Children's home run by Castle Homes Care Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 1 SC413078 Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It provides care and accommodation for two children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably experienced registered manager,

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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 5 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on our 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 and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 14 October 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/10/2018 Full Good 06/06/2017 Full Good 27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 3

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inadequate

Safeguarding concerns were identified through routine monitoring of this home by an independent visitor. On receipt of this information, Ofsted carried out a full inspection. This inspection found serious shortfalls regarding care and safeguarding practices.

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inadequate

Children living at this home have not complained about the quality of care provided, and their respective placing local authorities have not raised any concerns. However, there are widespread and systematic failures in the way that children are looked after at this home, which exposes them to risk.

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inadequate

Children are supported to engage in education which is tailored to their individual needs. They have opportunities to participate in a range of activities in the community and the home.

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inadequate

The home has recently had some redecoration and refurbishment. Children’s bedrooms have been decorated to their individual tastes, which provides a homely feel. The home is clean and tidy. Resources are available for the safe management of COVID-19, such as hand sanitiser.

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inadequate

Contact between the children and those who are important to them is promoted. Children are supported to visit friends and family and to maintain these important connections with regular visits.

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inadequate

The two children who resided at the home at the time of the inspection have now moved to new placements.

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

Leaders and managers have not adequately monitored the quality of care being provided to children. They have not ensured that children are protected from harm.

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

Children who are already known to be at risk of harm and exploitation have not been adequately protected. Incidents of exploitation have been witnessed by staff but not responded to appropriately. Staff have failed to intervene and/or take actions to reduce risk.

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

Children’s risk management plans lack detail. Information is out of date, inconsistent and sometimes incomplete. There is a lack of clear guidance to staff about how risks should be managed. For example, there is no risk assessment regarding children accessing Wi-Fi at a local public house to make contact with adults of concern. For another child, there is no risk assessment around multiple empty aerosol cans and other paraphernalia found in their bedroom. Staff lack sufficient safeguarding Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 4 knowledge to identify risks, and mechanisms are not in place for staff to discuss and escalate these concerns.

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

Children have been found to be drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis in their bedrooms. The staff team has not managed this effectively and has been unable to ensure safe childcare practice.

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

Going missing from the home has been a regular pattern for children. Staff are not effective in preventing children from going missing. Staff do not ensure that they know children’s whereabouts or the people who children visit. This places children at risk of harm, particularly around criminal and sexual exploitation.

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

Managers do not ensure that independent return home interviews take place when children return to the home after a period of being missing. Managers do not ensure that children can speak to someone independent of the home or gather vital information from children who may have been exposed to harm.

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

The use of restraint is not always in line with regulation. One incident of physical intervention has been used to enforce compliance. This incident was not adequately addressed by managers. There is a failure to identify and challenge inappropriate practice.

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

Staff recruitment records are not well maintained, and there are gaps in information. This does not ensure the safe recruitment of staff and shows that management monitoring systems are ineffective.

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

Safeguarding concerns are not always reported to Ofsted promptly. This limits the regulator’s ability to review safeguarding practice.

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

Staff do not always check the identity of visitors to the home. Failing to check the identity of visitors has the potential to place children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in the leadership and management of the home. These changes, although necessary, were not managed well. There has been a lack of senior management oversight of the arrangements. Managers have not always been visible or available to support the staff team. There has been a lack of management support for the home. This has contributed to incidents of poor childcare practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The shortfalls identified at the full inspection in October 2019 remain. These shortfalls relate to leadership and management and to safeguarding children. This raises concerns about the provider’s capacity to make and sustain improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not sufficiently staffed to meet the needs of the children cared for and keep them safe. Despite identified risks to children, staffing levels have not been increased accordingly. Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 5 Staff undertake a range of mandatory and specialist training. However, leaders and managers do not have an overview of staff training profiles. This means that it is unclear whether all staff have the relevant training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor staff practice has not been managed effectively by leaders and managers. The failure to address conduct and suitability concerns has contributed to children not being safeguarded against sexual exploitation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records and children’s case files are of poor quality. There is a failure to record full information about incidents, and there are omissions in basic information. There is a lack of oversight and quality assurance from leaders and managers. Poor recording makes it difficult to track incidents and assess the quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Shortfalls in management oversight mean that leaders and managers have not been fully appraised of safeguarding concerns at the home and have been slow to acknowledge and respond to shortfalls in practice. This has had a direct impact on children’s care and experiences. Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that risk assessments are accurate, and that staff understand and implement each child’s risk 28 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 7 assessment effectively. Staff must understand their role in teaching and keeping children safe, particularly with regards to risks of exploitation.

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring visible and accessible on- site management, with a focus on ensuring that the quality standards and regulations are upheld. 28 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing—

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Requirement Due date

injury to any person (including the child);

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Requirement Due date

serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). 28 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 8 Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b) (2))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff’s use of de-escalation techniques and ensuring that restraint is not used to enforce compliance.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

The relates to ensuring that safe recruitment checks are undertaken prior to a staff member working with children and that there is evidence of safe recruitment procedures. 28 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that there is clear evidence of training, supervision and appraisals. 28 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 28 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 28 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 9 a child is involved in or subject to or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation. (Regulation 40 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the provider ensuring that safeguarding concerns and allegations are promptly referred to Ofsted and the designated officer.

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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: SC413078 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Amanda Ellis, Social Care Inspector Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC413078 11 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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