Children's home run by Surrey County Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 1 SC045408 Registered provider: Surrey County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides a short-break service for children who are having an emotional crisis at home. It is part of a wider service for children experiencing poor mental health and is operated by Surrey County Council and the local National Health Service.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since 13 September 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we sus- pended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to rou- tine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 2 September 2020 to carry out an assurance 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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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: 17 December 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/12/2018 Full Inadequate 21/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/03/2017 Full Good 06/06/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 4

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requires improvement to be good

There are several shortfalls which could potentially have an impact on children’s safety and welfare. The local authority identified issues generally relating to the safeguarding practices, staffing and monitoring systems in place prior to the inspection. Plans to rectify the concerns have, and are being, acted on but are not fully completed or always evident in practice. Nevertheless, children make progress and have positive experiences when they come to stay here for a short break.

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requires improvement to be good

The assessment processes for deciding on whether a child should come for a short break focus on the child’s mental health needs. The staff do not automatically obtain information about children’s social needs or social history during the assessment process. This makes additional work for the staff after the assessment and risks important information being omitted prior to an admission decision being made.

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requires improvement to be good

Children are warmly welcomed when they arrive for a short break. The staff take time to get to know the children, help them to feel at ease and build positive relationships with them and their families. One child has learned some helpful techniques which are assisting her to manage difficult emotions better.

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requires improvement to be good

Children’s views are integral to decisions made about their care. For instance, each child works with the staff to decide what aims should be in place for their visit and how to achieve these. This means children feel aware of and involved in decisions about their care.

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requires improvement to be good

The staff recognise the importance of building a positive relationship with parents and do this effectively. One parent said, ‘These are the only people [the staff at the home] that I will leave my child with at the moment.’ This statement was made because she trusts that the staff can manage her child’s mental health needs at a time of crisis.

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requires improvement to be good

The staff communicate well with education providers to ensure that children have a consistent experience of care and support during their short breaks and in education. Each child is supported to go to their educational placement and enabled to study while they stay at the home. The staff have supported children well to develop interests in the home and in the community. A parent said that the range of activities had made her child’s visit fun ‘like a mini holiday’ which her child had really enjoyed.

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requires improvement to be good

When it is time for children to leave, the staff work well with other professionals to provide the right support which will help children continue to make progress. A social worker said that the staff ‘engaged in [child’s name]’s discharge meeting Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 5 and provided good feedback about areas of [the child’s] strengths and areas for development’. A parent said she particularly liked that the staff phone her the day after her child goes home, to check how they are both doing.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not consistently ensured that safeguarding concerns have been referred to external safeguarding agencies within appropriate timescales. These issues were identified by the local authority during a recent audit of the home’s practices. Leaders and managers have improved their monitoring of all incident forms by checking these daily, and safeguarding referrals are now being made in appropriate timescales. No children are currently at risk.

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improvement to be good

Leaders’ and managers’ knowledge of safeguarding issues is sound. They use their knowledge well to promote and safeguard children’s safety and welfare. They recognise that there remain shortfalls in some staff’s safeguarding knowledge and have completed additional safeguarding training to improve this. This training has not effectively resulted in all of the staff having good working knowledge of important safeguarding concerns such as child sexual abuse. Some staff were unaware of the full range of external safeguarding agencies, such as a designated officer, who they could refer safeguarding concerns to.

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improvement to be good

Written risk assessments generally provide greater detail of the actions staff must take to minimise concerns. The accuracy of these documents is only assured because managers check and regularly amend the versions written by staff. Managers are working to improve the quality of risk assessments written by staff. The training has not ensured that all of the staff have the skills required to meet children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

The majority of health and safety procedures are well documented. A fire risk assessment was completed earlier in the year and recommended actions are continuing to be implemented. Leaders and managers had not monitored and recorded how each recommendation has been, or is being, met. This was rectified during the inspection.

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good

The home has no registered manager. Leaders and managers are recruiting for this position but have yet to find a suitable person. The person responsible for the day-to-day management of the home does not have a detailed knowledge of residential care but is being supported by people who do. The local authority acknowledges that this situation needs a quick resolution and will be conducting interviews for a manager the day after the inspection concluded. Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 6 There is a strong development plan in place to improve practice and it provides clear aims for the service. The home’s statement of purpose has been updated but has yet to be submitted to Ofsted as is required.

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good

In the last few months, several staff have left their employment at the home. This has considerably depleted the permanent full-time staff team. Leaders and managers have implemented various strategies which have reduced the impact of the staffing losses as well as securing sufficient staff to meet children’s needs. The responsible individual is also in the home several times a week to support its management. These actions mean that most of the time staff who know the home well and work together effectively are caring for the children.

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good

Leaders and managers monitor some aspects of the service well, as described in other areas of this report. They acknowledge that other areas have been poorly monitored, such as poor safeguarding practice not being identified until an audit occurred. Actions are being taken to improve monitoring, such as a new monthly visitor being appointed to review the quality of the home. The two requirements and two recommendations made at the last inspection are met.

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good

Systems in place to support staff are well organised and routine. The staff say that their supervision is frequent and supports them well, providing them with protected time to reflect on children’s needs and their individual development needs. Team meetings are regular and are being developed further to increase opportunities for face-to-face training, which has been limited during the pandemic.

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good

The staff work well with the professional team around each child. A social worker said that the staff engaged well in a meeting about a child’s support needs after she returned home, which assisted them in deciding how best to meet her needs in the future. Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 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

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered person ensuring that there is a satisfactory system in place for gaining information about a child’s social welfare and needs when assessing children for admission to the home. 12 November

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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 relates specifically to the staff being able to adequately 12 November Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 8 identify and write risk assessments which meet children’s diverse needs.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the staff have a good working knowledge of external safeguarding agencies and their differing roles of responsibility. 12 November

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(iii)) 12 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(b)) 12 November Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 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: SC045408 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Surrey County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Quadrant Court, 35 Guildford Road, Woking, Surrey GU22 7QQ

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Inspector

Ruth Coler, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 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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