Children's home run by Herman Allen

Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 1 SC067810 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 and provides care and accommodation for up to seven children with emotional and/or social difficulties. In addition to having two other homes, the company is also a registered education provider.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2017.

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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 26 February 2021 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/06/2019 Full Good 05/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/07/2018 Full Good 14/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers place great emphasis on helping children to move into the home. This includes considering the needs of other children already living at the home. This helps children to quickly settle in and to start to make progress physically, emotionally, socially and educationally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s wishes and feelings well. Children benefit from staff’s conscientious efforts to engage them in everyday decisions, including sharing their views at regular house meetings. However, the records of these meetings lack detail. This means that the hard work of staff to engage children in key decisions is not formally evident.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff forge strong relationships with children. These relationships have played a vital part in supporting children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff have promoted children’s health and well-being despite the many restrictions. This has included ensuring that children have access to specialist help and support. One child told the inspector, ‘The staff helped me when I was depressed. They got me a cuddle pillow as well. I thought this was kind and thoughtful of staff. They are always thinking of ways to help me feel better.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from regular, individualised and good-quality key-work sessions. Staff regularly support children in learning useful life skills. For example, children are adept at making nutritious and healthy home-cooked meals. This has helped children to recognise the progress they are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to help children to achieve academic success and to overcome barriers that can impact on their learning. For example, one child was struggling to re-engage in school due to frequently going missing from home. Staff first focused on addressing the safeguarding concerns relating to the child going missing from home. Once the child started to feel more safe and secure, staff moved on to help the child to explore potential apprenticeships and job opportunities. This bespoke work has not only improved the child’s life chances but has also ensured their welfare is safeguarded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to enable children to stay in touch with people who are important to them, while still having the required safeguards in place. This positive support has been instrumental in children re-establishing and maintaining safe relationships. Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 4

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

Staff focus their efforts on building positive and meaningful relationships with children. This child-centred care helps children to feel safe and know that people care about them.

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

Staff understand children’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. Staff use this informed knowledge to help children to make safe decisions. As a result, children’s episodes of going missing from home and risks of exploitation significantly reduce.

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

Staff only use physical restraint when it is necessary to safeguard children and others. Following incidents, children receive good support which enables them to reflect on their emotions.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the home’s child protection and whistle- blowing policies. When allegations are raised against a staff member, these are managed well. Consequently, children and staff are protected.

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

Most of the time, staff are good at reporting significant incidents to the regulator. However, one serious incident involving a knife being found in a child’s bedroom was not reported. The failure to report this serious incident to the regulator has compromised external oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager and a suitably skilled and diverse staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported and receive regular supervision. However, supervision records are not always sufficiently detailed, signed and dated. This compromises the oversight of staff’s practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from good training and regular team meetings that focus on the needs of the children in their care. This child-centred approach promotes children’s good progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders, managers and staff have worked hard during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the impact on children’s quality of care has been kept to a minimum. For example, the manager rearranged the staff rota when children tested positive for COVID-19. This helped children to have continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers actively and regularly monitor the quality of care provided to children. External monitoring of the home has improved since the monitoring visit in February 2021. This has helped leaders and managers to continue to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work exceptionally well with other agencies. An independent reviewing officer told the inspector, ‘The manager has been to every single meeting Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 5 for the child and knows the child well. There is a consistent plan between the social worker, home and reviewing officer.’ This demonstrates to children that staff and the manager are committed to their well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have invested in extensive redecoration of the home internally and have plans to decorate the external areas of the home. As a result, children feel that their home is comfortable and welcoming. Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 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. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 20 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all children’s case records are kept up to date and stored securely while they remain in the home. Case records must be signed and dated by the author of each entry. Specifically, this relates to ensuring that all records that capture children’s views, such as children’s house meetings, are accurately and comprehensively recorded. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions is kept and that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. Specifically, this relates to ensuring that both the supervisor and the supervisee have a copy of the record of supervision and that both have signed and dated it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 7

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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: SC067810 8

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC067810 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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