Children's Home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 1 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspection 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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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/12/2019 Full Good 11/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 3

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improvement to be good

The relationships between the children and staff are good. One child said that staff are friendly and caring. Good relationships between children and staff help the children to make progress.

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improvement to be good

Overall, the home is welcoming and well furnished. The children have personalised bedrooms and memorable photographs are displayed in communal spaces. However, staff keep a small lounge locked to prevent children accessing unhealthy food. This practice detracts from the homely environment and fails to help children understand a healthy balanced diet.

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improvement to be good

The progress children make with education is variable. For some children, school attendance has increased and progress is being made towards meeting their expected academic targets. However, one child is no longer accessing education or training opportunities. Furthermore, another child’s education, health and care plan is not up to date. As a result, children’s educational needs are not consistently met.

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improvement to be good

The children’s written plans are individualised. However, it is not clear what work staff are completing to help children achieve their targets. For example, there is limited meaningful intervention for one child who requires support with healthy relationships. This reduces the opportunities for children to understand socially acceptable behaviours and impacts on the child’s experiences.

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improvement to be good

The preparation for children’s future transitions, such as moving to independent living, is limited. The children are encouraged to develop independence skills; however, this is promoted in an ad hoc way and is not adequately planned. In addition, there is limited intervention when a child does not follow a suitable meal and activity planner. This jeopardises their future success when they leave the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to spend time with people who are important to them. Families are welcomed into the home and, when necessary, staff travel with children to support them to spend time with family members. Staff also support children to make decisions about family time arrangements. This helps children to maintain relationships that are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Children in the home say that they feel safe. During the inspection, staff could identify the steps that they would take to respond to risk. However, the written Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 4 assessments to manage and reduce risk require improvement. Children’s risk assessments do not adequately identify all risks. For example, the risks associated with a child’s behaviour in the community are not considered. In addition, staff have failed to follow the actions set in risk assessments. For example, one child’s assessment states that staff should complete daily phone checks and there have been occasions where this has not happened. Inconsistencies in staff practice and a lack of clear guidance may compromise children’s safety.

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improvement to be good

Physical interventions are used as a last resort and in the best interest of the children. The home has been effective in recording interventions and they ensure that information-sharing with professionals takes place. The staff recognise children’s achievements and implement individual incentives. This ensures that positive behaviour is encouraged.

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improvement to be good

Medication arrangements are not consistent. There are occasions when staff have not ensured that children have received their medication. The manager completes medication audits. However, they have failed to identify or respond to these shortfalls. This has the potential to compromise the children’s health and well-being and fails to address shortfalls in staff practice.

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improvement to be good

The manager has failed to ensure safe recruitment. When it was necessary to use an agency member of staff to work at the home, the manager did not explore gaps in employment history. This has the potential to leave children vulnerable and at risk of harm.

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good

Since the last inspection, there have been changes in leadership and management. The appointed manager is suitably qualified and experienced and is applying for registration with Ofsted. The managers in place acknowledged the shortfalls identified during inspection.

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good

Feedback from external professionals is positive. Social workers and a deputy headteacher spoke of good working relationships with the home and good communication.

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good

The staff team in the home is stable, which means that the children benefit from consistency. The acting manager and the staff are flexible with their working patterns to meet the children’s needs. This ensures that the children are cared for by adults with whom they have positive relationships.

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good

Not all staff have completed mandatory training. In addition, there are identified gaps in training specific to the needs of the children living in the home. Therefore, the manager cannot demonstrate that staff are suitably trained in understanding and responding to risk and need. Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 5 The recording of incidents in the home is poor. For example, not all identified incidents of inappropriate phone use and self-harm are recorded. This means that the manager is unable to fully evaluate the support offered to children. In addition, this fails to demonstrate that the manager has a clear overview of the home.

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good

One child’s case file does not include all the required information from the placing authority. There is evidence of the manager escalating concerns to the local authority. However, requested information is still not available. As a result, staff do not always have the most up-to-date information that they need to provide coordinated care.

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good

The statement of purpose has not been updated in line with the regulation. This means that Ofsted does not have the most up-to-date information about the care provided. Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 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

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

should raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority; and

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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 non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that education, health and care plans are reviewed by the set timescales and to ensure that all children in the home have access to education. 20 November

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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 (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) 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

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(iii)) 20 November Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 7 This specifically relates to the lounge doors being looked to prevent children accessing food.

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the children’s risk assessments consider and assess all known risks. 20 November

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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

ensure that staff have the experiences, qualifications, and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should also use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvement in the quality and care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that all staff complete mandatory training and child-specific training. In addition, the manager should ensure that incidents are recorded to be able to monitor the care provided. 20 November

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard requires the registered person to ensure that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (2)(b)(ii)) 20 November Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 8 This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that all children follow a healthy lifestyle.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the statement of purpose being up to date with the care that is provided in the home. 20 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that medication is administered as prescribed. 20 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available to relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all gaps in employment are checked and information about the worker is clear and consistent. 20 November

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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 and are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the need for a child’s up-to-date care plan to be in place. 20 November Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 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: 1259114 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2, Lymevale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke- on-Trent ST4 6NW

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Inspector

Sophie Hills, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1259114 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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