Children's home run by Independent Living Services (North West) Limited in St. Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 1 SC431192 Registered provider: Independent Living Services (North West) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider. It is registered as a four bed, mixed gender home for children aged from four to 17 years on admission, who have difficulty living within a family environment, or have suffered significant trauma through neglect or abuse.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post is currently vacant.

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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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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

Date of last inspection: 26 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2020 Full Outstanding 06/11/2018 Full Good 03/05/2017 Full Outstanding 15/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who are living in the home make good progress in all areas, including their health, education, and social and emotional well-being. One child aspires to go into the army which staff have fully supported. Another child now attends education on a full-time basis.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for mostly by staff who know them well and have high aspirations for them. Relationships between staff and family members are positive. A family member told the inspector that she felt ‘ relieved’ when her family member came to live in the home as staff really ‘care’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence skills and are given key tasks to undertake as part of their daily routine. This supports children’s learning and independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

For children who require support in relation to their emotional well-being, the home provides a well-coordinated multi-agency approach.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff plan and arrange for children to see their families in line with their current care plans. Staff promote children’s social and emotional needs by undertaking meaningful direct work which helps children to learn.

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

Staff help children to recognise risk and how to stay safe. They understand the need for children to become independent and to take appropriate risks.

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

Staff provide the children with a safe place to live. They have a good understanding of the children’s needs and use well-written and clear risk assessments that support children’s safety inside and outside of the home.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. If this does happen, staff are proactive in their responses. They follow each child’s missing-from-home protocol and report to all relevant agencies in a timely manner.

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

Positive behaviour is consistently promoted by staff. Consequences are proportionate, and restorative practice takes place to help children learn. As a result, staff help children to manage their behaviours in a safer way.

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

Staff and managers undertake training in safeguarding matters. However, it was highlighted on inspection that a high number of agency staff were not trained effectively. This means that children could be at risk of harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 4 Staff use key-worker sessions effectively to help children understand how to keep themselves safe. The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the risks that children take and why. This leads to empathetic, balanced and genuine responses from staff which result in children learning from their experiences. However, some areas of direct work need improvement, which was highlighted to the manager at the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Currently, the post of registered manager is vacant. The acting manager is experienced and has worked in the home for a sustained period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager is efficient and well organised. She has a passion to improve outcomes for children. The manager has a warm and nurturing approach, which has helped to develop a culture that is characterised by high hopes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel supported in their roles. Supervision takes place regularly and is reflective in nature. However, there has been an over reliance on using agency staff to support a child who lived in the home. This impacted children receiving consistent care from staff. One child said that they did not like staff leaving as they build relationships with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Communication is a key strength of the manager. Regular team meetings are held which are informative and provide opportunities for staff to reflect and to develop. Furthermore, handovers between staff are informative and reflective. Staff show professional curiosity when speaking about children and when sharing information with each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Ineffective decision-making around one child moving into the home resulted in the child’s ending in the home being negative. Furthermore, other children in the home were significantly impacted by the child’s admission.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager failed to ensure that staff received relevant training specific to a child’s needs. For example, no training has been undertaken in relation to identifying signs of domestic abuse. This has not been recognised as part of the manager’s oversight or when reviewing referrals and accepting children into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External feedback is positive. This evidences that the manager and the staff work effectively with professionals. Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 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

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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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and

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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)(a)(c)(d)(e)(h)) 2 September 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure children live in an environment that is personalised to their needs which includes a safe space outside for them to spend time in. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive. The home must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met, and that doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on

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Recommendations

health and well-being to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand and, where necessary, work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well- being, such as smoking. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should allow children to be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed

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Recommendations

by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered provider should ensure staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect the child. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis which includes the geographical area of the home and the potential risk this poses for some children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 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: SC431192 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Independent Living Services (North West) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lakeside, Prescot Road, St. Helens, Lancashire WA10 3TP

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Inspectors

Rachel Springford, Social Care Inspector Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC431192 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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