Children's Home run by Nottingham City Council in Nottingham

Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 1 SC034969 Registered provider: Nottingham City Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a local authority. It is registered to provide short-term care for up to four children who may experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. Children are referred on an emergency basis and stay for up to 12 weeks.

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Information about this children’s home

The home opened on 28 November 2003 and has had the same registered manager since June 2013.

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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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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

Date of last inspection: 26 February 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/10/2019 Full Good 24/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 3

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improvement to be good

Children are generally happy with the care provided. Staff are skilled at forming relationships with children; they use humour and do their best to encourage children to spend time with them. One child said that when children and staff are together ‘there’s always laughter’. The staff team is experienced, and most have been caring for children for many years. One child said that this was the best children’s home they had ever been in.

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improvement to be good

Staff do endeavour to maintain health appointments for children. One child is reluctant to attend their dental appointment, however, staff are working with the child to address this. Some of the children have a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but some staff have not received training to support their work with these children. This means that there is a risk they lack the necessary level of understanding to confidently meet children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff have set up a football league with children from other children’s homes to promote children’s health and fitness as well as promoting friendships.

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improvement to be good

All children have an education placement.

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improvement to be good

The standards of some of the children’s bedrooms are poor. Children do not have clothes hanging in their wardrobes. Instead, clothes are scattered on the floor or are in a pile at the bottom of their wardrobe. Some bedrooms are unhygienic, with old food or litter on the floor. Some children have bin bags in their rooms. It was not clear in one child’s bedroom whether they had enough clothes, as these could only be found in a very small drawer. When children are struggling to keep their bedrooms tidy and clean, staff are not stepping in to do this for them.

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improvement to be good

When staff communicate with each other in the presence of children, the language used can be institutionalised. For example, staff will mention what shifts they are on or what time handover is. Some written information still refers to children as a ‘LAC’ or a ‘YP’. Similarly, staff will discuss local authority budgetary matters in front of children. Consequently, one child was less inclined to ask the registered manager for clothes because he did not want to apply any financial pressure. This means that children are absorbing the inappropriate adult conversations taking place.

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improvement to be good

Staff are good at engaging with wider services to help keep children safe. For example, one child was stopped from leaving the local area after staff contacted the British Transport Police, who then arranged for the child to be bought back safely. Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 4 When children are involved in behavioural incidents or are distressed, the recording of these incidents is to a good standard.

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improvement to be good

However, day-to-day care is not arranged in a way that proactively manages risk. For example, when children are known to hide items to self-harm with, their bedrooms are not maintained to a safe standard. Also, when children are known to misuse drugs, not enough is being done to ensure that drug paraphernalia is not brought into the house. Drug paraphernalia has been found in two of the children’s bedrooms. Not enough is being done to set boundaries with the children from the beginning to ensure that there are good standards of care and safety.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not have enough oversight of how much money children are being given in hand by their families. One child, for example, had a large sum of money but staff did not clarify where this money had come from in a timely manner. This poses a risk to children as there are concerns about where sums of money might have come from and there are risks associated with how that money might be spent.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, staff are good at using de-escalation strategies to manage challenging situations. This means that there are fewer behavioural incidents in the home and children’s experiences in the home are more positive.

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good

The registered manager works hard to ensure that children have as few moves between care givers as possible. For example, on one occasion, the registered manager extended the 12-week period so that two siblings could remain living at the home. This was excellent practice because it meant that these children were protected from unnecessary disruption and were able to move to their long-term placement together. Similarly, the registered manager will take necessary action to protect all children in the home. For example, on one occasion, he confidently escalated his concerns when he was asked to care for a child who could have posed a risk to the children already living at the home.

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good

Staff say that they are well supervised, and that the training they receive provides them with the skills required to care for children. Staffing levels are good. However, concerns have been raised by some staff regarding dynamics and behaviour in the staff team. Not all staff have been confident enough to raise these concerns, as they are worried that there may be repercussions or they feared not being taken seriously. These concerns are being taken seriously and are currently being investigated.

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good

Although staff do have regular conversations with children, these are not consistently recorded to a good standard. Similarly, documents for children are not yet written in a way that is meaningful for children.

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good

Leaders and managers are not yet promoting, or maintaining, the necessary high standards of care for children in all areas. Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 5

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager needing to take a more proactive approach to prevent risk for children.

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Requirement Due date

Efforts must be made to ensure that bedrooms are safe and maintained to a high standard, particularly if there are concerns about substance misuse or self-injurious behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

A more proactive approach to the indicators of possible exploitation is required. 25 January 2022

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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

promotes their welfare. 25 January 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 6 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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.

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Requirement Due date

Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the need to implement strategies to raise the standards of care being provided, including the conditions of children’s bedrooms and whether children have enough clothing.

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Requirement Due date

Improvements are required in recording and the quality of children’s documents.

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must take action to ensure that staff are confident to raise issues relating to staff practice.

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Requirement Due date

Children must be protected from conversations about budget cuts. Furthermore, the registered manager should address staff practice if it relates to institutionalised language or practices.

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Requirement Due date

Training is required to meet the needs of children with ADHD. Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 7

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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 for children's home: SC034969 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nottingham City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Nottingham City Council, Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

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Inspector

Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC034969 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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