Children's Home run by Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited in Southend on Sea

Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 1 Registered provider: Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered to provide care for up to four children aged between 10 and 17 years. The aim of the home is to support children’s emotional, educational, psychological and social development.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager resigned on 11 January 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 11 March 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Ofsted carried out a monitoring visit on 29 January 2021. The visit identified serious concerns about children’s safety. The home’s registration was suspended, and compliance notices were served in respect Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 2 of the protection of children and the leadership and management of the home. The suspension of the registration was lifted following the monitoring visit on 11 March 2021, and the provider had met the steps in the compliance notices. Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 3

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improvement to be good

The home has appointed a manager and a deputy manager who have made considerable improvements to the practice at the home since the last Ofsted visit. Children like living at the home, and their social workers are positive about the care provided. However, there are gaps in the management of risks for children, and the provider has not met a previous requirement in relation to the safe recruitment of staff. These areas need to improve for this home to be good overall.

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improvement to be good

There are three children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Staff have developed good relationships with them. Children trust staff, and this has enabled children to share their worries and to help them feel comfortable living at the home. Staff use incentives to encourage children to have good daily routines and to settle at night.

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improvement to be good

Staff make sure that education plans are in place for all children. One child achieved excellent GCSE results this year. The school staff complimented the home’s staff on the support that they offered this child to complete their studies. Another child has been supported to engage in tuition in preparation for attending education next term. This is good progress for a child who refused school prior to moving to the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff have identified work experience opportunities for children, and one child sometimes helps the maintenance worker with chores around the house. This helps children to learn some of the practical skills that they will need as adults.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of the people who are important to the children. Staff follow the plans to keep children in contact with their friends and family. Staff recently organised a birthday party at the home for a child, which the child’s family attended.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoyed a recent holiday with the manager and the staff. They took part in simple activities, such as walking and crafting, away from any internet access. Staff said how much they enjoyed seeing the children relax, have fun and make good memories. The manager arranged this holiday at short notice to help break the cycle of one child going missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager and the staff have established effective relationships with external professionals to help meet children’s needs. This includes working closely with the police and helping children to access services for emotional well-being and substance misuse. The home employs an emotional and well-being lead, who works directly with children to promote their safety and good mental health. Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 4

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improvement to be good

Ofsted received a complaint about the home which raised concerns about staff practice. The complaint was looked at as part of this inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff are supporting children with complex behaviours that put the children at increased risk of harm. The location of the home presents challenges to staff in relation to managing risks of gang affiliation and the easy access to multiple transport links. The manager has established a location risk assessment that clearly identifies known ‘hot spots’ of concern in the local area. However, this assessment does not contain current data and has not been updated to include more recent intelligence obtained from the police.

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improvement to be good

Children have experimented with setting fires in the garden. Staff have assessed this risk for each child. However, these assessments do not consider the safety of children holding lighters. One child is assessed as high risk in relation to road safety but goes out in the community unsupervised.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are detailed. However, they are not always accurate and do not consistently provide sufficient guidance for staff in reducing risk. The risk of children bringing drugs into the home is not managed well enough, despite one child stating that they are dealing drugs to the other children. Children confide in staff when they have smoked cannabis. However, staff are not consistently curious about where children are obtaining drugs from or how they are paying for these even though staff are supervising all the money that children are spending. This increases risks associated with substance misuse and debt bondage to gangs.

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improvement to be good

Managers have put in place clear missing-from-home protocols for all children. Staff take appropriate action to find children when they go missing from the home. Staff welcome children home warmly and ensure that children can talk to the police and to their social workers.

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improvement to be good

The manager completes matching risk assessments to help inform decisions about new children moving in. Most of these assessments were completed on the day that the child arrived due to the urgency of the placements. This meant that sometimes information about children’s needs became known after the child moved in. This increases the risk of children having to move on because the home cannot keep the child safe.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff are working closely with other professionals to share information and address concerns of gang affiliation and criminal and sexual exploitation for one child. Staff are sensitive to the effect that this is having on other children at the home. Some staff feel anxious that they are not able to keep the children safe.

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improvement to be good

The home has a relatively new staff team. Seven staff joined since April 2021. Staff are calm and are supportive, and they successfully use de-escalation to manage Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 5 incidents of physical or verbal aggression. Staff have supported one child to learn how to keep calm, and this child will seek staff out when they are feeling stressed. As a result, there are less incidents of damage to property and incidents of aggression.

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improvement to be good

At times, the home has used agency staff due to COVID-19-related sickness. On one occasion, this resulted in staff not confidently managing an incident between the children and a neighbour.

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good

The provider has appointed qualified managers who are dedicated to improving the home. Managers know the children well, and staff feel well supported.

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good

Managers have developed new processes and updated plans to guide staff practice. New monitoring systems are in place to help the managers maintain oversight of the day-to-day running of the home. These systems are still embedding. As a result, the managers were not aware of all current practice at the home, such as the use of setting the bedroom alarms each night.

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good

Managers have reviewed staff’s training needs. Training has been booked to meet gaps in first aid and behaviour management. All staff have undertaken safeguarding and managing child exploitation training. The staff team attended a bespoke course on exploitation provided by the local police in February 2021. New staff will be attending this training.

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good

Managers have established good working relationships with other professionals. Placing social workers said that managers are always available and that information and concerns are shared promptly.

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good

Managers have dealt with three complaints. These were fully investigated. Actions identified from the complaints have been implemented. These included efforts to improve relationships with neighbours.

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good

Managers have not met all the previous requirements. Safer recruitment checks are still not consistently made for permanent and agency members of staff. This increases the risk of unsuitable people working at the home. This requirement is repeated. Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments contain clear guidance for staff on: reducing risks of children having smoking paraphernalia, reducing the risk of children bringing drugs into the home, and risk-reduction measures in respect of road safety. 13 September

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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, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3)

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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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider must explore gaps in employment 13 September Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 7 and reasons for leaving previous care roles. The provider should ensure that checks are carried out for permanent and agency members of staff. In addition, for agency members of staff, the provider should satisfy themselves of the status of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last visit and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should review the location of the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. In particular, the provider should refer to the non-statutory good practice advice about completing the location risk assessment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should only accept placements for children when they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and when they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. In particular, the provider should ensure that all the information required to make a decision about a placement is obtained and considered before children move in. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page

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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: 2596906 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited

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Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2596906 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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