Children's Home run by Educare Support Limited in Enfield

Inspection report children's home: 2569345 1 Registered provider: Educare Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is a privately owned children’s home. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home cares for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered by Ofsted in January 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in July 2021.

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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 May 2021, for 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report children's home: 2569345 2 The home was suspended by Ofsted following a monitoring visit in October 2020. Monitoring visits to review the suspension took place on 19 November 2020, 5 January 2021, 1 March 2021, 30 March 2021 and 5 May 2021. The suspension was lifted in May 2021. Inspection report children's home: 2569345 3

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report children's home: 2569345 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Following the home’s suspension being lifted, leaders and managers have worked hard to improve the provision of care. The first new child moved into the home in June 2021. The new registered manager and the staff have managed this move well. This successful start has enabled the child to make good progress from her starting point.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The diverse staff team has played a key role in helping the child to quickly settle. For example, the child told her social worker that, ‘I want to be living in a home where people look like me.’ The move into the home has achieved this wish. Consequently, the child feels that her cultural identity is recognised and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer the child regular key-work sessions. These sessions are relevant to the child’s specific needs and enable staff to be responsive to any emerging new needs. As a result, the child is thriving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Healthcare needs are well met. The child has access to support in order to promote her physical, emotional and mental health. This support enables staff to reflect on and understand the child’s needs. However, there is not always an effective medication management system in place to ensure that medication is administered safely. For example, signatures and dates are sometimes missed off the medication record. This has the risk of compromising a child’s health when there is no clear audit of when a child has received their medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage the child to be involved in decision-making. For example, she was recently a member on an interview panel to recruit new members of staff. This has improved the child’s self-confidence as she begins to feel valued in key decisions that affect her life.

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

Staff are acutely aware of the child’s vulnerabilities and their responsibility for protecting her. The forming of trusting relationships has helped the staff to keep her safe. Consequently, the child feels safe with the knowledge that people care about her.

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

Staff are skilled in managing the child’s behaviour. Staff ensure that risk assessments are comprehensive and help to inform thorough behaviour management plans. Staff encourage the child to make positive choices and learn how to safely manage her behaviour. The staff use de-escalation techniques effectively and swiftly reward positive behaviour.

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

Most of the time, staff are good at making swift referrals when an allegation is made. However, on one occasion, the outcome of an allegation was not recorded. Inspection report children's home: 2569345 5 The allegation was also not reported to the regulator. This failure to report an allegation compromises external oversight.

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

Following improvements being made to the home, the new child is now living in a safe, comfortable, and well-maintained home.

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

New recruitment and vetting of staff are now resulting in staff being appointed who are safe to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home was suspended between October 2020 and April 2021 after significant concerns were raised over the provision of care. Leaders and managers recognise that the home is still in an early stage of re-development and are realistic about the need for ongoing improvements. The new registered manager and the staff are committed to making the necessary changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have worked hard to recruit and train new staff and to embed effective safeguarding and monitoring and review systems. The home is now fully staffed by a diverse, skilled, and permanent staff team. Staff are passionate about providing a safe and happy home for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision is of good quality. It supports and challenges staff practice to improve the care given to the child. This is further supported by reflective team meetings, with the child being central to the discussions and agreed actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers regularly review and act on any known risks to the child. This includes seeking the advice and guidance of local partners and agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite staff having their learning and development needs met, leaders and managers have not yet produced a workforce development plan that captures all the learning and demonstrates how continuous development will be achieved. Inspection report children's home: 2569345 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 registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified;

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Requirement Due date

and any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that all allegations are correctly reported and referred. 2 September 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2569345 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that prescribed medicines are only administered to the individual for whom they are prescribed. Medicines must be administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. This includes ensuring that records are signed and dated. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that managers and staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This relates to the clear recording of

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Recommendations

allegations. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should detail the necessary management and staffing structure, the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the homes Statement of Purpose. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2569345 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Educare Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 453 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG2 6EW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher O’Nions

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2569345 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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