Children's home run by A & S Children’s Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 1 Registered provider: A & S Children’s Services LTD Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s statement of purpose confirms that the home cares for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager were registered by Ofsted in February 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

This inspection was conducted on site and involved meetings with staff, including the registered manager. Written and telephone discussions were held with a placing authority social worker and other professionals, including the host local authority designated officer. A staff questionnaire was also shared for those staff who were not working but wished to contribute their views.

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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 17 September 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 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: 30 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 2 Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 30 June 2021. Following additional concerns, the setting was suspended from operating on 16 July 2021 and served with compliance notices.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home resumed operating on 17 September, after meeting the conditions of the compliance notices and the notice of suspension. Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/06/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 4

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improvement to be good

There was one child living in the home at the time of this inspection. This child was admitted on 25 October 2021. This has limited the scope of this inspection.

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improvement to be good

Despite the short time, staff have engaged the child with a range of activities including pumpkin carving and preparing brownies for a neighbour. Staff have offered structured routines and worked on important issues such as maintaining personal hygiene. The child enjoyed these activities and said, ‘It was fun.’

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improvement to be good

The home’s environment requires improvement. This inspection found age- inappropriate DVD material in the home, and a room containing loose pieces of wood was left opened. Access to inappropriate material and hazardous materials poses a risk to children and staff.

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improvement to be good

The children’s guide requires updating. The current guide is not comprehensible to all children that the service seeks to support, and fails to inform children of the presence of CCTV monitoring on the exterior of the home or gain their consent for its use. In addition, the guide refers to inappropriate sanctions such as restricting children’s access to the telephone. This presents confusion for staff and children.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management is effective. Techniques such as the use of consistent praise and reassurance work well. Staff supplement this by listening to the child, for example offering to pick the child up from school away from the main entrance to avoid the child feeling stigmatised. This helps the child to feel reassured and listened to.

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improvement to be good

The child in placement has been able to continue attending the same school. This has minimised disruption and allowed for some consistency at a difficult time.

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improvement to be good

Feedback from the placing social worker is positive. The allocated social worker praised the support offered by staff, including the introduction of an effective, incentivised daily reward chart.

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improvement to be good

Staff training is lacking. At present, not all the staff are restraint trained. Restraining children without the required training places children and staff at potential risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Despite being the home’s designated safeguarding officer, the registered manager is still to complete updating safeguarding training. This limits guidance for staff on an important area of their work. Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 5 Practice relating to searching children’s possessions is unclear. The behaviour management policy fails to offer staff guidance on the recording and evaluation of room checks or searches. This presents confusion for all concerned and may result in the unnecessary invasion of children’s privacy.

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improvement to be good

Despite the brief period since the child’s arrival, care plans and risk assessments are clear and detailed. Documents evidence discussions with previous placements and liaison with the allocated social worker regarding possible triggers, such as a negative reaction to persistent staff questioning. Staff understand the documents and work consistently to support the child in placement.

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improvement to be good

There are no reports of missing behaviour. Staff reduce the risk of missing behaviour by escorting children to and from school and contact with family. This supports the development of trusting relationships and helps staff develop knowledge of key people in children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have worked to address the serious concerns outlined at the last inspection. Leaders have addressed five requirements and three recommendations from the last inspection. This has led to improvements in behaviour management, safer recruitment of staff, case recording and the quality of support and insight from the independent visitor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recommendations regarding supporting children who go missing are repeated for this inspection as there have been no incidents of children missing from home to assess practice in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders strived to support the staff team during the recent period of suspension. Staff reported constant phone calls, support and training. This increased a feeling of ‘camaraderie’ in the home and resulted in none of the staff leaving the home, despite the difficulties. Children benefit from the resulting staff consistency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite the improved staff morale, staff supervision is not consistent. This inspection found that formal supervision for staff did not occur in October 2021 and it was not possible to review the notes of the supervision that occurred in September 2021. In addition, the absence of a workforce development plan continues to be a concern. These shortfalls limit an assessment of staff development during this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Succession planning is improved. Two senior members of staff are currently completing the management qualification. In addition, the home plans to recruit a deputy manager. This broader knowledge base benefits the development of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Practice relating to admitting children is improved. The registered manager scrutinises each referral effectively and explores the feedback of key professionals Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 6 such as former foster carers. This ensures a full assessment, and improvement is evidenced by the ease with which the child has settled.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager’s quality of care report fails to contain an action plan. This limits an assessment of the home’s improvement plan.

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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 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home must ensure that the staff receive physical restraint training and that the registered manager completes updating safeguarding training. 1 January 2022

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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

that staff— 1 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 7 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

In particular, this relates to young people having access to DVDs that are not age appropriate and to ensure that all unsafe areas of the home are secured.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 1 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home. (Regulation 35 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the need for staff to have clear guidance concerning room searches and to record them effectively. 1 January 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the children to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that where there is a possibility that a child will run away or go missing from the home, the child’s risk assessment is reviewed and includes strategies to reduce risk when the risks of children going missing increase. (‘Guide to homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.24)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce

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Recommendations

related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home. In particular, the training matrix must be kept Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 8 up to date. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that the management monitoring report clearly identifies any actions required for the next six months of delivery in the home and how those actions will be addressed. In particular, to ensure the improvement plan contains details and specific timescales with regards to when progress will be reviewed and measured. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.4)  The registered person should ensure that consent is given in writing to any

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Recommendations

monitoring or surveillance at the time of placement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards (2015)’, page 15, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. In particular, ensure that the guide clearly outlines the use of CCTV in the home and removes all reference to inappropriate sanctions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards (2015)’, page 23, paragraph 4.21)

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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: 2611288 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: A & S Children’s Services LTD

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Inspector

Barnaby Dowell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2611288 10 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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