Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Suffolk

Inspection report children's home: 1183069 1 Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered for up to six children who have mental health needs. It is also registered with the Care Quality Commission.

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Information about this children’s home

The suitably qualified and experienced manager registered with Ofsted in April 2018.

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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: 18 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1183069 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2020 Full Good 21/11/2018 Full Good 20/11/2017 Full Good 26/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: 1183069 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living at the home. They spoke positively of the help that they receive from staff. When asked what the best thing about the home is, one child said, ‘The staff; they really care about us, and we know it.’ Children have complex mental health needs; staff build positive relationships with them that help them to settle at the home. Children remain at the home for significant periods of time, with staff using their expertise to enable this stability. Positive relationships with staff help children feel settled at their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a wide range of support from staff. This includes support from a psychotherapist and specialist nurse, who are based at the home. Children access therapy on site. This support has helped them make good progress with their mental health. Some children have had significant anxieties around accessing the community, but this has decreased. All children now access a range of community- based activities. Good support for children’s mental health needs has helped them to progress and broadens their day-to-day experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to maintain and build relationships with their families. Staff take children long distances to see family members who are important to them. Staff stay nearby overnight if needed so that support is available to the children. Staff work with children and family members to encourage positive relationships with families. One child has recently started seeing their family again after a period of not doing so. Their parent said that without the help that the staff have provided this would not be possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not all have curtains in their bedrooms. This been the case for some time, due to supply issues. Staff have chased this but children have been left without adequate furnishing to protect their privacy. Some areas of the home require fresh decoration.

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

Children’s care plans and risk assessments are thorough and contain clear strategies for staff to follow. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of the risks that children face. Staff support reduction of these risks through the positive relationships that they build with children and through encouragement and help to access therapy. The building has features to reduce the risk to children. Children said that they feel safe at the home because of the help that they receive from staff and the environment.

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

Incidents of self-harm for some children have reduced significantly. The response of staff to such incidents is caring and nurturing and helps children stay safe at times of emotional distress. Suitable training supports staff’s knowledge of how to manage the complex behaviours that children display. Therapeutic support is offered to Inspection report children's home: 1183069 4 children and staff after incidents. Good support for children who display self-harming behaviour has helped them stay safe.

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

Staff respond well to incidents of children going missing from the home. Staff follow clear protocols for all children. This includes actively searching for children and encouraging them to return to the home. For some children, such incidents have reduced since they have been at the home as they build relationships and become more settled. Consequently, children are safer.

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

Staff recruitment does not always take place in line with regulation. Discrepancies between one staff member’s application form and references were not identified. Further concerns in relation to the staff member were identified after they were employed. These concerns could have been identified earlier had thorough recruitment checks taken place. Checks on agency staff lack information, including their work history and details of their references. Poor recruitment practices have the potential to negatively affect the safety and well-being of children living at the home.

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good

The manager is committed to the children and is well respected by staff. She is available to the children, and this has helped her build positive relationships with them. Staff said that they feel well supported and that the manager is approachable.

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good

The manager has developed effective working relationships with external professionals as well as children’s families. There is good consultation on children’s care, which helps ensure that relevant people and agencies work together to support children well. The manager is a strong advocate for children and challenges other professionals when needed.

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good

Some areas of monitoring require improvement. Management reviews of incidents are not always undertaken and often do not include the date of review. This means that it is not clear when the manager has provided oversight. Some return home interviews after incidents of children being missing from the home have not taken place. Lack of effective monitoring means that the manager does not always ensure that opportunities to learn from incidents and develop practice are taken.

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good

Staff do not receive supervision in line with the home’s policy. Some staff have gone significant periods of time without formal supervision. This fails to ensure that staff are appropriately supported to meet the complex needs of the children.

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good

There was a delay in the organisation providing the manager with the details of a complaint that was made by a member of the public. When the manager received the complaint, action was taken immediately but the initial delay meant that this did not happen within appropriate timescales. The manager failed to promptly notify Ofsted of a safeguarding referral related to the complaint. Inspection report children's home: 1183069 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 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.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)) 11 August 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

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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)(b) (2)(h)) 11 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only— 21 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1183069 6 employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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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 (4)(b)) 11 August 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s complaint procedure is in line with Regulation 39. In particular, this should ensure that complaints made to the organisation are directed to the home without delay. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to Ofsted. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)

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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: 1183069 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Priory Education Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector

Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1183069 8 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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