Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Wolverhampton

Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 1 Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This service offers short breaks for up to six children at any one time. Overall, the service provides support to 57 children with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or sensory impairment. A large private provider operates this service.

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Information about this children’s home

Two suitably experienced managers are in post. Both have been registered with Ofsted since 3 December 2020. Both are currently undertaking a management qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2020 Full Good 19/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, six children were receiving their short break. The service offers different packages of care, depending on each child’s assessed need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carefully plan children’s visits to the home prior to them first receiving a short break. They work in partnership with children, their families and professionals to fully understand children’s assessed needs. Managers ensure that staff receive any specific training required to support the child before they have their first stay. This focus on gaining a rounded understanding of the child ensures that the staff are well prepared to provide individual, specialist care. Similarly, children move on successfully, with plans that are well thought through to ensure that the change is as seamless as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s individual day-to-day care is well planned. Staff take great pride in planning stays that enable children to participate in a range of activities and to have fun. In addition, staff undertake individual work with children that is based on the child’s personal targets. As a result of this focused attention, children make progress in their self-care and independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to make choices about their care, for example choosing meals and activities. Staff use a range of methods to communicate with children, devising individual tools when necessary. Managers are in the process of implementing a new consultation process. This aims to enable managers to fully understand children’s experiences and keep this information at the heart of their plans for service development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop positive relationships with parents. Parents told the inspector that communication is a strength of the service. Managers have used their learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to improve communication further. Staff and parents now speak to each other before each child’s visit to ensure that staff are aware of any current challenges or changes for the child. This enables staff to provide effective and responsive care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed a sense of community around the service. Staff, children and parents are involved in a range of charity fundraising for local organisations. This proactive approach helps to develop links with the neighbouring community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers have been thoughtful about how they have operated the service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been some changes in care patterns for children to ensure that the care provided is safe for children and staff. The commitment of staff and managers means that the service has remained open throughout the pandemic. One social worker told the inspector, ‘I feel we may have had many more family breakdowns if the service had not responded in the way that it did at that time.’ Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 4 Managers have not yet fully responded to the recommendation of the last inspection regarding the environment in the home. There is ongoing evidence of wear and damage, particularly in children’s bedrooms. This detracts from what is a bright, purpose-built home.

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

Managers have strengthened risk-assessment practice since the last inspection. Children’s individual risk assessments are up to date and provide staff with clear strategies that enable them to keep children safe.

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

Staff are passionate about the children and know them well. This means that staff are attuned to children’s behaviour and are quick to respond to any changes. Staff encourage positive behaviour. The success of this is reflected in the low number of incidents that happen in the home. However, if an incident does occur and the managers are involved in this, there is no system to ensure that managers receive a debrief. This is a missed opportunity for independent scrutiny of practice.

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

Staff are well trained in all aspects of safeguarding children. This includes training staff to be alert to potential risks. For example, although children do not present high-risk behaviours associated with going missing from the home, staff are well trained to understand and respond to this concern. Where this risk is identified, there are clear plans that ensure that staff are equipped to act quickly to safeguard children.

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

Managers have made improvements to the arrangements for staff recruitment. However, some omissions remain. For example, on one occasion, managers had not taken up full checks regarding an applicant’s previous roles with children. Once identified, these omissions were addressed by managers during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has two registered managers. They each have separate but supporting roles and this ensures good oversight of this large, short-breaks service. The managers are dedicated to ensuring that children receive good-quality care. Both managers regularly spend time working alongside staff and children. This level of involvement in the care provided ensures that the managers understand their service well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have experienced an increase in referrals for the service in recent months, following the closure of another local facility. Despite this increase in demand, managers have worked hard to ensure that all children have access to the care that they need, providing vital support to children and their families.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been some inconsistency in staffing at the home in recent months. This is an improving picture and, where possible, staff cover shifts themselves to avoid disruption to children. As a result, the impact on children is low. Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 5 Staff are well supported in their roles. Clear inductions ensure that staff are fully prepared to join the home. They are further supported by regular supervision and an annual review of staff performance. This established practice ensures that there are regular opportunities for staff to reflect on and develop their practice. Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to managers ensuring that the children’s home is well maintained and provides a clean, personalised environment for children to enjoy short-break care. 31 December

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure; 31 December Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 7 a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to managers ensuring that there are arrangements in place to provide for debrief and oversight of incidents when managers have been involved.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that managers have oversight of the recruitment of staff who come to work at the home, to ensure that checks are complete. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 8 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: 1266267 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV4 6JG

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: Kimberley Williams Laura Spencer

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Inspector

Tracey Coglan Greig, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1266267 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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