Children's Home run by Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 1 SC378181 Registered provider: Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a small independent organisation and has been registered since 2008. The home provides care for up to two children who need support with their emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2019 and manages both this home and a sister home within the organisation.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this home on 18 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. This report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 November 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 2 A monitoring visit took place on 8 January 2021. Serious and widespread concerns were identified at this visit. As a result, two compliance notices were issued in relation to Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i) and Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv).

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inadequate

A further monitoring visit took place on 18 February 2021, which concluded that the compliance notices had been met. Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/11/2019 Full Good 13/11/2018 Full Good 13/09/2017 Full Good 16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 4

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inadequate

One child has moved out of the home which was not planned and was due to the home being unable to manage their needs. One child has moved into the home and remains living there alongside one child who was already residing at the home.

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inadequate

Children are well matched to one another when they arrive at the home. Children are not well matched to staff. Staff have not had the necessary training to meet their specific needs, and known risks in the surrounding area are not considered when matching children to the home before they move in.

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inadequate

Children do not receive consistent care. Staff report that approaches to supporting children are very different from one staff member to the next, which results in children receiving inconsistent care. Staff said that this was because not all staff know how to respond to children’s needs. In some incident records, staff are recorded as responding to children by telling them to ‘grow up’, and triggers for children becoming distressed are stated as being ‘when they don’t get their own way’. Staff are not equipped to understand how to care for children and this means children are not responded to in a way, which is in line with their needs.

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inadequate

Children are not making progress in their education. One child has been suspended twice this academic year and their attendance is low. Another child has disengaged with education and is now not in education or employment. Staff do not support children to make progress towards employment or training. They do not support children with learning in the home or help children to develop career aspirations. This results in children not making progress and missing out on educational experiences.

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inadequate

Children’s health needs are not met. Professionals have identified dietary needs for a child and the child informed the inspector they sometimes miss meals, and they do not understand how to cook properly. The child was not supported with this during inspection and when asked, the child told the inspector that staff did not help with this because they are ‘supposed to be on independence’. Another child has specific mental health needs which have been ongoing for several months but because this child was not prepared for specialist professional support, they weren’t able to engage with this part of their care, and professionals were prevented from helping them. Staff do not support children in preparing for specialist appointments. This prevents children engaging with services to support their specific needs.

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inadequate

Staff do not provide structure and routine for children. Children were observed during inspection spending most of their time in their bedrooms either online gaming or sleeping, with little input from staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 5 Staff do not support children to develop independence skills. One child has commenced independence planning but there is no cohesive plan in place to support them with this. This prevents children from making progress.

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inadequate

Professionals have shared that the home communicate well with them and they have observed positive interactions between children and staff in the home. Children have shared with the inspector that they want to stay at the home until independence and they like that they are always cared for by the same staff. This shows that children do have good relationships with staff but there are clear gaps in the quality of care that children are receiving, which means they are not making sufficient progress in their development.

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

Safeguarding arrangements in the home are inadequate. As a result of this inspection, Ofsted has issued three compliance notices under regulation 6, regulation 12 and regulation 13.

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

Risk management plans are poor. Risk assessments do not identify all known risks for children and fail to provide clear guidance and strategies for staff to follow when a child is at risk of harm. In one incident, when a child became aggressive, staff did not attempt to calm the child. Staff responses were punitive and caused the child to become more distressed, resulting in the child being unnecessarily restrained. This left the child unprotected when they needed assurance from adults.

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

Incidents are not accurately recorded, which means that there is not a clear picture of what is taking place in the home. Staff shared that there had been no self- harming incidents or occurrences of restraint during this inspection period and that children therefore did not have any issues of this nature. However, a review of the records indicates that children have had incidents of this nature, but these have not been recorded in line with regulation. This results in the staff team not understanding children’s progress and the care they are receiving.

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

Managers and staff have failed to ensure that safeguarding procedures are followed. During the inspection, it was identified that managers have not ensured staff understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. On one occasion, a child went missing and there were serious concerns for their safety. Staff took over an hour to report this to the police through 101 and failed completely to phone the emergency services. This was a systematic failure by staff to ensure that a child was safeguarded and leaves children at risk of harm.

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

Children spend significant time alone in their rooms accessing the internet and online gaming. Staff do not have any systems or processes in place to support children to access online content safely. Staff admit they lack understanding of how to support children to keep safe online. This currently involves undertaking basic checks on electronic devices once a month where staff use their initiative to assess Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 6 risks. Staff have been asked to complete work with children on this by local authorities due to concerns about specific people that children may be befriending online. Staff have not completed this work with children to help keep them safe and have stated they did not feel this was important. This means that children are not protected from potential significant harm.

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

The home environment is not safe for children. One child had no proper bedding in their room and there was debris and rubbish over their bedroom floor, including food waste. Children’s bathrooms were also unkempt and dirty and there was damage in communal rooms which had not been repaired promptly. Staff said that some damage had remained unrepaired for several years. A child’s window was also damaged as there was a large crack in the glass. This is not only unsafe but does not contribute to a homely atmosphere for children to live.

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

One social worker has previously had concerns about the condition of a child’s bedroom, which when pointed out to staff, were resolved. When the inspector raised shortfalls in the home environment during inspection, managers ensured they were rectified. However, children should live in a clean and welcoming environment at all times and not require external agencies to highlight unacceptable living conditions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have failed to ensure that staff receive adequate training, guidance, and support to meet children’s needs. Staff have not had necessary training, in order to assist them in understanding the needs of the children in their care. This includes training in mental health, missing from care and attachment. Staff said that they did not understand internet safety and how to help keep children safe online. Staff have requested additional training to equip them with skills to meet children’s needs, yet this training has not been provided. As a result, staff lack the knowledge and skills to care for children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not provide staff with formal supervision meetings in line with organisational policy. When supervisions do take place, these offer operational oversight, but staff do not have opportunities to reflect on children’s progress and their needs as well as their own development and training needs. This means staff are not supported in developing their practice to support children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff told the inspector they did not have a good understanding of important areas of need for the children in the home and that they have requested more support in these areas but have not received it. This leaves staff without the knowledge and skills to take effective safeguarding action and means children are not provided with an acceptable level of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers’ monitoring and oversight of the home is poor. Managers have failed to identify shortfalls in practice and safeguarding concerns. The registered manager and senior managers do not have reliable monitoring systems in place to help them develop standards within the home. The review of the quality-of-care report missed important areas of development identified by staff members. A failure to listen to Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 7 staff feedback has limited the improvement of the care provided. Actions recommended by the independent visitor have not been addressed. Senior leaders have shared they did not find the independent visitor reports helpful, but they did not seek to rectify this issue. This means that children are not receiving care which meets their needs and the responses to children’s needs are inconsistent which is preventing them from making progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The workforce development plan does not reflect the training needs of the team. The manager does not assess the quality of care provided to children through oversight of records. There have been records of incidents where staff have spoken inappropriately to children, where children have gone missing, and where physical interventions have been recorded incorrectly. The home’s management has not identified or addressed these issues. Managers are not acting to improve the overall experiences for children living in the home. This leaves children vulnerable to receiving poor quality care and does not help them overcome their traumatic early experiences sufficiently. Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 8

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that staff seek out specialist mental health support for children, and educational support where children have specific needs to enable them to make progress. 19 January 2022

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the 19 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 9 child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that staff understand the specific needs of the children in the home and offer care which seeks to meet these needs, especially around their emotional well-being, health and their educational needs and by supporting children to develop independence skills.

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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— that staff—

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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

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 premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(vi)(vii) (d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that staff support children to keep themselves safe online and that staff demonstrate a good understanding of children’s online worlds and how to keep them safe in that 19 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 10 way. Staff should also have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and follow these at all times. The registered manager must also ensure that the home environment is safe, homely and welcoming for children to reside in and takes into account children’s wishes so their home is personalised to them.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

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

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that staff receive regular practice-related supervisions and appraisals of their skills in line with the home’s own policies.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to the registered manager ensuring they have a system in place to be able to monitor the quality of care and have a clear understanding of how to improve the care offered to the children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to the registered manager ensuring they have a good understanding of the care children are receiving in the home and this should inform the quality-of-care review. 19 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 11 The registered manager should also ensure that staff have had the training they need to adequately meet the needs of the children in the home.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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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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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") has spoken to the user about the measure;

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate;

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Requirement Due date

and within five 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 19 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 12 This specifically relates to the registered manager having a system in place whereby if a restraint of any kind takes place, this is recorded accurately and in the correct format and includes details of the measure used and that the records sufficient detail to meet the regulation as outlined above.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that the home’s location risk assessment includes information specific to this home, has information regarding research and criminal activities in the local area, which is up to date, and that any safeguarding risks potentially posed by the home adjacent to this home are considered and form part of the assessment of risk for this home. 19 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC378181 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Apex, 2 Sheriffs Orchard, Coventry, Warwickshire CV1 3PP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leonard Pattinson

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Inspector

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC378181 14 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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