Children's home run by Hull City Council

Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 1 Registered provider: Hull City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is a local authority-run children’s home. It provides care for one child who may suffer from emotional, social and/or mild learning difficulties. This home registered in December 2019 and this is its first full inspection. There is currently one child living at the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since registration and is dual registered. He shares his time equally between two homes.

p.1

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.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the first full inspection of this home. A monitoring visit was completed on 23 February 2021 where no serious or widespread concerns were found. Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Only one child lives in the home at any one time, which means that the care they receive is individualised and bespoke. Children who live here have complex needs related to their social and emotional well-being. Staff build strong relationships with the children, which helps children to trust and turn to the staff at times of crisis.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in education. This extends to planning for their future. One child, who was not attending their education provision before moving to the home, has since gained qualifications and started on a vocational course at college. This is a significant achievement for this child and will benefit them in later life.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are given opportunities to make special memories while they live in the home. These are recorded in high-quality photo books, which are a valuable memento of ‘first-time experiences’ for children. Trips to London, learning new crafts and visits to theme parks provide children with enduring memories of significance. Children may otherwise not have had access to these experiences which broaden their horizons.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff deliver good care, which balances children’s safety while exposing them to age- appropriate risks. Staff work together with other health and social care professionals to gradually increase and promote children’s independence in a planned way. They respond quickly and effectively when concerns are identified.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children need specialist help, staff understand the anxiety children may feel in accessing that help, and support children to overcome this. This helps children to get the right intervention at a point when they are ready to engage.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult with the children regularly to ensure that the children’s views are well understood. When there is an issue around the responsiveness of other professionals, staff appropriately challenge and advocate on the children’s behalf. This results in the children feeling supported and valued.

p.3

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

Children’s risks are well understood by staff and there are effective plans to manage these. When new risks emerge, staff are quick to share information, and work alongside others to minimise them. This promotes children’s safety.

p.3

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

When children attempt to harm themselves, staff take effective action. This is both at the time of crisis, but also additionally in the aftermath. Staff ensure that the care and support available to children is carefully and robustly reviewed to identify if any changes are needed. Staff keep the home free from hazards and are vigilant to changes in children’s moods. This results in staff preventing and reducing the seriousness of incidents. Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 4 Staff work with social workers to understand the risks outside the home from family, friends and the wider community. Staff are creative in finding ways to enable children to spend time with their family and friends safely. As a result, children feel listened to, and are supported to maintain relationships which give them a sense of belonging.

p.3

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

Staff and children talk fondly and animatedly about each other. These strong bonds lead to children sharing information, which provides opportunities to help children become increasingly safe. Children rarely go missing, due to the strong relationships with staff. However, when children are absent or missing, staff follow plans to locate and return them quickly and safely.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a shared vision of what good-quality care looks like. They promote individualised care, and support their team to deliver this. They have a good understanding of the progress children make and use effective systems to prevent delay for children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have established positive relationships with other professionals and are held in high regard by both them and the staff team. They are proactive in challenging others to ensure that children receive the services they need.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff respond in a bespoke way to provide a purposeful, supportive and nurturing environment for children. This supports the children to feel comfortable, safe and settled.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff receive an induction and all staff have access to training. However, supervision records and completion of staff appraisals fall short. This is in respect of the frequency and quality of recording which is inconsistent.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers understand the home’s strengths and weaknesses and have plans to address them. However, the review of the quality of care undertaken by the manager includes an action plan which provides no detail on how objectives will be achieved for the next period. This, therefore, does not set out a clear framework to act on feedback and drive up the quality. The regulator’s survey was not distributed as required, and again this misses an opportunity to gain feedback to inform improvements.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is not up to date. Similarly, the location risk assessment, while updated overall, contains historic crime data going back over three years. This does not reassure the manager that all emerging and recent risks are known about and being mitigated. Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

p.5

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 (3)(a)(b)) 5 December 2021

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.5

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 5 December 2021

p.5

Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring. This refers to sending out the regulator’s survey and providing sufficient detail in the Regulation 45 action plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  When establishing the home, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that children are effectively safeguarded and can access services to meet needs identified in their relevant plans (see regulations 12(2)(c)). Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer

p.5

Recommendations

to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process: Children’s homes regulation amendments 2014: Advice for children’s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came into effect in January and April 2014. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 6

p.5

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: 2569527 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kingston upon Hull City Council, The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

p.7

Inspector

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2569527 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8