Staff have consulted medical practitioners for advice when necessary and they have successfully supported one child on a weight loss programme. One child has also become more receptive to receiving mental health support. However, regular checks of a child’s emergency medical equipment are not recorded. This means that the registered manager is unable to review such checks or ensure that the risk assessment is being appropriately followed.

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

Weaknesses in the implementation of safeguarding procedures mean that children are not consistently protected from harm, and their welfare is at risk of being compromised. Managers failed to establish whether a child protection referral relating to a disclosure of sexual assault received adequate attention from the relevant safeguarding agencies. Managers have not kept a detailed account of the Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 4 actions that have been taken and have not enquired about the outcome of their referral until this was queried by inspectors. Managers then identified that this referral had not been fully addressed. The failure to follow up the referral has resulted in concerns not being escalated and the child’s disclosure potentially not being fully investigated.

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

There has not always been an effective response to safeguarding concerns in the home. Despite becoming aware that a relationship was developing between two children, managers and staff did not ensure that sufficient measures were in place to prevent the relationship from becoming harmful. This resulted in both children making allegations of feeling pressured to engage in sexual activity. One child subsequently reported that this was a controlling relationship and expressed the view that staff did not supervise them sufficiently well to prevent opportunities for these incidents from occurring.

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

The registered manager did not investigate the disclosure made by the child at the time. Therefore, it has not been possible to establish whether staff have potentially failed in their duty to protect the children and any lessons that can be learned from the way in which the situation was managed. This is indicative of a poor safeguarding culture.

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

The assessment and management of children’s individual risks are poor. Managers and staff have failed to recognise the potential link between a child being criminally exploited and subsequently becoming sexually exploited. For one child, no specific risk assessments have been completed regarding known high-risk behaviours, such as substance misuse. Risk assessments are not always updated following serious events, or when new risks are identified, such as finding a razor blade hidden in a child’s bedding. The strategies in risk assessments are not always implemented in practice. In one example, this resulted in a child’s medical equipment not being checked to ensure that it was in working order. This had potentially life-threatening implications.

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

Managers do not consistently recognise when children could be at risk of harm. On one occasion, managers failed to instigate the allegations management procedure when a child was injured during a physical restraint. This was despite the child saying that the member of staff had hurt her. The responsible individual told the inspectors that the rationale for not investigating this allegation was that the member of staff injured the child accidentally.

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

Insufficient priority is given to ensuring the health and safety of children and staff in the home. During the inspection, an electrical appliance being used by a child in her bedroom over-heated and began smoking. This activated the fire alarms. Effective action was not taken to ensure that this child evacuated the building, and no roll call was taken. The registered manager subsequently confirmed that the portable appliances in the child’s bedroom had not been tested because the child had not given permission. The registered manager then arranged for the appliances to be tested on the following day. However, this is a reactive approach to ensuring that children are not exposed to avoidable hazards. Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 5 Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The shortfalls found at this inspection can be attributed to a failure of leaders and managers to effectively manage, monitor or respond to the quality of care that is being provided. For example, the registered manager was not aware that the strategies in a child’s risk assessments were not being followed. Neither was he aware that there are no records of a child receiving appropriate support, after disclosing that he had experienced an abusive peer relationship. Inaccuracies were found in safeguarding documents and children’s plans, and these had not been noticed by leaders and managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been six allegations made against staff since the home opened in September 2020. Five of these have been investigated. The arrangements for the management and investigation of allegations are confusing and contradictory. The decision-making process set out in documents regarding the immediate action that should be taken is open to interpretation. This has resulted in leaders and managers not always following the procedures that are in place. This specifically relates to when a member of staff should or should not be suspended pending an investigation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In one example, two different outcomes for a member of staff were recorded in the allegation investigation record. This resulted in the designated officer being given incorrect information regarding the action being taken against the member of staff. Leaders and managers had not identified this shortfall through their monitoring activities. The implementation of the allegations management policy does not currently ensure that poor staff practice will be effectively identified and addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not always take sufficient steps to ensure that admissions to the home are appropriate. One impact risk assessment failed to analyse the likely effect of a new admission on children already living at the home. The impact risk assessment does not evidence that consideration is given to whether the staff have sufficient knowledge and skills to meet the needs of this extremely vulnerable child. Following admission, the child was allocated a key worker with very limited training and experience of caring for vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Many of the staff have not undertaken training relevant to the specific needs of the children at the home. This is partly attributable to the difficulties associated with providing training during the COVID-19 restrictions. However, the inspectors could find no evidence to indicate that leaders and managers had taken steps to anticipate and mitigate the risk of having a largely untrained and inexperienced workforce in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not consistently considered the implications of new information that is bought to their attention. Two children who have demonstrated behaviours consistent with suicidal ideation, have told managers and staff that a local railway bridge is known as ‘suicide bridge’. These children have visited this bridge when in a state of distress. The home’s location risk assessment has not been updated to reflect this new information. Ofsted was not notified when one child Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 7 visited this bridge and threatened to jump off it. This has hindered the regulator’s ability to monitor how serious incidents are managed at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of staff supervision is not consistently good, particularly for staff who have no previous experience of working with vulnerable children. One supervision record indicated that little reflection had taken place regarding an allegation a child had made against the staff member. Another record demonstrated that the supervisor had failed to fully explore the negative emotional impact of the work on a staff member. The standard of supervision is unlikely to assist staff in becoming fully competent at meeting the complex needs of children in the home.

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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 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 that staff— understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(iii)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that children who do not attend school have a planned, structured day, which seeks to engage then in educational activities. 13 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 13 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 8 This is with specific reference to ensuring that the strategies in healthcare risk assessments are followed. The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship; are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(vii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that staff do not verbally abuse children. Staff should support children to withdraw from or gain help with harmful peer relationships. New staff should receive appropriate levels of support to manage their own emotional responses to meeting the needs of children. 13 June 2021

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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 that staff— 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))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to children’s individual risk assessments, impact risk assessments, allegation risk assessments and the location risk assessment. 13 June 2021

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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 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi)) 13 June 2021

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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. 13 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 9 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff— have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 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; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)(d)(e)) 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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)) 13 June 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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 13 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 10 The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that impact risk assessments consider the likely impact of a new admission on all children who live at the home. 13 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home; ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that the fire evacuation plan is followed and children are supported to evacuate the building when the fire alarm is activated. 13 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which— sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular— provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response; describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 34 (1)(b) (2)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular reference to ensuring that the policy relating to allegations made against staff is implemented in practice and all records pertaining to safeguarding matters contain details of actions taken and decisions made. 13 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular reference to notifying Ofsted when a child is demonstrating behaviours that indicate a serious intent to harm themselves. 13 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 11 * These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 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: 2578675 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Epinal Way, Off Squirrel Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3GE

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Inspectors

Stephen Collett, Social Care Inspector Kelly Marchmont, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2578675 14 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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