Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private organisation. The home cares for up to four children who experience social, behavioural and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 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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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: 27 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 09/05/2019 Full Good 12/12/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. Staff are knowledgeable and are committed to the children they care for. They provide children with a consistent routine in a calm, homely environment. This offers children a sense of stability and has enabled them to make good progress across all areas of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built warm and respectful relationships with children. This means that children have someone to share their views and any worries with. When children need more specialist help with their mental health, staff contribute to referrals and support the children to engage with the services offered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have good physical health. Staff encourage children to eat well and to be active. When needed, staff help children to access services that they need, for example to help them stop cannabis use and smoking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are engaging in learning that is individual to their needs. One child is accessing education online from the home. Staff are helping to develop plans to reintroduce this child to school and have kept up momentum by taking the child to visit different types of education provision. Staff have good relationships with children’s schools, which helps them to identify and resolve issues quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff follow structured plans to help children gain independence skills. These include supporting them with practical skills such as money management and household DIY. Children engage well with these programmes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff introduce children to new activities that help them build confidence and memories. One child said that being at the home has given them opportunities to try things that they would never have tried otherwise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children are helped to understand and explore their culture. Children are supported to celebrate cultural festivals and follow their religion. For example, the manager fasted with a child during Ramadan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are sensitive to the relationships that children have with their families and promote these in line with children’s care plans. They have provided a high level of support to help plans for one child to return home.

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

Children say that they feel safe living at the home. Staff work proactively to deliver structured ‘keep me safe’ sessions that help children to learn about issues such as online safety, bullying and exploitation. Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 4 Staff are provided with a thorough induction. This includes attending face-to-face training in safeguarding, first aid and behaviour management before they start working with children at the home. This helps staff to feel more confident in their safeguarding duties.

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

Staff are successful in using de-escalation strategies with children to avoid verbal and physical aggression. As a result, there has only been one incident of restraint, which was short and effective. The manager reviewed the record of the incident and led debrief conversations with staff and the child. However, the record of restraint does not clearly evidence the behaviours observed or steps taken prior to the hold being used. This limits the ability to review potential triggers for behaviour or the effectiveness of strategies used.

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

Staff respond quickly to keep children safe when incidents occur. This includes when children go missing from the home. Staff are tenacious in their efforts to find and return children safely. They work closely with the police and children’s family members to try and identify where children may be. The manager ensures that staffing levels are sufficient to support efforts to find the children and to travel to collect them when found. The staffing levels limit the disruption to the other children’s routines. Staff are sensitive to information that suggests that children are vulnerable to exploitation. The manager reviews all incidents of children going missing from the home to identify potential trends to reduce the risks further.

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

Staff are vigilant about the risks to children in the community. All safeguarding concerns are shared with the relevant professionals promptly, including sharing information with the police about local amenities of concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is a strong leader with high expectations and aspirations for staff and children. She has embedded working practices that fulfil the home’s aim of providing care that increases children’s resilience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is exceptionally well organised. She has a detailed knowledge of the children’s needs and care plans. This enables effective oversight of the day-to-day operation of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established positive working relationships with professionals and children’s family members. She is proactive in planning for children to address issues as they arise. This includes reviewing plans for education to provide children with the coordinated support that they need to help them attend and feel confident in lessons. The manager advocates for children when they need more support to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Half of the staff are new to working in the home. The manager identified staff retention as an area for improvement and has put in place a new process of recruitment. New members of staff have diverse interests and experience that Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 5 benefit the children. For example, some staff enjoy playing football and going to the gym, while others like cooking. Staff say that they love working at the home and they feel fully supported by each other and the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. The manager has established personal development plans for staff which outline their learning needs. However, one member of staff has not achieved a relevant level 3 diploma within the required timescale.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person visits the home monthly as required. These visits do not routinely include consultation with professionals or children’s families. This limits the overall effectiveness of this quality assurance process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager regularly reviews the service. These reviews include feedback from children, staff and professionals and help to inform the home’s development plan. Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 6

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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

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 1 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 1 April 2014, 1 April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b)) 1 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (2)(a) (4)(a)(b)) 1 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint enable the registered person and staff to review the use of restraint to identify effective practice. In particular, records of restraint should clearly outline observations of behaviour and steps taken to de-escalate any incidents before restraint is used. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: 1264286 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 2, First Floor, Millennium Court, First Avenue, Centrum 100, Burton-Upon-Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Paula Edwards, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1264286 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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