Children's home run by Semi-independent House Limited in Peterborough

Inspection report children's home: SC452107 1 SC452107 Registered provider: Semi-Independent House 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 provides short-, medium- and long-term care for up to three children aged eight to 18 who have experienced neglect and/or abuse and have related behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since January 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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 25 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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers 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: 22 January 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: SC452107 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/01/2020 Full Good 04/06/2018 Full Good 20/11/2017 Full Good 24/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC452107 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have enjoyed an extended period of stability at the home, which has helped them feel safe and to make good progress in most areas of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child recently moved to the home, joining the two children who have remained at the home since the last visit. This child was introduced sensitively and had the opportunity to meet staff and children in preparation for the move. Children have formed good relationships with each other and spend time together at the home and out on activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place a strong emphasis on education. One child has excellent attendance. Another child has been supported to complete their learning and to secure a place on the college course of their choice. Staff participate in education meetings and implement plans to encourage children’s attendance and engagement at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that children can spend time with family and friends, in line with plans agreed with the child’s social worker. This includes involving family members in birthday celebrations at the home. Staff are supporting a child in their plan to return home to their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to learn new skills that help them to be more independent. This includes helping with everyday tasks such as doing their own laundry and cleaning their rooms. Two children are accessing work experience, which is helping them gain some technical skills and skills in working as part of a team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enjoy spending time with the children, who are increasingly accessing activities in the local community. This helps children to be active. Staff have helped one child stop smoking, which means that none of the children at the home now smoke. Staff plan regular meals; however, children are regularly declining meals and snacking on less healthy options. This means that some children are not maintaining a healthy diet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a warm welcome to the home. The manager is establishing a homely feel by promoting daily routines that encourage children to eat together. Children said that they have chosen how to decorate and arrange their rooms. However, the upstairs hallway has some chipped paintwork and damaged plaster. One of the children’s bedroom doors has been replaced and is not painted. The toilets were unclean at the time of inspection and this was also noted by a professional who recently visited the home. Other maintenance issues identified by the independent person are in the process of being addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager undertakes a matching risk assessment before accepting any new referral. The assessment considers the risks for each of the children and the home’s capacity to manage these safely. However, the children’s emotional response to a Inspection report children's home: SC452107 4 new child moving in was not explored in the recent matching assessment. The changes have increased one child’s anxiety, resulting in a serious incident during which a staff member was harmed. As a result, this child will be moving on. This is a change to the child’s care plan.

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

Staff have built positive relationships with children which enable them to support children to calm when they are feeling worried or angry. As a result, there have been minimal incidents at the home since the last visit in November 2020.

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

Children say that they like staff and feel able to talk to them. This means that children more readily engage in key-working sessions with staff about issues that affect them, and they listen to the guidance that staff offer. This helps to keep children safe and for children to learn about keeping themselves safe.

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

Staff know the children well. This has enabled staff to develop effective strategies that have reduced the frequency of incidents. This includes agreeing ‘time out’ for one child who goes for a short unsupervised walk when needed. Staff now meet another child at the local shop after school to help him manage the change from his school environment to home.

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

When incidents do occur, staff follow the plans in place. When incidents occur at night or at the weekends, on-call managers attend the home and provide additional staffing resource when needed.

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

Staff have all accessed face-to-face physical intervention training. Staff feel that the training has provided them with the skills and confidence to deal with physical aggression. There has been one restraint used since the last visit. The restraint was used to help keep the child and staff safe. As the manager was involved in the restraint, the incident was reviewed by a senior manager to provide objective scrutiny.

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

There has been one incident when the police have been called to the home. The manager reviewed the incident quickly and increased staffing levels in response to one of the children’s increasing emotional needs.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from the home. Children are given the opportunity to gain trust and spend time unsupervised in the community when assessed as safe to do so. This helps children to maintain friendships and to experience an increased level of personal responsibility.

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

Children regularly access the internet when gaming online. Measures are in place to limit access to the internet and to supervise children when using devices. However, measures to reduce risks of online abuse are not considered in children’s risk assessments. This could lead to inconsistencies in staff practice and children being exposed to online abuse. Inspection report children's home: SC452107 5 The home has a safe recruitment policy. References are obtained and verified but the home has not established the reasons why one applicant left previous care roles. This could lead to unsuitable people working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider has appointed an appropriately qualified manager who is in the process of registering with Ofsted. The manager knows the children and the service well. Professionals and parents are complimentary about the positive working relationships that they have established with him.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by the manager and senior managers. They said that support is always available whatever the time of day. The manager has helped staff to grow in confidence to maintain boundaries and implement daily routines. He has established a strong culture of respect for each other and the children at the home. This, in turn, has provided children with a sense of consistency and predictability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager holds timely debriefs with children and staff following any incidents. This helps children and staff feel cared about and listened to. The manager learns from incidents and makes changes to reduce the risk of further incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a good advocate for the children. Children attend most of their meetings. When they do not attend, the manager makes sure that children’s views are represented.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has received one complaint from a neighbour. The complaint was dealt with thoughtfully to promote a positive relationship.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since his appointment, the manager has made progress with addressing the previous requirements and recommendations. The manager started to address the shortfalls as they were identified during the inspection. Inspection report children's home: SC452107 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments contain information on all presenting risks, including the risk of online abuse and considerations of staffing levels for new admissions. 22 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

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

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and 22 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC452107 7 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)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that if a person has previously worked in a position involving work with children or vulnerable adults, verification is obtained, so far as reasonably practicable, of the reason why the employment or position ended.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met. In particular, ensure that a good standard of decoration in the hallways is maintained and a good standard of cleanliness in the bathrooms and toilets is maintained. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to help children understand, and, when necessary, work to change negative behaviours in areas of health and well-being, particularly in respect of healthy eating and nutrition. (Guide to the children’s home regulation including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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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: SC452107 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Semi-Independent House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 51 Ploverly, Peterborough PE4 6HZ

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Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC452107 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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