Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1264840 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. The home is registered for three children who have experienced childhood trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager at this home. The current manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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 28 January 2021 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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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

Date of last inspection: 4 September 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1264840 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/09/2019 Full Good 30/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1264840 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live at the home. One child has lived at the home for over a year and the other child has recently moved in. This child’s move was well planned and supported by staff. As a result, he is settling in quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and the manager know the children well and have built positive relationships with them. Consequently, children are making good progress in a range of areas including their education, emotional well-being, independence skills and health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children left the home since the last monitoring visit. Their time at the home ended sooner than anticipated to enable them to access appropriate support services to meet their changing needs. Staff and the manager ensured that both children had positive endings, and they celebrated their time at the home by going out for a meal. Staff made memory books with photos reflecting activities the children had done and capturing lovely memories for both children. Staff and the manager regularly visit both children in their new homes, and this continuity and commitment help children to feel valued and supported.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with opportunities to engage in various activities at the home and within the community. They enjoy going to the cinema, going out for meals, swimming, playing volleyball, going to the water park, boxing, playing football and going on holiday. The children can socialise with peers and build good self-esteem and confidence while having lots of fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s relationships with people who are important to them. The children enjoy positive family time, and relationships between children’s families and staff are positive. Children benefit from staff and families working together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and the manager have worked hard to improve the home environment. The home is now welcoming, warm and cosy. The children are proud to call the home their own.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are involved in the day-to-day running of the home through key-work sessions, children’s meetings and general conversations with staff. Children feel that staff listen to them, respect them and value them.

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

Staff and the manager are proactive in identifying any potential risks to children, and they put support in place to enable children to keep themselves safe. Children have completed keeping safe work and subsequently there has been a reduction in children going missing from the home. Inspection report children's home: 1264840 4 Staff work well with professionals to ensure that children are safe. For example, managers and staff invited the local police community support officer to have a meal at the home with the children. This has helped one child to understand the positive role that the police play in keeping children and others safe.

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

Staff respond to children’s challenging behaviours in a positive way, and the use of restraint is kept to a minimum. When restraint incidents do occur, they are managed well. Restorative practice is used by staff and the manager to help children to learn from their behaviours and choices. Children are getting better at regulating their own emotions and are keeping themselves and others around them safe. For one child there has been a reduction in the number of times he puts himself at risk in the community and there are fewer self-harming incidents.

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

Safer recruitment is compliant with regulation and so children are looked after by suitable adults. Regular health and safety checks are carried out on the environment which help to safeguard children.

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good

The manager is largely clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the home. He is committed to ensuring that the staff team delivers good-quality care to children. Partner agencies speak positively about his therapeutic approach in looking after children. Managers and staff speak positively of the children they care for. They want children to succeed and ensure that children are provided with clear and consistent boundaries.

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good

The manager continues to ensure that there is enough staff to meet the children’s needs in the home. There have been some changes to staffing, but the manager used consistent staff when cover was needed to ensure continuity of care to the children. He has now managed to recruit a full staff team and so any shortfalls in sufficiency have been addressed.

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good

The manager understands the benefits of a well-trained and skilled workforce. All staff are up to date with mandatory training. The manager and staff use staff meetings to enhance their knowledge of children’s regulations and to discuss children’s needs and progress. The clinical team supports the manager and staff when significant incidents occur, and this supports staff learning and improvement.

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good

The manager’s monitoring systems to evaluate and assess the quality of care are not always effective. Two requirements raised at the last inspection have not been met and so are repeated. While the manager has conducted some online research about the local area and updated the location risk assessment to include some known risks, he has still not consulted partner agencies. This means that potentially significant information is not known and understood. Some staff do not receive regular supervision and some appraisals are outstanding. This does not enable staff to discuss and receive consistent feedback on their practice and any areas of development. Inspection report children's home: 1264840 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

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

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that all shortfalls identified at the last inspection are fully addressed. 01/10/2021

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 01/10/2021

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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(29(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 01/10/2021 Inspection report children's home: 1264840 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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Rumbi Mangoma, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1264840 7 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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