Children's Home run by Crossway Services Limited in St Helens

Inspection report children's home: SC063498 1 SC063498 Registered provider: Crossway Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home. It provides care for one child. The provider states in the statement of purpose that it provides care for a child who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in September 2017.

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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 2021. 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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC063498 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/06/2019 Full Good 28/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/05/2018 Full Good 09/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC063498 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child currently living in the home receives good care from a team of staff who know him well. He has lived at the home for a number of years, and staff are proud of the longevity of this placement. The child has developed positive attachments with staff working at the home, and he told the inspector that he is happy living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is making good progress with his education. The staff work closely with education professionals to ensure that they all have a clear understanding of the child’s needs and that any issues are addressed. The child did not attend school for a period of time during the initial COVID-19 restrictions. However, continued learning was actively promoted in the home. A member of staff from the child’s school told the inspector that the routine maintained by staff during this time benefited the child when he returned to school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported to spend time with the people who are important to him. The staff team flexibly support arrangements to spend time with family who live a considerable distance from the home. The child’s friends spend time at the home and staff make the effort to get to know the child’s friends. Staff understand the importance of these relationships to the child and promote positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff liaise with health professionals to ensure that the child’s health needs are met. Staff support the child to attend medical appointments. The child has also engaged well with therapeutic services to support his emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have supported the child throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he was required to undertake a period of isolation. He adhered well to the restrictions in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child knows how to complain if he needs to and how to access an independent advocate for support. The child told the inspector that staff working in the home respect his privacy; however, he does not have a lock on his bedroom door.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the specific needs and vulnerabilities of the child and take appropriate action to address them. The child has individualised risk management plans with identified strategies to inform staff of how to manage and minimise risks to the child. However, some plans do not contain the most up-to-date information.

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

Staff help the child to manage his feelings and behaviour safely. There has only been one physical intervention since the last inspection. This is a reduction from the Inspection report children's home: SC063498 4 child’s individual starting point. Incentives are used effectively to promote positive behaviour.

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

The staff have supported the child well when incidents have occurred away from the home. Staff have increased the frequency of visual checks on the child when he is away from the home, in order to ensure that he is safe. The child largely engages with staff in these checks which demonstrates the positive relationship he has with the staff team.

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

There have recently been incidents where the child has gone missing from the home. On one occasion, staff did not follow the protocol in place. The registered manager has revised the protocol and has taken action to ensure that all staff are clear of the steps they are to take if the child is missing. Staff spoken to, during the inspection, were clear on the protocol that is in place should the child go missing. Some recordings of missing-from-home incidents lack the registered manager’s oversight. This is required in order to ensure that appropriate action is taken by staff, following these incidents, and information relating to independent return home interviews is recorded.

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

External doors to the home require a key to open them. This means that the child would be unable to leave the home independently in the event of an emergency. Furthermore, although some work has been undertaken, the home looks worn and tired and requires some refurbishment and redecoration.

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good

The home is led by a suitably experienced and qualified registered manager. She is person centred and has developed a strong relationship with the child living in the home.

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good

There have been some staffing changes since the last inspection; however, the home is currently fully staffed. A high level of staff sickness has meant that the registered manager has worked a number of shifts in order to ensure that the home is adequately staffed. Although this means that the child has been cared for by people he knows, this has led to shortfalls in the manager’s monitoring and oversight of the home.

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good

During the inspection, staff told the inspector that they felt supported in their roles. However, staff do not always receive regular supervision. Additionally, not all staff have received their annual appraisal. This limits the registered manager’s ability to continually evaluate staff practice to improve the child’s care.

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good

Not all staff have received training to support their understanding of the specific needs of the child. Furthermore, a number of courses that staff have undertaken were not included in the homes training matrix. This limits the registered manager’s ability to support the ongoing professional development of staff. Inspection report children's home: SC063498 5 The registered manager has not submitted a quality of care review report to Ofsted within the correct timescale. These reports are descriptive but lack evaluation and do not capture any learning that arises from behaviours or incidents. Furthermore, these reports do not include feedback from stakeholders in order to drive forward improvement in the home.

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good

External stakeholders say that there is good communication about children’s progress and any incidents that have occurred. However, on occasion these incidents are not submitted to the regulator in a timely manner. Inspection report children's home: SC063498 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, 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 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that risk assessments contain up-to-date information, that thumb turn locks are fitted to external doors and the home environment is maintained so as to protect children from harm. 8 February 2022

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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; 8 February 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC063498 7 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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff have training relevant to the specific needs of the child and that there are effective monitoring systems in place to ensure oversight of all aspects of the day-to-day running of the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff receive regular supervision and that their performance is appraised annually. 8 February 2022

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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

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that arrangements are in place so that serious events are notified in their absence. 8 February 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(5))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the quality of care review report includes the opinions of stakeholders and is sent to the regulator within given timescales. 8 February 2022

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Recommendations

Inspection report children's home: SC063498 8  The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms offer them sufficient privacy, particularly in relation to their being able to lock their door. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.18)  The registered person should ensure that records show information relating to children’s access to independent return home interviews after incidents of missing from home, specifically where they have raised this with the child’s placing authority. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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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: SC063498 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crossway Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspector

Genevieve O’Reilly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC063498 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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