Children's Home run by Social Care Services (Clayton) Limited in Salford

Inspection report children's home: 2608484 1 Registered provider: Social Care Services (Clayton) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care to two children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is part of an independent company. The home was registered by Ofsted in December 2020. The registered manager is suitably experienced and has managed the home since registration.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2608484 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make significant progress in their lives because of the individualised care they experience. Both children have lived at the home since it opened, and this stability gives them a solid foundation to build on and on which they flourish.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive warm and nurturing care from the adults who are caring for them. Children have built trusting relationships with staff. A child said: ‘Staff treat you like good parents should. I trust them more than any other adults on the planet.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education is prioritised, and staff work well in partnership with schools to engage children in their education. When children are struggling to attend school full time, staff work with children and their teachers to agree alternative strategies to help children reach their goals. This helps children to make progress and build on their individual strengths and areas of interest.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child with aspirations to go to university achieved excellent GCSE grades while managing ongoing challenges with their mental health. The staff offer understanding and support, and the home provides a calm and stable environment. These contributed to the child’s ability to focus on schoolwork while managing their own emotional health, as well as the impact of the pandemic, on their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop independence skills, alongside a clear message from staff that children will be supported to remain living at the home until adulthood. This demonstrates the quality of relationships between staff and children and the family environment that the children experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s relationships with their families are actively encouraged and supported, when it is safe to do so, and in line with each child’s wishes. Where children have brothers and sisters who are also cared for away from the family home, staff work with their carers to maintain these relationships. As a result, children’s identity and sense of belonging is promoted.

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

There is a clear focus on ensuring that children’s physical and emotional safety are embedded in staff practice. Staff use all the information available to them to develop plans to identify and reduce risks.

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

Children’s case records are, for the most part, detailed and comprehensive. Information is updated regularly and key discussions and one-to-one work with children is on record. This helps staff and children to understand the children’s plans and identify progress. Some local authority information, specifically, delegated authority forms and medical consent documents, are not always being signed by the person with the authority to give the consent. This means that staff do not always Inspection report children's home: 2608484 3 have the necessary written proof of their mandate to undertake certain tasks for children in their care.

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

One child with complex mental health needs has made significant progress in improving their mental health since living at the home. Staff have worked closely with mental health services to build up a detailed understanding of the child’s lived experience. Their skilful practice has enabled the child to feel safe and secure and begin to manage and reduce their emotional distress.

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

Children are encouraged to have friendships outside of the home and take part in positive activities in the community, in line with their age and levels of responsibility. When staff have concerns that children may be in unsafe situations, they talk to them and discuss their concerns and look at how risks can be reduced. One child said: ‘They support me to make good decisions but don’t make me feel bad about decisions that I have made. I feel listened to.’

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

Children’s rooms are only searched when staff have significant concerns about a child’s welfare. If items are removed from bedrooms, children are made aware of the reasons for this. When items are removed due to risks of children harming themselves, staff work with children, to reintroduce items when it is safe to do so. This is done in consultation with their social worker and mental health professionals.

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

There have been no incidents of children being physically restrained since the home opened. Children do not go missing from home. Children view the home as theirs, and they value the relationships they have with the staff who care for them. As a result, children behave positively in the home, and any problems that arise are dealt with swiftly and in a way which strengthens relationships between children and staff.

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

On the one occasion, when a child raised concerns about the practice of staff, the registered manager acted quickly to address this. Information was shared with the child’s social worker and the local authority designated officer. The incident was formally investigated and there was an appropriate, proportionate response designed to improve practice and safeguard children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since the home opened. This is his first registered manager role. He provides strong, child-centred leadership to the staff team. Children speak highly of him as someone they like and trust. The registered manager has demonstrated skills and knowledge in developing and managing the home to this point. This puts it in a strong position to continue to provide a high level of care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff work well together and are a stable and close-knit team. When additional staff are needed, they are drawn from a small number of staff who work in the provider’s other homes. These staff know the children well, and this minimises disruption and maintains the quality of care children experience. Inspection report children's home: 2608484 4 Staff receive the training they need to provide children with the individualised care required. This ensures that children are making progress and have a positive experience of living in the home. In addition to the core training programme, further training is commissioned as needed to meet the needs of staff and children. For example, external training has been commissioned to increase staff knowledge of issues children may face in respect of gender identity. This will support staff to provide gender-aware care for children who may be managing complex thoughts

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported through regular supervision and team meetings. This means that through individual and group discussions, staff have opportunities to reflect on their practice and the progress of children. However, records of team meeting are of poor quality. They are not of sufficient detail to show the nature and extent of discussions. As a result, staff who were not present in these meetings do not have the information they need to understand the issues discussed and expectations of them in their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular independent oversight of the home by the independent visitor is of good quality and provides the registered manager with appropriate challenge and support. In addition, there is also regular, detailed performance-focused input from the responsible individual. The registered manager uses this information, alongside his own monitoring and evaluation systems, to review the quality of care experienced by children. He is not yet incorporating the views of children, families and external professionals into these reviews, although these are captured as part of the regular consultation process. This means that these views are not being used as effectively as they could be, to reflect on and improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a passionate and effective advocate for the children in his care. He challenges other professionals when children do not receive the services they need, particularly at crisis points in their lives. This tenacity ensures that children receive the right care, from the right people, at the right time. This helps to keep children physically and emotionally safe and supports them to make progress in their lives. Inspection report children's home: 2608484 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, the 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 registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically that, the registered person should ensure that all local authority medical consent, and delegated authority forms are signed and dated by the responsible local authority officer. 31 January 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the review of the quality of care provided by the home demonstrates that the views of children, families and professionals external to the home have been taken into consideration and contribute to the outcome of the review and future planning. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  The registered person should ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. In particular, team meetings should be recorded in sufficient detail to support staff to understand the needs, progress, and experience of the children and current practice issues in the home. (Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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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: 2608484 6 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: 2608484 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Social Care Services (Clayton) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Social Care Services Group, 31 Shaw Road, Stockport SK4 4AG

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2608484 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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