Children's home run by Oldham Children’s Social Care in Oldham

Inspection report children's home: SC035492 1 SC035492 Registered provider: Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority short-break children’s home offers care for up to four children. The home provides short breaks and outreach services as a positive and flexible service for children with significant social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The children are supported by an experienced registered manager who has been in post since April 2020.

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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 20 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring 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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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: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC035492 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/08/2019 Full Inadequate 18/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/12/2018 Full Good 17/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC035492 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy their short breaks and build trusting relationships with staff. A child said, ‘The staff are brilliant. They could not be replaced by anyone. I love coming here.’ Likewise, parents praise the work of the staff team. One parent said, ‘The service has been a lifesaver. They have helped me and my child so much.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive consistent care. The recently developed systems ensure that critical information about each child is clearly recorded and understood by the staff working with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children stay in a positive and nurturing environment. Each short break is carefully planned to ensure that children are compatible with each other. Staff provide clear and consistent routines and expectations. This ensures the children understand the plans for their short-break and what is expected from them during their stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Records of family sessions demonstrate that the staff are skilled and knowledgeable in supporting families to make positive changes in their lives. Children engage extremely well in direct-work sessions and regularly review the work they have undertaken. This enables them to recognise the progress they make and achieve a sense of control regarding their lives .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager prioritises consultation and regularly seeks feedback from children, their families, the staff team and all external professionals involved in the child’s life. For example, as part of the home’s ongoing development, planned training sessions are now available for family members. Training sessions include topics such as parenting teenagers and behaviour management. Likewise, drop-in sessions are available to all children accessing the short-break service or outreach packages. This wrap-around service ensures that children and their families are provided with consistent and accessible help, support and guidance required to strengthen family relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious, clean, and welcoming. The children’s bedrooms are individually decorated and equipped with a suitable range of soft furnishings. However, there are areas of the home that require further development. Some areas of the home are not representative of a family home and lack warmth and homeliness. For example, the seating in the living room is damaged and worn and requires replacing.

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

All children accessing the short-break service have a detailed and up-to-date risk assessment and risk management plan. The plans are child-centred and offer individual strategies based on each child’s unique needs. A staff member said, Inspection report children's home: SC035492 4 ‘Things are much better now. We are all working together for all the children. We review risks weekly as a team and update them together.’ As a result, risk management is significantly improved, and risk-taking behaviours are reduced.

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

There are no current safeguarding concerns. Since the last monitoring visit in November 2020, there have been no incidents of children being missing from the home. There have been no circumstances that required the use of physical intervention, and no complaints or allegations made by children. A staff member said, ‘We plan each short break to make sure that children are well matched, and each break is carefully planned to include key-work sessions and activities.’ This means that each visit provides children with the support and guidance that they require.

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

Children work with staff to build and develop effective behaviour management strategies. This child-centred approach enables children to identify triggers for challenging behaviour and purposeful strategies to manage them. Likewise, parents are supported to develop similar strategies within the family home. A parent said, ‘We are all working together, and things are much better. The staff have been fantastic.’

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good

The registered manager and staff have worked hard to develop this service, which was judged as inadequate at the last full inspection in August 2019. However, on two occasions, senior managers have made decisions to briefly cease the short- break service in order to accommodate a child in an emergency. This is contrary to the conditions of registration and statement of purpose for this service. This decision-making demonstrates that senior managers failed to take account of learning from the previous inspection when this practice was identified as a significant area for concern.

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good

The staff team receives regular specialist and mandatory training. This, together with regular, focused team meetings, serves to strengthen the knowledge and skills of the team and create a cohesive and professional working partnership. A staff member said, ‘The training is great. It has really helped us. We strive to put it into practice and review our progress each month.’

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good

The home employs a strong and committed staff team, with the majority of residential staff being qualified. The training at this level ensures that the staff are suitably qualified in the care and management of children. The registered manager provides formal and informal supervision. She promotes the use of reflective practice, and this can be seen through records of team discussions and daily handovers. The staff are clear on their roles and responsibilities to the children receiving this service. They work closely with partner colleagues, including the outreach team and family support team. This promotes a seamless approach to the care and support provided to children and their families. Inspection report children's home: SC035492 5 Internal monitoring systems provide the home with a clear approach to the overall monitoring of care. Likewise, external monitoring takes place in accordance with regulation. The independent visitor’s report provides a constructive insight into the

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good

progress the service makes and the positive impact this has on the lives of children and their families. Apart from the matters raised regarding senior managers’ decision-making, it is acknowledged that the registered manager has developed this service to create significantly improved outcomes for children. Inspection report children's home: SC035492 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 registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5)) 4 February 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure the home is a nurturing and homely environment that maintains a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 15 paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC035492 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, West Street, Oldham OL1 1UT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicholas Whitbread

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Inspector

Maria McGranaghan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC035492 8 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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