Children's Home run by Pebbles Care Limited in North Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 1 SC481305 Registered provider: Pebbles Care 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 and managed by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to two children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since 10 September 2020.

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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 visited this setting on 16 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit and on 25 February 2021 and 14 April 2021 to carry out monitoring visits. These reports are 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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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 inadequate

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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

Date of last inspection: 5 December 2019

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 2 On 6 February 2020, Ofsted served a notice of suspension and two compliance notices on this home. The compliance notices were with regard to significant failures under regulation 12, the safety and protection of children, and regulation 13, the leadership and management of the home. Ofsted monitored these notices on 16 March 2020 and judged the steps of these notices to be met. The suspension notice was lifted at that time.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

On 26 February 2021, Ofsted served two compliance notices with regard to significant failures under regulation 13, the leadership and management of the home, and regulation 35, behaviour management policies and records. Ofsted monitored these notices on 14 April 2021 and judged the steps of these notices to be met. Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/12/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 31/07/2019 Full Good 14/05/2019 Full Inadequate 24/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 4

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improvement to be good

There is currently one child living in the home. There has been an improvement in how children are admitted to the home. Children benefit from meeting staff and visiting the home before they move in. This means that they are involved in decisions about living at the home and feel welcomed by staff.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living in the home does not have a school placement. Staff have asked the social worker and the local authority to address this issue but, at this time, no placement has been identified, and managers have failed to escalate this concern. In these circumstances, staff do not ensure that there is a system in place to support children to access education in the home as a temporary measure until formal school can start. This means that children lose the motivation and the desire to continue to engage in education while a suitable school placement is identified.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, children have taken part in some activities in the home. These help children to build relationships with staff and each other. However, plans with regard to the current day-to-day routine in the home are weak. Routines are not structured, and staff do not follow these. This means that children are unclear of the expectations of them. For example, what time they should get up and what they will do each day. This shortfall may prevent children from establishing good routines that will support their learning and development when they return to school.

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improvement to be good

The progress children make as a result of living in this home is unclear. This is because children’s records had been removed for archiving by the manager at the time of this inspection. The child currently in placement has only lived in the home for a short time. They are involved in planning their care and choosing their key worker. When children are unhappy, they are able to raise any concerns with staff. Recently, the current child raised that their bedroom door had been broken for two weeks and that a damaged window had not yet been repaired. Although both of these outstanding repairs were addressed during the inspection, the lack of immediate action means that the home is not maintained to a high standard to ensure that children feel valued and respected.

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improvement to be good

The home has links with local medical services. However, although the current child is registered with a local doctor and optician, they are not registered with a dentist. Furthermore, staff have not followed up on information with regard to children accessing more specialist support for their mental and emotional needs when required. This does not support or prioritise children’s emotional well-being. Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 5

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improvement to be good

The risks to children are well documented in risk assessments. There are suggested actions for staff to follow to mitigate risks and to keep children safer. However, these actions to safeguard children do not feed into their care plans. For example, a risk assessment action to refer a child for mental health support is not reflected in the child’s care plan. On this occasion, staff have not followed the actions in the risk assessment to reduce risks to a child.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not always available to support children through the night. One child had their television on through the night at a loud volume. With no plans to address this issue or support the child into a more appropriate routine, staff chose to move their allocated sleeping area to a different part of the home where they would not be disturbed by the noise. This means that children were not monitored through the night and may have been left at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

One child gained access to the safe due to staff not securing the key. The procedure for securing the key is not consistently followed and was observed to not be secure during the inspection. This leaves children vulnerable to committing further offences which may result in a criminal conviction.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of negative behaviour are managed by staff who are building relationships with children living at the home. Key-work sessions are well documented and are evidence that staff are supporting children to understand their risks and to make safer choices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since September 2020. A manager applied for registration but did not meet the criteria as defined by the requirements of regulation 28. Ofsted accepted his withdrawal on the 20 July 2021. Despite this, the responsible individual has allowed this manager to remain in day- to-day charge of the home. Although there is a consistent staff team who is committed and resilient, the quality of management has led to widespread shortfalls in the standards of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager did not ensure that records relating to children who have lived in the home since the last inspection were available to the inspector. This impeded the inspection and meant that not all children’s experiences have been reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not deliver care as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Staff do not receive the necessary training, and this means that the service is not meeting its stated aim of delivering a therapeutic model of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not ensure that concerns are escalated where he considers responses from other professionals to meet children’s needs to be inadequate. For example, there has been no statutory review of a child’s placement within Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 6 timescales. This means that coordinated plans to meet the social, emotional, educational and health needs of a child are not in place. This impacts on the progress and the experiences of children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not completed a review of the quality of care and, therefore, it has not been shared with Ofsted. Leaders and managers do not maintain adequate oversight of the care that children receive or the impact of this on their progress and experiences. This prevents the development of the home and of the staff team to better support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent visitor visits the home each month and produces a report with recommendations for improvements. The manager’s response to those recommendations is slow and means that not all shortfalls are addressed. For example, staff have not received an appraisal within the last 12 months and the independent visitor has repeatedly raised this shortfall. This impacts on the manager’s oversight of the staff team’s ability to meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not participate in regular team meetings and not all staff receive regular supervision as set out in the organisation’s policy. Furthermore, where it is identified that staff require additional supervision to address practice shortfalls, this has not been completed. One member of staff who has returned from an extended absence has not received any supervision since returning to their role. This means that staff do not receive the support they need to provide good-quality care to children. In addition, the manager does not have the skills or ability to address poor practice or support staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is limited oversight of visitors to the home. Staff record when a visitor arrives, but they do not always record the time they leave. This means there is no accurate record of who is present in the home. This does not ensure that children, staff and visitors are safeguarded from allegations or complaints. Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 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

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

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; and

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(viii)) 30 September

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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

that each child is registered as a patient with a general medical practitioner and a registered dental practitioner; and 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 8 that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10 (2)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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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

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(b) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that staff establish consistent boundaries for children so that they know what is expected of them. 30 September

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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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b)(d)) 30 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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 9 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; and

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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)(a)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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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)(a)(b)(c)) 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 6 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. 30 September Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 10 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

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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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) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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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: SC481305 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Deb Duffy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC481305 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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