Children's Home run by Mulberry House Care Homes Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 1 SC060554 Registered provider: Mulberry House Care Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently no registered manager in post at the home.

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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 June 2021 to carry out a monitoring inspection. This 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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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 2 Ofsted completed a full inspection of the home on 26 and 27 April 2021. Serious and widespread shortfalls were identified and two compliance notices were issued under regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard). A monitoring inspection took place on 15 June 2021 to review progress against the compliance notices. The compliance notices were not met and were reissued. Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/04/2021 Full Inadequate 18/12/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/04/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 4

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improvement to be good

Children’s overall care requires improvement. There are weaknesses in how well staff are trained to meet the needs of children and children’s progress and achievements are not always acknowledged.

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improvement to be good

Children are not supported to develop their independence skills. Children do not yet have independence plans in place. The lack of support and encouragement from staff does not prepare children for adult life.

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improvement to be good

In recent months, children have not received care from a consistent staff team. As a result, children and staff are still getting to know each other. The children who spoke to the inspectors stated that everything was okay except that lots of staff had recently left and they were sad about this.

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improvement to be good

Children are not encouraged to read or contribute to their plans. As a result, children are not clear on their goals. Key-working sessions take place. However, conversations are not linked to children’s care plans or risk behaviours. This creates a missed opportunity for staff to explore with children their difficulties and risks.

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improvement to be good

Despite the shortfalls, there are areas of improved practice. Staff have supported children to engage in activities outside of the home. As a result, children increase their self-confidence and self-esteem through positive experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to keep in contact with those that are important to them. This enables children to maintain a sense of belonging within their families and has a positive impact on their sense of identity.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from living in a home where the value of education is promoted and encouraged. Children are in full-time education. Two children are waiting for the results of their GCSE examinations. All children have plans in place to start college in September. As a result, children are making progress in their education.

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improvement to be good

Despite the significant changes in the staff team, children have developed positive relationships with the staff that continue to work at the home. Inspectors observed an emotional warmth between children and staff. As a result, children are generally settled in the home and feel that staff look after them.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to attend health and other specialist appointments. This means that children are receiving support for their physical and emotional well- being. Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 5 Redecoration and further improvement works have taken place, which means that children live in a homely environment. Some children have chosen to personalise their bedrooms. This helps children to have a sense of belonging and helps them to feel valued.

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improvement to be good

Managers have not ensured that new staff arriving at the home are safely recruited. Staff have commenced in post prior to all the checks and references being obtained. This means that staff have begun work in the home without having the required checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with children.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are in place and have been reviewed. However, they are not all up to date or do not capture all known risks for children. In addition, most of the staff who work at the home have not read the children’s risk assessments. These shortfalls mean that these documents fail to inform staff of children’s risks or how to support them. However, regular discussions between staff and conversations in team meetings mean that the staff spoken to during the inspection were aware of the risks to the children and how to safeguard them. This mitigates the impact of the poor information contained within risk assessments.

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improvement to be good

The home’s location risk assessment has not captured all of the potential risks in the local area. This means that there are risks that have not been considered. This has the potential to place children at risk when out in the community.

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improvement to be good

There have been no serious incidents. However, when a child self-harmed, staff did not check the bedroom to remove any potential risk items. The child subsequently repeated this risky behaviour. These shortfalls in practice have place children at risk of harming themselves further.

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improvement to be good

Children are generally settled and, as a result, there have been no physical interventions. In addition, children do not go missing from the home. Children report having everything that they need and that they feel safe. Children appear comfortable and relaxed living in the home.

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good

Since the last full inspection in April 2021, the home has experienced significant changes. All but one member of staff has resigned and left the home, including the registered manager. An interim manager is supporting the home while the home recruits a new manager.

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good

The interim manager’s attempts to make improvements have been impacted by the changes in the staff team. She is aware of the shortfalls. However, with a new and inconsistent staff team, improvements have not yet been embedded into practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 6 The provider’s recent review of the quality of care remains poor and does not meet the requirements of the regulation. Managers have failed to consult with children and professionals to obtain feedback that would inform the review process. In addition, the action plan fails to identify how the necessary improvements would be made. This does not help the home to improve and reduces the regulatory oversight of the quality of care between inspections.

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good

Managers and leaders have not ensured that new staff coming into the home complete important training before working with children. In addition, staff are not trained in the therapeutic strategies that they are expected to use. This means that staff do not have the skills required for their roles.

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good

Staff feel supported by the managers and have access to regular supervisions. However, the quality of supervision records is variable. One member of staff has not received an annual appraisal. This does not support staff to develop and improve their practice.

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good

Despite the staffing challenges, the home has been safely staffed. Any gaps in the rotas have been covered by staff overtime, agency staff or staff from another home in the company. This demonstrates staff’s commitment to the children.

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good

The interim manager has a good knowledge of the children. She understands the children’s needs and progress. She is passionate about the children and has high aspirations for the home.

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good

Despite leaders and managers failing to take all the required steps to meet the compliance notices issued at the previous visit, they have made improvements to the quality of care provided and to the safety of children. As a result, the compliance notices have not been reissued. Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 7

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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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)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was issued at the last inspection and has been restated.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that risk assessments are up to date and include effective strategies for staff to follow. Ensure that all staff read and follow risk assessments. 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 8 The registered person should also ensure that effective action is taken to safeguard children who self-harm. Also, that direct work is completed with children to help them learn to keep themselves safe.

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was issued at the last inspection and has been restated.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that there are effective monitoring and review systems in place to review and improve the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of children. 30 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 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 9 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

This relates to ensuring that full Schedule 2 checks are completed for all staff recruited to the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (1) (4)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that all staff receive an annual appraisal of their performance. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every six months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 10 This requirement was issued at the last inspection and has been restated.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the quality of care review is in line with the regulatory requirements.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (Regulation 46 (1))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the review of the suitability of the premises takes into account all known risks in the home’s locality. 30 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff support each child to develop the practical skills to leave independently. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraphs 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that staff consult with children regularly to obtain their views on the care and use these to make continued improvements. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraphs 4.32)  The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision should be kept for all staff, including the manager. This record should detail the contents of the discussion and any outcomes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.3, 13.4)

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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: SC060554 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Mulberry House Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Railway Street, Stafford, Staffordshire ST16 2EA

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Inspectors

Debbie Holder, Social Care Inspector Dave Carrigan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC060554 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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