Children's home run by Cascade (Banks House) Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2532131 1 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides individually tailored care for children with autism spectrum conditions and learning disabilities. The home can care for up to six children aged between 13 and 18.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 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 15 September 2020 to carry out an assurance 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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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.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2532131 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2532131 3

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inadequate

Although children have made progress from their starting points, the judgement of inadequate reflects the shortfalls in how children have been helped and protected and the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Shortfalls in how children are helped and protected have the potential to undermine children’s experiences and put them at risk of harm.

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inadequate

One young person and one child have successfully moved out of the home. They have gained increased independence because of the support they received from staff. One child said that, ‘I am thankful to [the home] as I wouldn’t have all that I have now without them.’ This child’s social worker said that the progress that this child had made was extensive and better than he could have imagined.

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inadequate

Staff have helped one child arrange voluntary work at a local charity shop. The child has gained greater independence in the community, including cycling to his volunteering job and returning safely. This is good progress compared to the child’s experiences prior to admission when he was deemed unsafe on the roads.

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inadequate

All the children attend education and engage well.

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inadequate

One child’s speech has improved and he can say full sentences, which he previously could not do. There have been notable improvements in the child’s intimate care needs and as a result he has gained greater independence in his self-care.

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inadequate

The frequency with which one child displays negative behaviours has reduced. The child has been able to establish improved relationships with staff.

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inadequate

One social worker was highly complimentary about the progress that her child has made. Progress includes a reduction in behavioural outbursts. This led to staffing supervision being reduced. Prior to admission, the child required four-to-one staffing; this is no longer required.

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inadequate

One child’s parent said that her child was, ‘making exceptional progress’.

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

There have been repeated failures to identify the seriousness of safeguarding concerns and report them to the designated officer. Managers and staff recognise concerns about safeguarding and professional boundaries. Consultations have taken place to address the concerns; however, these are not reported to the relevant professionals. This lack of transparent information-sharing does not ensure that all processes are followed to protect children from potential harm. Inspection report children's home: 2532131 4 Incidents requiring physical interventions are not consistently managed. Staff’s failure to manage behaviour effectively has resulted in children and staff being harmed. Debriefs have not been held for staff following every physical intervention. Consequently, when a debrief does not take place, there is a lack of sufficient oversight to ensure that physical intervention practice is safe. This shortfall was

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

raised as a requirement at the assurance visit but has not been sufficiently addressed.

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

Staff have repeatedly failed to protect a child from being harmed by another child. Since February 2021, a child has been assaulted by another child six times. Staff have failed to take the necessary action to sufficiently safeguard the child or to address the behaviour, which has caused a child to suffer recurring incidents resulting in harm.

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

The deployment of staff on one occasion led to an agency staff member being left by permanent staff to support a child. The agency staff member did not have the skills to support this child. Failure to ensure that the staff member was appropriately trained to meet the individual needs of the child put the child at risk of harm.

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

A child took a staff member’s keys. The staff member left the child unsupervised with the keys. Consequently, the child accessed a medication cabinet and ingested medication. This resulted in the child needing medical attention. This staff member failed to understand the serious potential for harm by leaving the child unattended with the keys in his possession.

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

Managers admitted to the home a child whose needs could not be met by the staff. In addition, the home is not registered to accommodate this child’s primary needs. The home has therefore operated outside of its conditions of registration. No staff had received the necessary training to manage some of the child’s specific behaviours. This means that staff did not have the skills and knowledge to safely manage incidents and keep the child and other children safe from harm.

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

Staff have made errors in dispensing medication. This has resulted in a child having the incorrect medication. Dispensing incorrect medication has the serious potential to compromise children’s health.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management team has failed to identify and address shortfalls in practice. This has compromised the quality of care that the children receive and their overall experience of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Two requirements raised at the last inspection have been restated. Not all agency staff have been provided with supervision. This was a noted shortfall at the assurance visit. Failure to provide staff with routine supervision reduces formal opportunities to discuss staff practice and accountability. Inspection report children's home: 2532131 5 The manager has not adequately monitored practice, neither has she consistently adhered to the requirements of the regulations. The manager monitors records of incidents; however, practice concerns are not consistently identified. There is a lack of guidance for staff on how improvements to care practice could be made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all safer recruitment checks have been completed. Important information about a staff member was not explored at interview. The manager has relied on reference checks made by an agency. Failure to adopt safer recruitment checks has the potential to enable unsuitable staff to work at the home. The management team lacked understanding of their responsibility to recruit staff in line with the children’s homes regulations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff have received appropriate induction. The manager has failed to provide staff with the guidance and support that they require to support children safely and understand the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A complaint from a parent was not considered as a complaint but as a concern. The responsible individual and a director from the organisation met with the parent. Although an action plan was made, it did not address all areas of the complaint and there was no record to state whether the parent was satisfied with the outcome. The home did not work in line with its own complaints policy. The management team failed to notify Ofsted or the child’s social worker about the complaint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Ofsted has not been notified of safeguarding concerns relating to staff practice, allegations made against staff and staff suspected to be sleeping while on waking- night duty. This does not enable Ofsted to have an accurate overview of the home and manager’s responses to safeguarding concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External monitoring reports lack rigour. Although some actions to improve practice have been raised, several shortfalls have not been identified by the independent person. This reduces the effectiveness of external monitoring to drive improvements. Furthermore, no external monitoring reports have been submitted to Ofsted since October 2020. Consequently, Ofsted has not had a current overview of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The workforce development plan does not detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to complete their induction, neither does it detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice, including that of agency staff. This lack of clarity results in inconsistent staff support. This has been the experience of some staff at the home. Inspection report children's home: 2532131 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv)(vii) (b))

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Requirement Due date

take immediate action to ensure that staff deployed at the home, including agency staff, have the required skills and training to support the needs of the children to keep them safe from harm;

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Requirement Due date

take immediate action to ensure that notifiable safeguarding concerns are referred to the designated officer in line with the home’s safeguarding policy and in line with the local authority’s safeguarding procedure;

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Requirement Due date

take immediate action to ensure that all staff are given guidance to enable them to appropriately manage challenging behaviours between children;

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Requirement Due date

take immediate action to ensure that children are only placed at the home in line with the home’s conditions of registration 24 September Inspection report children's home: 2532131 7 and when the children’s needs can be met alongside the children already living at the home.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must monitor staff practice effectively to ensure that children are being supported appropriately and safely. 24 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b)) 24 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,

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— 24 September Inspection report children's home: 2532131 8 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

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)) 15 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, provide agency staff with supervision.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the assurance visit and is restated. 15 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and 15 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: 2532131 9 has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 15 October 2021

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

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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)(c) (e)) 24 September

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (7)(a)) 24 September

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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 a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training and detail the process and Inspection report children's home: 2532131 10 timescales for supervision of practice, including arrangements for agency staff. (‘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: 2532131 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2, Therm Road, Hull, Yorkshire HU8 7BF

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Inspector

Lianne Bradford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2532131 12 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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