Children's Home run by Newcastle City Council in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 1 SC033642 Registered provider: Newcastle City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates and manages this home. The home offers care and accommodation for up to six children with emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager registered with Ofsted in 2008 and is suitably qualified. He is currently absent from the home. There is an interim manager is in post.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 17 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 16 October 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/10/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Good 02/08/2017 Full Good 01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 3

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inadequate

Children’s experiences of living in this home are poor. This impacts on various aspects of their lives. Some children have been excluded from school and their attendance has fallen below 90%. Some children have started to misuse substances and all of the children have been involved with the police. These experiences have a negative impact on the children’s well-being and may impact on their future opportunities.

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inadequate

Children are not happy living in this home. They do not have confidence in the staff’s and manager’s ability to protect them. This has resulted in some children refusing to return to the home. This experience has caused disruption in the children’s lives and affected their sense of stability and security.

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inadequate

Care planning has not improved. This is despite a requirement being made in the last inspection. Some children’s care plans are not up to date with relevant information about the child’s individual needs. Changes to care plans are not effectively communicated between the manager and the placing authority. This impacts on the quality of individualised care that children receive.

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inadequate

Senior leaders make the decisions about which children move into and out of the home, instead of the manager. This, and the provider’s failure to ensure that group living risk assessments are carried out prior to children joining the home, means that children with complex and competing needs are placed together inappropriately.

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inadequate

Children have good relationships with the staff and enjoy doing activities together. For example, they play computer games and visit the amusement arcades. Children have an allocated key worker. However, key-work sessions are not planned and do not link to children’s relevant plans. In addition, sessions are rarely recorded. This means that the managers cannot be assured that children are receiving the right help and support that they need to make progress in their lives.

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inadequate

Staff support children to have family time. Staff have positive relationships with the children’s families and provide family members with information and support that they require when necessary. However, there are no clear plans in place for staff to follow. This means that some children’s family time is inconsistent and does not focus on the child’s assessed needs and what is in the child’s best interests.

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inadequate

The staff encourage children to take an active role in looking after their own health. When children misuse substances, staff encourage children to access specialist help. However, when children decline this support, staff do not actively encourage children to engage. This means that some children’s misuse of substances has increased, which has a negative impact on their health and other aspects of their lives. Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 4 Children have a balanced diet. They are involved in creating the weekly menu, and are invited to cook with the home’s chef. Children’s specific cultural dietary requirements are catered for. As a result, children enjoy their mealtimes and feel good about this aspect of their care.

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

Children are frightened of living in the home. Serious incidents involving children happen regularly. Some incidents involve children concealing dangerous weapons in their bedrooms. The manager has failed to ensure that the staff take effective action or provide intervention with the children to address this. For example, plans to carry out room searches are not always followed. This affects children’s safety and emotional well-being.

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

Children’s risk assessments are not up to date and some information is missing. This means that staff do not have all the necessary information or guidance on the actions they must take to keep children safe. Poor management oversight has failed to identify this shortfall.

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

Staff do not manage children’s behaviours effectively. There has been a significant rise in staff requesting police involvement at the home. All children living in this home have been involved in youth justice services and some children have moved to secure care. This increases the likelihood of children being criminalised which impacts on their future.

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

Staff do not help children to develop positive relationships with their peers. There is a culture of children regularly bullying each other. Despite this, staff do not carry out structured intervention with children to challenge this bullying behaviour. In addition, staff routinely lock doors to separate children. This long-standing institutionalised practice has not been assessed or reviewed by the provider to consider if this practice is appropriate.

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

When children make allegations against staff, investigations are carried out. However, in one example, the manager could not provide the specific details about the allegation, the stage of the investigation, or any interim risk management arrangements in place to protect the children. This practice compromises the safety and well-being of children.

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

Children like their bedrooms. Children have chosen the colours of their bedrooms and the staff support them to keep their bedrooms clean. However, some areas of the home are damaged, including doors and children’s bedroom walls. There are no pictures or personalised items around the home to show that children live there. This hinders children from developing a sense of belonging and feeling valued.

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

Incidents of physical restraint are rare and used as a last resort to keep children and others safe. However, when physical restraint does take place, the staff do not record all the necessary information and the specific details of what happened to the Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 5 child. The physical restraint log is in a poor condition and the documents are unorganised. This impacts on the manager’s ability to scrutinise these records to ensure that the use of physical restraints is appropriate and proportionate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leaders and managers have failed to ensure that the staff receive consistent leadership to enable them to provide effective care to children. The registered manager has been absent frequently since March 2021. An interim manager has been in post and is suitably qualified. However, staffing pressures mean that he also covers shifts on behalf of other staff. This has impacted on the quality of management oversight in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most staff supervision is up to date. However, some staff have experienced long gaps between supervision sessions. The quality of supervision varies. This impacts on the support available to staff and the manager’s oversight of the quality of care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not use monitoring and reviewing systems effectively. This means that the themes and shortfalls in practice are not identified. This impacts on the leaders’ and managers’ understanding of the children’s progress and what needs to change to improve children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leaders and managers have failed to ensure good communication between the staff and the placing local authority. Changes in children’s care plans are not effectively communicated in a timely manner. As a result, children do not receive care in line with their current needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of information available to evaluate children’s experiences of living in the home is poor. This is because the leaders and managers have failed to ensure that the staff’s record-keeping is consistent and thorough. In addition, the staff do not understand what information should be recorded and where it should be kept.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When serious incidents involving the children take place, the manager does not consistently inform Ofsted as required. This impacts on Ofsted’s ability to provide independent scrutiny and oversight of children’s welfare and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The certificate of registration displayed in the home is out of date. The certificate does not show the name of the current responsible individual or the correct conditions of registration. In addition, the manager has not ensured that the statement of purpose is up to date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff are committed to caring for the children and speak positively about them. The staff work together as a team and feel supported by each other. One staff member spoke about the challenges of working during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 6 pandemic and how the team had been ‘strong’. Another staff member said they ‘love’ their work and ‘wouldn’t want to be anywhere else’. Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 7

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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, the 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)) 8 August 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. 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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv))* 8 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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 8 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 8 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(h))* The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; that arrangements are in place to— manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(ii))* 8 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to— a person who works at the home; a child, or a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered; a parent of a child, or a parent of a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered; a child’s placing authority; and in the case of a qualifying school, the Secretary of State. The registered person must— 8 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 9 keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e) 3(a)(b)) The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected; children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises— is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 8 September 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— the name of the child; details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; 8 October 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 10 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered

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Requirement Due date

person to do so ("the authorised person")— has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(c)(e)) 8 December 2021

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Requirement Due date

Any person who carries on or manages an establishment or agency of any description without being registered under this Part in respect of it (as an establishment or, as the case may be, agency of that description) shall be guilty of an offence. (Section 11 (1) Care Standards Act 2000) In particular, the registered person must ensure that the person in day-to-day charge of the home registers with Ofsted. 8 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC033642 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Newcastle City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newcastle Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 8QH

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Inspectors

Catherine Heron, Social Care Inspector Emma Ridley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033642 12 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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