Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Cumberland

Inspection report children's home: SC487549 1 SC487549 Registered provider: Radical Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is one of several owned and operated by a private company. The home provides care for up to four children of either gender.

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Information about this children's home

There is no registered manager in post. The current manager has not yet applied to Ofsted for registration. The manager has the relevant level 5 qualification.

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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 March 2020.

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Information about this children's home

We last visited this setting on 8 September 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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC487549 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/11/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC487549 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home are settled and happy because they receive good care. Consequently, they make progress in most areas. They report feeling happy. They were observed to enjoy themselves and to communicate freely with the adults caring for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s relationships with staff are generally positive. However, an organisational restructure has led to several staff leaving. Staff have been used from other homes and from an agency. This has not provided children with consistency and continuity. Children have expressed upset about staff leaving. There has been a clear, detrimental emotional impact upon them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have not previously attended education now go to school. At school they not only make academic progress, but they also make friends. This helps them to develop socially and emotionally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Where children have specific health needs, staff involve appropriate specialist agencies. This ensures that those needs are met. As a result, children enjoy good health. They eat a balanced diet and take part in a range of activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children express their views, wishes and feelings in several ways. They were observed to do so, and their placement plans clearly capture their voices. When staff do direct work with children, this is linked to their care plans and is in line with their understanding and needs. This shows that targeted work is delivered where needed and in a way that children find meaningful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In general, the home environment is of a high standard. One child’s bedroom needed a tidy, clean and some repairs to damage. Although the manager explained the mitigating circumstances around this, a recommendation is made. This is to ensure that the standard of the bedroom is improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and children have created an art and craft studio in an outbuilding. This provides an environment for children to play, create, relax and express themselves.

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

Children make very good progress in relation to reducing their risks. Incidents in the home are rare. When they do occur, there is good evidence showing that staff follow children’s plans and protocols for managing the situation and minimising risk.

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

Risk assessment are easy to understand. They are relevant and detailed. They contain clear strategies for staff to use to reduce or avoid risks. This helps staff to know what risks they should be alert to when they are caring for each child, and how to manage those risks. Inspection report children's home: SC487549 4 Direct work with children focuses on areas of risk relevant to them. This helps them to better understand how to keep themselves safe, and to know what they should do to reduce their risks. Examples of such work include work on bullying and internet safety.

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

Staff are skilled in de-escalating children and preventing them from being at risk because of their behaviour. Behaviour support plans are written in partnership with children. This means that children can explain to staff what helps them to calm down when they are upset.

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

Staff focus on rewarding children for positive behaviour, rather than sanctioning them for negative behaviour. Reward systems and behaviour targets are also in use to help motivate children to behave positively.

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good

As noted above, there are issues in respect of staffing retention in this home. At the time of the inspection, there were insufficient core staff to meet the needs of the children. This resulted in children being cared for by adults who were not familiar or consistent. New staff have been recruited and these issues should be resolved in the short term.

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good

Only one member of care staff is qualified to level 3. This means that children are mainly cared for by unqualified staff.

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good

The new manager is not registered and has not yet applied to Ofsted for registration. He is, however, aspirational for children and for the service, and has good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses.

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good

The manager has implemented a complaints process. Prior to this there was no clear process in place to manage complaints. Children were not provided with an outcome when they made a complaint. This does not evidence that children’s views are listened and responded to.

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good

The manager has implemented monitoring systems which allow him good oversight of the home. This means that he is aware of any issues that need following up. For example, when local authority documents are not supplied or are not up to date. He also uses feedback from independent visits to monitor and make improvements to the service. Inspection report children's home: SC487549 5

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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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d) and (e)) 01 October 2021

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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. (Regulation 39(1)) 17 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all areas of the home provide a nurturing and welcoming environment for children, this includes their bedrooms even when they are untidy, and children have caused damage. The registered person should ensure that staff help children build positive self-esteem and understand that they deserve to live in a nice environment. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.7) Inspection report children's home: SC487549 6

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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: SC487549 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Radical Services Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Calls Wharf, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 7JU

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Matthew McFadzean

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC487549 8 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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