Children's Home run by N H Care Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children's home: 1276111 1 Registered provider: N H Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The privately owned home is registered to provide care for five children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2018. He has a level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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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: 1276111 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/03/2020 Full Good 29/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1276111 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out. Four children continue to live at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of the needs of the children. Staff and managers strive for the best for the children. As a result, children are making good progress and have developed a good sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do well at school because staff promote a culture of positive attainment in education. Children’s education reports show that children have 100% attendance. Children are supported and encouraged to complete their homework with help from staff. During the COVID-19 restrictions, staff worked closely with the school and ensured that children were receiving education at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to develop life skills in a fun and playful manner. Staff use social stories and role play to explore difficult or sensitive topics. Because of this, children have a better awareness of their personal needs and have developed some life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are nurturing and patient with the children. This caring practice and the positive relationships between staff and children help children to flourish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities which help them to keep in good physical health. Children increasingly enjoy each other’s company and share mealtimes and some activities together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to create positive memories during their time at the home. Staff proudly showed the inspector photos of their fun experiences with the children. These included festive celebrations, days out and activities in the home. Children have been able to create lots of positive childhood memories, which are captured and celebrated by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to individualised communication aids to help them communicate and participate in the daily life of the home. However, the guidance provided to staff about children’s communication preferences is not always clear. This means that, in some instances, children may not be understood instantly by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children do not have access to an independent advocate. This means that children are not able to access appropriate advocacy support to share their views about the care that they are receiving. Inspection report children's home: 1276111 4

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

The manager and staff work hard to keep children safe. Staff have an understanding of the children’s vulnerabilities and ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for them. All staff are up to date with safeguarding training and can confidently describe the actions that they would take if they had any safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding incidents are low and children do not go missing from the home.

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

Staff manage children’s behaviours well and maintain safe, consistent and appropriate boundaries. Staff support children competently when they experience difficult situations and emotional challenges. Since the last inspection, there have been no physical interventions.

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

Staff place a strong emphasis on positive behaviours and children’s achievements. Children are rewarded with lots of attention and gratitude when they have been well behaved or done something well. Children respond well to this and strive for these positive acclamations.

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

The registered manager ensures that all staff are subject to a comprehensive recruitment process to ensure that they are suitable to work in the home.

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

Occasionally, children cause damage in the home. Staff do not record clearly what happened and what the follow-up action was. This limits the opportunity for managers to review and learn from such incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is generally effective in managing the home. He is supported by an equally enthusiastic deputy manager who shares his vision and child-focused approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The dedicated and hard-working staff team is provided with excellent support and guidance from managers. Staff speak highly of their managers and the supervision support they receive. This has helped strengthen the staff team’s resilience and contributed to the quality of care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals speak highly of the staff team. One social worker told the inspector that children have progressed socially and emotionally since living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s six-monthly quality-of-care report contains duplicated information from previously completed quality-of-care reports. This includes duplication of the registered manager’s evaluation of the progress being made and his action plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In addition, the independent visitor has not regularly consulted with relevant professionals and children’s families. This limits the usefulness of the independent visitor’s report in helping to drive improvements in the home. Inspection report children's home: 1276111 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(b)(i)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that children have access to advocacy support and that records reflect their specific communication needs. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(a)) 30 September Inspection report children's home: 1276111 6 This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that the independent person seeks feedback from children, parents and professionals to assess the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager using the six-monthly report to drive improvement to the quality of care provided to children. 30 September

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that records of significant incidents provide a clear account of what action staff have taken to minimise the incidents. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1276111 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 69 Steward Street Business Lofts, Steward Street, Birmingham B18 7AF

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Inspector

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1276111 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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