Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1276442 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private organisation and registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children. According to the statement of purpose, the home caters for children with complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, Ofsted 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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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/or 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: 5 February 2020

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: 1276442 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/02/2020 Full Outstanding 19/03/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1276442 3

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inadequate

Poor staff practice, together with staffing shortages, have left the children without adequate protection and have undermined their progress and well-being. Although they have made progress from their starting points, the quality of their care has significantly deteriorated during this inspection period.

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inadequate

Three members of staff have left following periods of diminishing performance and commitment to their role, and one key member of staff left suddenly, without warning. This has undermined the children’s trust and sense of security. Some children’s engagement with staff has declined. For one child, there are incidents of frequent missing episodes, to places and with persons unknown to staff and for another child, there are episodes of staying away from the home overnight without agreement. Mutual trust and respect between the children and staff have reduced and relationships have deteriorated. The children are demonstrating their frustrations through escalating negative behaviours. One recent example includes a brick being thrown through the kitchen window, which was boarded up at the time of this inspection.

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inadequate

Staff fail to positively interact and engage meaningfully with children. One child was seen eating his evening meal alone, ignored by staff sitting in a nearby office. Staff have not encouraged him to rehang pictures and posters in his room following redecoration, and his walls are bare and the room lacking in warmth and personalisation. During the inspection, one child spent a whole day in his room, mostly sleeping. Another child was found to have remained in his room playing on his games console for most of the day, after refusing to attend education. This uninterested approach fails to value children or make them feel cared for.

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inadequate

This inspection period has seen a marked decline in the quality of the children’s care, their meaningful engagement with staff and the plans for their care and progress.

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

Staff have repeatedly failed to take effective action when there have been serious concerns about a child’s welfare.

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

One missing child was reported by a peer to the staff to be vomiting and passed out on a beach. Staff failed to go out and attend to him, relying on a relative of the child to fetch him and bring him back to the home. Although injuries were noted, staff failed to seek medical attention when he returned home. Following the incident, plans to guide staff in keeping him safe and reducing his risk of harm were not reviewed. These failings place the children at significant risk of harm. Ofsted was not notified about this incident in terms of Regulation 40. Inspection report children's home: 1276442 4 For one child who frequently goes missing, there is no plan or strategy to address and reduce this risk-taking behaviour, even following an episode of going missing when he required hospital treatment.

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

Staff have continued to support a family visiting arrangement for a child when they have identified significant risks associated with these visits. Leaders and managers have failed to take any decisive action to reduce these associated risks and have failed to escalate their concerns effectively to the placing authority. These failures place the child at significant risk of harm.

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

There are a range of risks clearly associated with children’s specific behaviours that have not been considered by leaders and managers, and there are no plans in place to guide staff in how to manage and reduce these risks. These include risks around the children possessing or not possessing cash and the risks associated with a child returning to the home when he is likely to have been in circumstances involving the use and acquisition of drugs. Such failure to act places the children at risk of harm.

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

The most recently appointed members of staff have not been safely recruited as vetting requirements have not been met. The home’s gas safety certificate has also been allowed to expire.

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

Serious and widespread failures to safeguard children effectively have been identified. These are associated with staffing shortfalls, weak leadership and poor and unsafe staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to identify some of the highlighted shortfalls and has failed to escalate concerns about staffing insufficiency effectively. There has also been a failure to challenge and escalate effectively questionable local authority performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to apply disciplinary procedures when staff have repeatedly under-performed and there have been a range of misconduct issues. These behaviours include chronic lateness, leaving the site without permission or without informing colleagues, failure to follow procedures, allowing large sums of money to go missing and poor safeguarding practice. This failure to act decisively and apply procedures designed to keep children safe has undermined team working and staff morale and, consequently, the quality of care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Disciplinary procedures that were started have not been concluded when staff have left, and no consideration has been given to making a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service regarding the suitability of such persons to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff misconduct and poor performance has not been addressed in supervision sessions and has been ignored in annual appraisals. These shortfalls have allowed poor practice to continue and undermines the quality of the children’s care. The Inspection report children's home: 1276442 5 overall quality of staff supervision is poor. Much content is not aligned with statutory guidance and recording is weak.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Weak recruitment practice has contributed to staff shortages. This includes confusing advertising to attract suitable applicants and unclear recruitment procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some strong connections between staff and children were witnessed and within the remaining core staff group there was clear evidence of commitment to the development and improvement of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers recognise and acknowledge most of the identified failures and shortfalls and express a determination to address these as swiftly as possible. Inspection report children's home: 1276442 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 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)) 1 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.

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 1 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1276442 7 take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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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

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 1 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must operate a disciplinary procedure which, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provides for the suspension from work of an employee if necessary, in the interests of the safety or welfare of children. (Regulation 33 (2)(a)) 1 August 2021

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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; 1 August 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1276442 8 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; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any [other] incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 1 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

* This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. A record of supervision should be kept for staff and should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.2 and 13.3)

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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: 1276442 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rebecca Grimshaw

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Inspectors

John Pledger, Social Care Inspector Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1276442 10 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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