Children's home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is a residential therapeutic community that provides care for up to six children who are overcoming trauma or have experienced exploitation.

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Information about this children’s home

A fundamental objective of the home is to provide intensive therapeutic care and access to education.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is currently without a registered manager. A manager is in post and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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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 on 17 March 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 2

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improvement to be good

Children live in a spacious home which is furnished and maintained to a very high standard. They are making good progress in a number of areas, and have had some positive experiences. However, as a result of significant events that have taken place at the home, the children have also experienced some distressing events.

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improvement to be good

Children described highly positive relationships with the staff, and used words such as ‘kind’, ‘lovely’ and ‘caring’ to describe staff. However, a large turnover of staff has affected the consistency of children’s care, and children themselves said that staff changes have caused them some upset.

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improvement to be good

Children who live at the home take part in a therapeutic programme. The programme is overseen by a clinician who works in the home on a full-time basis, closely supporting children and staff. This enhances children’s support and helps to develop the staff team’s understanding of trauma-informed care.

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improvement to be good

Children’s care plans are individualised and provide good detail in some areas. However, in some examples there is a lack of guidance on how to meet some significant needs. This means that staff may not be clear about how to provide children with safe and effective care.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to engage and achieve in education. The manager has worked proactively with one placing authority to ensure that it considers a child’s views and wishes in relation to her college placement. Regular meetings take place with education staff to help ensure that children continue to receive effective support.

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improvement to be good

Planning in relation to preparing children to move towards independence requires improvement. The plan of one child who is close to adulthood does not identify her individual strengths, needs or progress and, as a result, fails to identify areas where additional support is required to help her prepare for her next steps.

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improvement to be good

The manager visits children who are being considered for a move to the home. However, ineffective planning around one child’s admission meant that the child had a difficult start and other children were negatively affected.

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improvement to be good

Children have individualised plans which identify risks to their safety and well-being and provide guidance for staff on how to manage these risks. However, some of the plans lack clarity. This means that staff may not be fully aware of the actions required to maintain children’s safety. Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 3 Safeguarding practice has not been consistent. This has resulted in children being exposed to unnecessary risk. For example, one child was enabled to have unsupervised contact with a potentially harmful adult on at least one occasion. The response of staff to two recent safeguarding incidents was not adequate. As a result, allegations raised by children were not dealt with promptly.

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improvement to be good

Children who live in this home engage in a programme which includes some restrictions in their day-to-day lives, and high levels of staff supervision. One child has been regularly prevented from leaving the home, but there is no legal provision or recorded multi-agency agreement to demonstrate that the restrictions are lawful, proportionate or in the child’s best interests.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from this home. Staff responded quickly to one recent incident, and took appropriate action to inform the relevant authorities and locate the missing child. Individualised protocols provide guidance for staff when children are missing. These could be improved by including more information about where the child may go and who the child may be with when they are missing.

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improvement to be good

There have been a high number of physical restraints involving one child. These are clearly recorded and monitored by managers. However, reflection following such incidents is not yet effective in identifying potential practice issues. This means that opportunities to improve practice are lost.

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good

Currently, the post of registered manager is vacant. A manager has been appointed and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted. The manager demonstrates a good understanding of the children’s needs.

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good

There has been a large turnover of staff and the home has, at times, relied on agency staff usage. This has affected the consistency and quality of care for children. Agency staff are not sufficiently inducted or supervised. There have been several safeguarding concerns involving agency staff.

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good

Staffing levels in the home have been adjusted to meet children’s needs. However, low staffing levels have, at times, resulted in a lack of support for children. For example, on one occasion, a child was not able to receive adequate medical attention, as staffing levels were not sufficient. It is acknowledged that some of the difficulties with staffing have been due to staff members being ill with Covid.

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good

Staff receive training in line with their personal development plans and in accordance with the home’s therapeutic model. However, most staff do not hold the necessary qualification and are not yet suitably qualified to deliver high-quality services to children. Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 4 Staff supervision is regular, and leaders have received training to improve their supervisory skills. However, supervision is not sufficiently reflective to improve practice within the home.

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good

Team meetings cover a range of key areas, but the staff do not have regular opportunities to reflect, as a team, on significant events. This does not support the development of good practice.

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good

A number of significant incidents have taken place in the home which should have been notified to Ofsted, but were not. This does not support effective monitoring, and therefore compromises children’s welfare and safety.

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good

Internal monitoring is not consistently effective in ensuring that areas for improvement are identified and addressed. In addition, feedback from external professionals has not been used to identify learning or make necessary improvements. Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vii)) 12 November

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 12 November Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 6 demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(c)(d)(e)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (2))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates to the need to ensure that physical restraints and deprivation of children’s liberty are lawful and kept under constant multi-agency review, and that steps are taken to use a less restrictive approach wherever possible. 12 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 12 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s internal care plans detail the care they require, taking into account their gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, any disability, their assessed Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 7 needs and previous experiences. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  The registered person should help each child to prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that each child has an effective introduction to the home that takes into account the child’s abilities and capacity to understand and retain information. The registered person should ensure that staff establish the child’s understanding of key information about living in the home and the expectations of their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.8)  The registered person should ensure that any external agency staff meet the requirements in regulation 32(4) regarding mandatory qualifications, and the registered person should consider their skills, qualifications, and any induction necessary before they commence work in the home. The use of agency staff should be carefully monitored and reviewed to ensure that children receive continuity of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality

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Recommendations

standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16)  The registered person should ensure that individualised procedures for the roles, responsibilities and actions of staff when a child is missing from care, or away from the home without permission, are in place for each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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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: 2616605 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Epinal Way, Off Squirrel Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jessica Middleton

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Inspectors

Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2616605 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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