Children's home run by Pathway Care Solutions Group Limited

Inspection report children's home: SC482275 1 SC482275 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home cares for up to four children aged between seven and 18 years who may have social and emotional needs.

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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 setting on 8 December 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The 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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requires improvement to be good

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

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC482275 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/06/2019 Full Good 13/12/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 16/05/2018 Full Good 07/02/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: SC482275 3

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improvement to be good

The children live in a large, comfortable home. The decoration is bright and welcoming. For example, there are chalk boards with the daily menu and photos of the children hanging on the walls. Staff are making extensive repairs to one child’s room, following an incident, but the rest of the house is in good order.

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improvement to be good

Children are settled and safe but are not making sustained progress towards their agreed outcomes.

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improvement to be good

None of the children attend school regularly. They are not making measurable educational progress. Managers have not secured a school place for the whole of the autumn term for one younger child. Staff carry out creative activities with the children but cannot meet the children’s educational needs effectively.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff have not made sustainable progress in meeting children’s emotional needs. This has a negative impact on their ability to achieve their long- term plans. Staff create mutually respectful relationships with the children. They identify the children’s needs but are not always able to help and support children effectively to move forward with an issue. For example, staff have sensitively built a trusting relationship with one child who wants to move to foster care, but they have not successfully implemented therapeutic support to help him to achieve his goal.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff regularly review the children’s placement plans. They include age-appropriate goals for the children to encourage their independence skills. They also arrange some activities for the children to take part in together. For example, staff listened to the children and arranged a trip to a theme park which they enjoyed. However, staff do not always have creative strategies to balance competing children’s wishes and create positive peer relationships. For example, there has been a delay in decorating the home for Christmas due to one boy’s wishes dominating the discussions.

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

Managers and staff work with the children to help them feel safe. They reflect on the outcomes of previous incidents and are open to further learning. For example, staff have received specialist training to find other strategies to support one child’s behaviour. Staff now react to incidents in a different way which has reduced the number of episodes of restraint and the child is more settled.

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

Staff have clear strategies and are more confident to manage children’s behaviour. While incidents do occur, they are less frequent. Staff seek advice from other agencies to put alternative strategies in place to manage children’s behaviour. One Inspection report children's home: SC482275 4 child’s relative is impressed with the reduction of incidents and has arranged a family visit.

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

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. Where concerns arise, children’s safety and well-being are placed at the centre of investigations and effective action is taken. Appropriate referrals are made to the local authority as required.

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

Leaders and managers have worked hard to recruit new staff and robustly follow safer recruitment practice.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been a change in management. Managers and staff have good relationships and work creatively to meet the children’s needs. For example, staff made a simple and fun children’s guide to welcome the youngest child to the home.

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good

Leaders and managers regularly monitor the standard of care provided to the children. They also make good use of external monitoring which provides helpful advice and support to improve practice. They have introduced a new case management system to record important documents relating to the children. However staff are still learning how to use it efficiently to quickly access important information.

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good

The manager and staff have regular access to clinical supervision which provides support and strategies to enable good practice to thrive. However, this is not consistently implemented by staff. The manager also provides reflective supervision to staff. She knows her staff well but does not always formally record every meaningful conversation due to other commitments. Team meetings do not always focus on important issues for the children, such as education and transition planning, and have no firm time frames which is detrimental to the children’s progress.

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good

Managers and staff work positively with other agencies, but this does not always achieve effective outcomes for the children. For example, one child’s personal plan sets out goals which cannot be achieved until he is enrolled in a school. Inspection report children's home: SC482275 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 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

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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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 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; and

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(ix)) 30/01/2022 Inspection report children's home: SC482275 6 This relates to the need for the children’s plans to be implemented in full including educational and therapeutic elements of the plans.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(viii)(x)(b)) 30/01/2022

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults. 30/01/2022 Inspection report children's home: SC482275 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(b))

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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

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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; 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)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the manager can demonstrate how important information about the children’s plans is recorded and taken forward in staff supervision and team meetings. 30/01/2022

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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) Inspection report children's home: SC482275 8 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: SC482275 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Atria, Spa Road, Bolton BL1 4AG

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Inspector

Justine Hosking, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC482275 10 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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