Children's Home run by Green Harvest Capital Consulting Ltd in Thurrock

Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 1 Registered provider: Green Harvest Capital Consulting Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home registered with Ofsted in June 2021. The home provides care for up to four children who need residential support.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered at the time the home opened.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 3

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inadequate

Managers have not ensured that staffing levels at the home match those set out in risk assessments. This failure to ensure sufficient staffing means that children are not cared for in accordance with their plans, which compromises their safety.

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inadequate

Managers do not ensure that children’s rooms are suitably maintained. Children, staff and external professionals all spoke about the drab decor of the home. While some recent incidents of damage have affected the environment, they do not explain all the issues. The home is not currently a homely or welcoming environment for children.

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inadequate

The staff team benefits from support and guidance from an educational psychologist, who completes assessments of the children’s needs. Social workers said that children have made progress in their education attendance from their starting points.

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inadequate

Children are encouraged to participate in activities in and outside the home. These activities provide opportunities for children to develop their self-esteem and confidence.

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

Managers do not understand when to share safeguarding concerns with the designated officer. In one instance, a child said that he had been hurt during a restraint incident. Despite this, the information was not shared with the designated officer for over three weeks. This does not ensure a timely response to safeguarding concerns.

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

There have been examples of concerning staff conduct which managers have failed to recognise as potential safeguarding concerns. This lack of understanding means that unsafe staff practice is not thoroughly explored and addressed and means that children are not sufficiently protected.

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

Managers have failed to adequately assess the risks associated with a child’s free time. Despite significant risks relating to drugs and criminal and sexual exploitation, managers have shown a lack of professional curiosity. As a result, the staff and managers are enabling the child to have significant time at a location, and with people, that the managers and staff have little knowledge of. Consequently, managers and staff have almost no understanding of the risks that the child is experiencing. In addition, despite the child’s risk assessment stating that the child will have welfare checks when on free time, these do not always happen. Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 4 Managers have failed to ensure that risk assessments are updated with important information and that information is accurate. Consequently, the risk assessments do not provide staff with appropriate guidance on how to manage or mitigate risks to

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

Staff said that they would raise any concerns they may have about colleagues and managers. However, members of the management team are related to each other and risks arising from this have not been mitigated. A third member of staff was not aware of how to raise concerns about their managers.

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

Children said that they feel safe. One child said that they had not felt safe while another child was in the home. However, the child felt that staff had supported them well during an incident and now feels safe as the other child has moved on.

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

The fire risk assessment does not consider the fact that children are known to smoke in their rooms. At least two fire doors, including the door from the kitchen, do not close fully. The child who most recently moved into the home has not participated in a fire drill. These failures put children at risk of physical harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management arrangements at the time of the inspection included the registered manager and an appointed manager. The registered manager intends to step down, with the appointed manager planning to apply for registration.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management monitoring has not been effective. Managers recognise the need for improvement. They are open to scrutiny and input and have commissioned external audits. However, they were not aware of the seriousness of some of the shortfalls identified during this inspection. In addition, managers struggled to locate information or were unable to provide it at all during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have recently recognised that safe recruitment processes have not been followed when using agency staff. Managers have taken steps to address this. Managers are unclear about when they would need to seek a certificate of good conduct for a member of staff who has lived or worked overseas. The home’s recruitment policy does not offer managers guidance on this. Lack of clarity and safe recruitment checks increase opportunities for unsuitable people to gain employment at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing rosters are inaccurate and do not include times when managers have worked at the home. This makes it difficult to understand who has worked at the home and could obstruct an investigation should this information be needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff and managers support children to spend time with people who are important to them. However, on one occasion, a lack of clear planning and decision- making resulted in a child not being collected from an unplanned visit to their family until over two hours after the child had requested to be collected, despite known risks to the child. Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 5 Feedback from professionals is varied. One social worker was concerned about the approach to safeguarding at the home. Another social worker spoke positively about the staff and managers’ approach to missing-from-care incidents. This social worker said that their child is developing a positive relationship with staff, which is enabling the child to begin to be more open about their feelings and experiences. Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 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

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)) 24 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

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

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 24 January 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 7 take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2) (a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that all staff, including the home’s managers, understand the home’s safeguarding policy and procedure, including when to refer to the designated officer for safeguarding in the local authority;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s managers and staff fully explore the potential risks in the locality. In particular, through effective engagement with multi-agency partners, ensure that staff understand, assess and mitigate the risks to children;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that all risk assessments are up to date, accurately assess the risks of harm, identify the hazards and identify action to be taken to reduce the risks for all children;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s managers and all staff understand and implement all risk assessments;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that there is a clear procedure known by the home’s managers and all staff for raising concerns about the registered manager, the responsible individual and others, with an independent person;

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Requirement Due date

update the fire risk assessment so that it accurately reflects current risks. Ensure that sufficient risk mitigation is in place and is understood and implemented by the home’s managers and staff.

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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. 18 December Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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)(d))

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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

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; and

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(h)) 24 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home and a record of the actual rosters worked are maintained. 18 December

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 9

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Recommendation

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘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 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: 2637805 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Green Harvest Capital Consulting Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 30 Yoden Way, Peterlee SR8 1AL

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Inspectors

Ashley Hinson, Social Care Inspector Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2637805 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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