Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report children's home: 1254864 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private company that is owned and operated by a national charity. The home provides care for up to three children with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably experienced and registered.

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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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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1254864 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/03/2020 Full Outstanding 28/02/2019 Full Outstanding 18/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1254864 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have secure and trusting relationships with the staff who care for them. The quality of these relationships is fundamental to the progress children make. One child said, ‘Staff are caring, thoughtful, and always there for me.’ Staff quickly develop good relationships with children when they move into the home. This helps children to settle quickly and become well established in the home. When children leave the home, they continue to stay in touch with their peers and staff. This is indicative of the strength of relationships they have formed with those caring for them and other children they have lived with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living in a well-maintained, comfortable and homely environment. Staff work hard to create an atmosphere that is full of warmth and mutual respect. Staff have supported children to make their bedrooms comfortable and personal to them. Staff seek ideas from children on improvements in the home to make it more comfortable and a home the children can be proud of.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s own confidence in their abilities improves, as staff encourage them to become more independent. Staff help children to develop and learn a range of skills, such as using public transport, going out in the community independently, cooking and learning to spend time alone. This is good progress for some children, considering their starting points when moving to the home. One parent said: ‘Staff have taught my child skills that I never thought my child would be able to do independently. It’s fantastic.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers are robust in their challenge of other agencies and professionals when children do not receive what they are entitled to. For example, the manager worked closely with involved professionals to enable one child to maintain educational tuition until the end of her GCSE exams. This was successful and the child passed her GCSE’s. Education is a high priority for the manager and staff. They endeavour to ensure children maintain good school attendance and work to the best of their abilities to achieve their ambitions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and emotional well-being are well supported. Staff enrich children’s lives through promoting healthy eating, daily exercise and activities. Children have positive experiences to look forward to with the staff and others. This further helps to promote good relationships. For example, one child was supported to go on a holiday with her mother, which was an experience she has not previously had.

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

Children report that they feel safe. They feel that the staff keep them safe and protect them. Incidents such as child exploitation, drug and alcohol misuse, violence and aggression, and missing-from-home episodes have reduced or ceased Inspection report children's home: 1254864 4 completely for some children. Children are better equipped to recognise risk and make safer decisions.

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

Staff understand the risks and potential hazards for each child and when required, take action to safeguard children. However, children’s individual assessments are not always comprehensive and do not provide staff with guidance on how they should respond to and manage risk.

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

Behaviours are generally well managed, with an emphasis placed on positive relationships rather than the use of punitive sanctions. The guidance provided by staff helps children to start to understand the impact of their behaviour on others. This has resulted in a significant reduction of incidents of aggression towards staff and poor behaviour in the home.

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

Complaints are handled with care and given priority. When a child made a complaint, this was investigated thoroughly, and the child was kept updated throughout. The investigation process and the outcome of the complaint were explained to the child. This transparent and informative approach means that children know they are taken seriously and listened to.

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

Partnership working with involved professionals is strong. Professionals and family members speak highly of the communication and cooperation they experience from managers and staff. For example, staff have supported family members to understand the presenting needs of children and the importance of supporting children to become more independent and self-reliant.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is led by an experienced registered manager. She is enthusiastic and sets high expectations of the care provided to children. The manager is very visible in the home and children and staff know they can turn to her for support and advice. Managers have developed a culture of high expectation and high support, and this ensures that children and staff receive the help they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a thorough, comprehensive and varied training programme. This provides staff with the skills and knowledge they need to care effectively for children. All the staff are either qualified or enrolled on the required qualification for residential care staff. Their progression on this essential training is closely monitored by the manager. The manager ensures that staff receive the support they need to complete this crucial training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Rigorous and comprehensive recruitment procedures underpin the employment of new staff. This ensures that any prospective new staff are both safe to work with children and have the right behaviours and values. Managers involve children in the recruitment process. This helps them to evaluate the values and integrity of prospective new workers and allows the children to have their say on who cares for them. Inspection report children's home: 1254864 5 Staff morale is high, despite the challenges of COVID-19. The manager has created a supportive working environment for staff. This helps staff to be resilient as they care for children throughout the pandemic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that they are well supported and receive regular supervision. However, records of supervision vary in standard and some records are very brief. They do not support staff to develop within their care practice and do not demonstrate reflective practice. This is a missed opportunity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management monitoring of some daily tasks lacks sufficient rigour. Managers have not routinely scrutinised some daily records, such as the content of children’s daily diaries or the child’s daily records, to make certain these contain the required detail and information. Inspection report children's home: 1254864 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 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 is specifically in relation to ensuring risk assessments provide guidance to staff on how they should respond to and manage risks. 6 December 2021

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers embedding monitoring systems in the home, to improve the quality of care provided. 6 December 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1254864 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the content and outcomes of supervision sessions are kept. This is in relation to ensuring that the written records of supervision provide staff with feedback on practice and provide thorough records of topics discussed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This relates to ensuring the child’s journey is captured within their daily records. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1254864 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Matthew Earnshaw

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1254864 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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