Children's Home run by iMapcentre Limited in Cheshire West and Chester

Inspection report children's home: 2613341 1 Registered provider: iMapcentre Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home is registered to provide care for up to nine children with learning disabilities.

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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 inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 12 August 2021 to carry out a monitoring 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate Inspection report children's home: 2613341 2

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Four compliance notices were served following the full inspection in June 2021. A monitoring visit took place on 12 August 2021. Following a case review, the provider was deemed to have met the compliance notices, but a further requirement was made under regulation 12, the protection of children standard. Inspection report children's home: 2613341 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/06/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: 2613341 4

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences of living at the home are improving. The staff say that they feel supported and have more input into planning children’s care. They are confident about raising any practice issues with managers.

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improvement to be good

One child currently lives at the home. He is now attending school after a lengthy, planned transition. His hours of attendance are increasing and he is making positive progress. The child now enjoys a range of activities that promote his inclusion. They also provide informal opportunities for learning while having fun.

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improvement to be good

The staff share their observations about changes in the child’s behaviour so that any additional health needs can be assessed. The provider has asked for assessments by specialist services so that the child’s needs are understood and supported in the future.

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improvement to be good

The child’s personalised care plan includes his views. Some progress is well documented, but other records do not summarise and evaluate progress towards the child’s goals well. The child’s health planning does not include information from a therapist’s report. Specific tasks to track progress in particular aspects of his care are not kept up to date. This hinders understanding of the child’s journey and progress.

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improvement to be good

The team worked with a placing authority to promote a positive transition for a child when the staff were unable to meet his needs safely. However, the home’s register of admissions and discharges does not include the child’s new address. Referrals are being assessed carefully to ensure that the team can meet the needs of a new child before admission.

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improvement to be good

The staff have a good understanding of the needs and vulnerabilities of the child living at the home. However, plans are still not updated promptly to recognise changing risks to ensure that the staff know how to respond. The plans do not evaluate the progress that the child is making to show how he is becoming safer. The responsible individual is updating the child’s plans as they had not been completed by the key worker.

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improvement to be good

Some incident records do not include enough detail and management evaluation, although others do include reflection and identify learning for the staff team. The emerging risks for one child were not recorded in his plans after incidents to show how the staff should help to keep everyone safe. The identified risk management shortfalls have not directly affected children’s safety. Inspection report children's home: 2613341 5 A child is subject to a court order which restricts his liberty. This is reviewed regularly but the most recent order is not on file. The staff need to continue to escalate the matter to ensure that the child’s liberty is not being unduly restricted by current staff ratios.

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improvement to be good

The locality report for the home has been updated. It now includes risks such as the location of public transport stations. However, it needs updating further to include additional risks that have been identified by the staff.

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improvement to be good

Some outstanding repairs are still needed to improve the home environment. The staff have taken care to introduce the maintenance worker to the child safely to reduce any anxiety about a new person coming to the home.

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improvement to be good

Procedures have changed to record details when the provider verifies references for new staff. This strengthens the recruitment process to ensure that only suitable people work in the home.

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good

Senior leaders in the organisation have invested in external support to help the staff to develop their practice. Team members now have clear guidance about their roles and responsibilities. Leaders and managers know that this needs to be embedded more consistently into practice.

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good

Recruitment for a new manager is ongoing. The responsible individual oversees daily practice in the home, supported by the assistant manager. Monitoring and review systems are in place to track children’s progress and outcomes. However, these need to be strengthened to ensure that the staff complete tasks promptly and consistently and clearly evaluate the progress being made.

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good

Leaders and managers challenge external agencies when children’s needs are not being met. Further escalation is needed to ensure that children receive services to assess and meet their needs and reduce any further drift in care planning.

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good

The workforce development plan is being compiled to identify areas for practice development, but it is not yet complete. The staff need more training to have the skills and understanding to meet the specific needs of the child living at the home.

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good

The staff delivering supervision are now appropriately trained. Records show that the staff are held accountable if there are shortfalls in practice performance. However, records do not evidence enough reflection on practice with the children. Managers recognise that they need to change the supervision format to make sure that it captures practice-related discussion and more promptly addresses any accountability concerns. Inspection report children's home: 2613341 6 Robust independent monitoring of practice helps to drive forward improvements in the quality of care provided. The provider’s report of the review of the quality of care identifies the strengths and weaknesses in practice but does not include the opinions of children or other stakeholders. This means that these important views are not captured to evaluate the quality of care that children receive. However, feedback provided by external stakeholders to the inspectors is positive about

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good

improvements to children’s care. Two of the requirements from the last full inspection are not met and are repeated. Inspection report children's home: 2613341 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 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;

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

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the staff review and update risk assessments and management plans in relation to new or emerging risks. The registered person should ensure that the staff identify and respond to risks as recorded in children’s plans.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is repeated. 19 December

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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

This requirement is repeated. 19 December

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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 19 December Inspection report children's home: 2613341 8 promotes their welfare.

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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 experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the staff receive training that is relevant to the specific needs of children. Individuals with responsibility for reviewing and monitoring children’s plans and care should do so promptly to ensure that all staff deliver care in response to children’s changing needs and progress.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, children’s plans should be reviewed and updated according to their changing needs and contain relevant information from assessments to inform practice. 19 December

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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— 19 December Inspection report children's home: 2613341 9 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.

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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 (2)(a)(b)(c) (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the review of the location of the home considers specific risks for individual children, and how the staff should respond to mitigate them if a child leaves the building. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce plan contains the details of the staff team’s current qualifications and identify any further training required. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that the staff continue to escalate concerns when there is a lack of action from partner agencies in meeting children’s needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)  The registered person should ensure that the home is maintained to ensure a

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Recommendations

welcoming environment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that records are kept up to date, including the register of children, to show the child’s address on leaving the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Inspection report children's home: 2613341 10

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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: 2613341 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: iMap School, Barrowmore Estate, Barnhouse Lane, Great Barrow, Chester CH3 7JA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anthony Yearsley

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Inspectors

Karen Willson, Social Care Inspector Carly Quinn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2613341 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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