Children's Home run by Josh’s Place Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report children's home: 2580899 1 Registered provider: Josh’s Place Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Ofsted registered this home and the manager in May 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 28 October 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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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: 2580899 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently five children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good, individualised care from staff who understand their needs well. The children benefit from their positive experiences in the home and make good social progress. Notable achievements include improved school attendance, learning to make age-appropriate independent choices and increased confidence to join in group activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff have been instrumental in helping the children to achieve a sense of permanence. One child said: ‘I had so many placements, and this is the only one that kept me. I am really happy here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have continued to promote the children’s health and well-being, despite the many restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has included ensuring that the children have access to specialist help and support. In addition, the manager and staff use the support from external therapeutic services to ensure that their care practice meets the needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress with their education because of the care and support they receive from the staff. Alternative education activities are offered to the children when required. This ensures that they have access to learning opportunities and promotes the children’s continued learning. In addition, the manager has worked tirelessly with education professionals to ensure that the children are offered the most appropriate education placements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the children to learn the life skills that they will need to live independently. Children practise cooking, budgeting and other general life skills. One child has recently secured a part-time job that they enjoy, which the staff have supported appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and it is decorated to a high standard. The staff support the children to personalise their bedrooms according to each child’s individual preference and taste. The children’s bedrooms are comfortable and suitably equipped and furnished to meet their social and physical needs.

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

Some children can display behaviours that present a high level of risk. Good-quality risk assessments provide clear strategies for the staff to follow to manage these risks. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of risks and how to manage them effectively. Inspection report children's home: 2580899 3 Staff manage incidents well. Incidents of aggression from children have reduced, and when they do occur, the children are helped by staff to calm down quickly. The staff are nurturing and understanding when the children are upset or angry. When the children are involved in incidents, the staff encourage the children to reflect on their behaviours. Direct-work sessions and restorative approaches are used to help the children do this. Good responses to the children’s behaviour help the children to address their unacceptable behaviours and learn what is socially acceptable.

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

Safer recruitment practice promotes the safety of the children. The manager ensures that comprehensive checks into the staff’s suitability to work with children are completed. This includes the manager exploring any gaps in the staff’s employment history and verifying the staff’s references.

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

The manager takes safeguarding concerns seriously, and follows the appropriate procedures swiftly when concerns arise. However, the manager does not consistently request looked after children’s reviews when children are deemed to be at risk. The manager also fails to challenge the placing local authority when a requested child care review does not take place. This means that there are missed opportunities to review and determine the continued suitability of the placements for the children.

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

The children’s privacy is compromised as closed-circuit television is installed outside of the home. While the home’s statement of purpose identifies that this is for safeguarding purposes, there is no identified risk to the children that warrants the use of such measure.

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good

Leadership and management of the home are not yet consistently good. However, the manager is passionate about providing a good quality of care to the children. She works closely with external professionals, and feedback is positive. These partnerships mean that the children feel secure and know that everyone has their best interests at heart.

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good

A review of the children’s documents identified that important documents are missing from the children’s files. These include looked after children’s review minutes, personal education meeting minutes and looked after children’s health assessments. This means that children do not have access to their own records and cannot take part fully in the personalisation of the care that they receive.

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good

The provider’s monitoring and review systems are not used effectively and shortfalls in the record-keeping have not been identified. Ineffective monitoring and review systems limit the manager’s ability to assess whether the care provided to the children is in their best interest.

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good

Staffing is arranged so that there are sufficient staff on duty to meet the children’s needs. However, the staff roster is not always produced. Furthermore, not all staff Inspection report children's home: 2580899 4 have up-to-date mandatory training. This means that not all staff have the current knowledge and skills required to support them in their roles.

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good

The staff have experienced good leadership from the manager, who has a good understanding of the children’s needs. She has guided the staff when their role has become increasingly demanding. This has enabled the staff to help the children to cope with some difficult emotions.

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good

The registered manager has developed good working relationships with others. These include working with family members and professionals. The children benefit from this tailored support, which has a positive impact on their progress.

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good

The provider has experienced some staffing difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic due to staff sickness and absence. The staff report that this was a challenging time, but the situation has since improved. Children do not report that this has had any impact on them. This is because they have received consistent care and support from a core group of staff. Inspection report children's home: 2580899 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, 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

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

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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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

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must request a looked after review when there are significant changes to the child’s care needs; when a review does not take place, the registered person must escalate the concerns to the director of children’s services of the placing authority. 1 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. 15 February 2022 Inspection report children's home: 2580899 6 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered person request a looked after review if the child is at risk of harm.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)) 1 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the children’s review documents, health examinations and school reports are obtained and kept up to date. 1 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the staff duty roster of persons working at the home is consistently produced in accordance with the registered provider’s policy. 1 March 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and understand the important role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report children's home: 2580899 7

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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: 2580899 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Josh’s Place Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Beaumont Accountancy Services 1st Floor Enterprise House, 202-206 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS1 3QW

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Inspector

Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2580899 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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