Children's home run by The Together Trust in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 1 SC025715 Registered provider: The Together Trust 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 voluntary organisation. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have physical and/or learning disabilities. Three children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in February 2020 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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: 11 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2020 Full Good 13/11/2018 Full Good 30/08/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience consistent, loving care from a core group of adults who know them well. No children have left or moved into the home since the last inspection. As a result, the children are used to living with the same small group and have developed a sense of familiarity and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children have additional learning and physical health needs and have barriers to verbal communication. Each child is supported to communicate in their preferred manner and staff know each child’s individual communication needs well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children continue to make progress from their starting points. Children’s communication and independence skills are promoted and staff have aspirations for each child. One child who is developing his use of Makaton was recently able to communicate with another child while at the park. This led to the other child coming to play with him on the swings. This seemingly small event has the potential to open up the child’s world and enrich his social experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Not all children are in formal education. Two children waiting for a move to adult services are not in receipt of educational provision. The registered manager is working with the placing authority’s adult services to ensure that appropriate provision is in place. Staff ensure that the children are engaged in activities during the day. Both children spend time in the community and enjoy stimulating activities in the home. The third child in the home benefits from full-time education. School staff and staff from the home work well together to ensure that there is a consistent approach to the child’s care and behaviour. This has led to significant progress in his communication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager is proactive in ensuring that children’s health needs are met. When children do not have the health input that they require, the registered manager swiftly identifies this and contacts primary and specialist services to support children’s health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from being cared for by a staff team that makes every effort to promote positive relationships between children and their families. Staff work with parents and children’s social workers to maintain these important relationships for children who are in long-term care due to their additional needs. Staff are child- centred and professional in their practice when differences of approach arise with parents, and children’s well-being remains at the centre of their decision-making.

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

The high quality of care that children experience from staff is informed by detailed, child-focused assessments and plans. However, it is not always recorded if the plans have been reviewed or if the full staff team is aware of updates. As a result, there is Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 4 a lack of clarity about the knowledge of staff about some information relating to individual children.

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

Children’s case records are, for the most part, comprehensive. Staff have the information they need to undertake their work and ensure that children’s care plans are progressed. Some parental delegated authority forms are not completed fully or signed by both parents who have parental responsibility. This means that staff do not have a clear, written mandate to undertake some day-to-day decision-making for children.

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

There is good joint planning between staff and children’s social workers. Staff are working with adult services to assess the needs of older children who will be moving on from the home. The registered manager has agreed to continue to care for the children until a new home environment is identified that will meet their needs. An adult services team manager said, ‘The whole team is child-centred and approachable. If they had an adult provision at the home, we would happily commission them.’ The constructive relationships between staff and adult services mean that children moving into adulthood can do so in a positive and planned way.

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

The physical environment of the home, internally and externally, requires refurbishment and redecoration to bring it up to a high standard for the children. The registered manager is aware of this and has plans in place to address this; however, this has not yet been progressed.

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

Children have a personal emergency evacuation plan and, on every shift, staff are identified to assist each child in the event of an emergency. External doors are locked with a key to safeguard the children, given their additional vulnerabilities. This practice is addressed in the home’s fire risk assessment. The registered manager has not sought the views of these arrangements from the fire service. As a result, it is not clear if this is a practice the fire service would support.

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

Children are not physically restrained by staff. Positive behaviours are promoted and children are supported to manage their emotions and behaviours. Due to this nurturing approach to care, children live in an environment where they feel safe and can flourish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leadership and management is a strength of the home. The registered manager’s child-centred and empathetic approach to her role means that children and staff experience a positive and nurturing environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has excellent organisational skills. As a result, she is well placed to ensure that children make progress and have good experiences. She applies this approach to the functioning of the home more generally. The comprehensive development plan in place for all aspects of the home evidences her strong management oversight of the quality of care of children and the needs of her staff team. Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 5 Due to staff vacancies, there is a frequent use of bank and agency staff to supplement the core staff team. Although efforts are made to keep the number of non-permanent staff to a minimum, children do experience a significant number of changes of staff. The impact of these changes has been reduced by the strong relationships between the permanent staff and the children. The provider has recently started to address this and is working with a recruitment agency. A full

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

permanent staff team will ensure that children benefit from continuity of care and have the opportunity to build trusting relationships with all the adults who care for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Independent visits to the home are completed each month. The reports arising from these visits do not always provide the quality of information and evaluation which supports practice improvement. In response to this, the registered manager and her peers within the organisation have amended the format of the report so that they are receiving information which is of benefit to them. These changes are in their infancy and the impact of these changes is not yet evident. More recently, reports prepared by the independent person have not been provided to Ofsted in a timely manner. This means that the regulator does not have sufficient information to undertake the role effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most of the staff receive regular child-centred supervision which supports their practice. Staff say they feel valued and well supported by the registered manager. The quality and frequency of supervision of waking night staff and bank staff require improvement. When supervision does take place with waking night staff and bank staff, these sessions are brief and do not focus on the needs of the children. Regular agency staff are also not being supervised. As a result, the registered manager and senior staff team do not have a good understanding of how well equipped staff in these roles are to undertake their duties effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular training and have the skills they need to meet the needs of the children. All staff have recently undertaken Makaton training to support the communication needs of one child, and staff are confident in using this in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good understanding of partnership working. She is proactive in engaging with local authorities, health services and schools to implement plans for children. These constructive working relationships mean that children experience the best possible care and are supported to have positive futures. Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 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, The 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 registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that delegated authority forms are in each child’s file, signed and dated by all adults who have parental responsibility for the child. 30 November

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the arrangements for locking the external doors are agreed with the fire authority. 30 November

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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. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that waking night staff and regular bank and agency staff receive supervision which supports them to provide a good quality of care to children. 30 November Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 7 The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (1)(4)(a)(b)(5)(7)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the quality and format of the report supports improvements in practice in the home and that reports are sent to Ofsted in a timely manner. 30 October 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they achieve continuity of staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)  The registered person should ensure that the planned programme of improvements to the quality of the internal and external environment of the home is progressed in a timely manner and there is an agreed date for completion of the schedule of work. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children’s placement plans and behaviour support plans are reviewed regularly, and systems are in place to evidence that all staff have read and understand any changes made to these

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Recommendations

records. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 8

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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: SC025715 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Together Trust Centre, Schools Hill, Cheadle SK8 1JE

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Inspectors

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Genevieve O’Reilly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025715 10 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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