Children's Home run by Total Care Matters Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report children's home: 1268530 1 Registered provider: Total Care Matters Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. There were two children living at this home at the time of the inspection.

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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 12 November 2020 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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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 widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 25 February 2020

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: 1268530 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/06/2019 Full Good 06/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 1268530 3

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inadequate

The experiences of children are inadequate because of poor safeguarding practice, weak management and unsafe care practices which place children at risk of harm.

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inadequate

Staff have not followed care plans. This fails to ensure good-quality care to meet children’s needs. Children’s views and wishes are not responded to appropriately. Staff have not enabled children to make choices about their care. One social worker said that staff do not provide children with achievable targets and goals. She said the home has a culture of saying ‘no’.

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inadequate

Social workers confirm that managers and staff have lacked the skills to care for children placed at the home. They lack a child-centred focus. A social worker said that care practice had ‘caused emotional harm’ to a child.

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inadequate

Despite the weaknesses identified during this inspection, children have made progress. Current residents have lived at the home for over a year and have formed a supportive friendship with each other. They say that they like the home and the staff. Current residents benefit from education and healthcare packages that support their development.

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

Staff do not understand how to safeguard children and do not follow safeguarding policies. Children have been at risk of significant harm. Widespread and systemic safeguarding failures undermine the quality of care. Children have been harmed and have been at risk of harm since the last inspection.

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

Staff left a vulnerable child to swim in open water without supervision. This activity was not risk assessed. When staff returned to collect the child and could not find him, they did not immediately contact the police. When the child was located, he had injuries from diving into the water.

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

Systems to prevent children accessing harmful social media are ineffective. Staff have not understood children’s particular vulnerabilities to online radicalisation and abuse. This has resulted in children being exposed to unsuitable and exploitative adults.

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

A medication error placed a child at risk of harm. A staff member administered controlled medication to the wrong child. This shows a lack of rigour in medication practice. Inspection report children's home: 1268530 4 Staff do not understand their professional safeguarding responsibilities. Staff have engaged in inappropriate sexualised conversations with a child. This fails to ensure clear boundaries and child-focused practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not had a registered manager since May 2019. The current manager is withdrawing her registration and leaving in October 2021.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has had a very high turnover of staff. Staff and social workers state that the turnover of staff has had a negative effect on children. A staff member said: ‘One child seems scared and worried, because every time he lets his guard down, people leave.’ Leaders and managers have not recognised the impact of high staff turnover on the progress and experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not experienced in children’s residential care. They do not have the relevant qualifications. Induction and training arrangements are poor. This fails to provide staff with the required knowledge and skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff team is not cohesive. Staff said that there is no team culture and that staff work in isolation. This fails to provide consistency and safe care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Essential records are not accurate. This means that the home does not hold accurate information about the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Partnership work is not effective. Social workers do not have positive views about the quality of care in this home. They say that communication is poor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following this inspection, Ofsted has issued a restriction of accommodation notice. This is to prevent the admission of further children. Inspection report children's home: 1268530 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5(d))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to communicating effectively and consistently with placing authorities and social workers to ensure children’s needs are met. 27 September

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; 27 September Inspection report children's home: 1268530 6 make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)(ix))

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to staff understanding and implementation of each child’s risk assessment and their role in keeping children safe. Also, to ensuring the safe use of social media, to ensuring risk assessment and supervision of children on activities, staff adhering to risk management plans, reporting children missing in line with their plans, safe administration of medication and the care of children who display sexually harmful behaviours. 27 September

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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 27 September Inspection report children's home: 1268530 7 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

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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring a stable, well-trained and qualified management and staff team who have the skills to deliver care as described in the statement of purpose.

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to ensuring managers analyse the capacity to deliver quality of care and reviewing the impact of frequent management and staff changes on children, and ensuring that induction, training, recruitment and retention are reviewed for effectiveness. 27 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if— 27 September Inspection report children's home: 1268530 8 there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider is an organisation or a partnership;

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b)) 27 September

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates in particular to the admission and discharge logbook. 27 September Inspection report children's home: 1268530 9

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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: 1268530 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Total Care Matters Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 230 Bathley Street, The Meadows, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 2ER

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Inspector

Amanda Ellis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1268530 11 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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