Children's Home run by Benecare Limited in Kent

Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 1 SC357981 Registered provider: Benecare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns this home. It is one of five homes run by the same organisation and it provides care for up to four children, aged between eight and 18, who have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 16 December 2021.

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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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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 requires improvement to be 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 for children’s home: SC357981 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/07/2019 Full Good 11/12/2018 Full Good 20/10/2016 Full Good 12/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate respect, openness and honesty in their approach to care. This has enabled the children to experience supportive and secure relationships, which provide a safe base from which to explore their past experiences and develop positive pathways to their future goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to engage in education and work closely with schools to enable effective joint working. For some children, this support has helped them to increase their attendance. Consequently, children’s educational journeys are positive, and they make good progress. For one child, their positive experience at school has resulted in a successful move to college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the structure and routine provided by the staff. Positive behaviour management is promoted effectively through clear and well-considered plans, which include the use of contracts. For example, the staff and children develop and agree on expectations about phone use and free time. This provides clear guidance so that everyone knows what to expect. Children are learning about responsibility and developing important life skills that build their resilience. The success of this practice sees a reduction in the staff’s use of consequences and no form of physical intervention has occurred for over two years.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff embrace the children’s wishes to try new experiences as part of their development into adulthood. Staff use targeted key-working sessions to explore each child’s interests and needs. Consequently, two children are having driving lessons, one child has a paid part-time job, and another is broadening his social and friendship network.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The physical environment of the home is safe and secure. The home is clean, tidy and appropriately furnished. Children’s bedrooms are personalised. Consultation with children is central to the current refurbishment of some areas of the home. They have enjoyed picking colours and decor for the new bathroom. Children’s wishes and views are valued and heard.

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improvement to be good

Not all risks to children’s safety are managed effectively, despite the provision of regular safeguarding training. The staff’s enthusiasm to support older children to increase their independence through learning to drive and expanding their friendship groups is hindered by a lack of consideration of the potential risks involved. Shortfalls include the absence of checking the credentials of a driving instructor and a lack of exploration in considering the suitability and safety of the arrangements for children to stay overnight with friends. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 4 Staff are sensitive and supportive to children as they begin to explore their maturing relationships with others, including sexual relationships. However, in one example, there was a lack of consideration of potential risk factors. Current arrangements have not taken account of the children’s age, understanding and unique

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improvement to be good

Due to the positive, safe and respectful relationships between the staff and the children, safeguarding incidents are minimal. In most cases, staff are guided by clear risk assessments and behaviour support plans that inform and support day-to- day practice. Effective environmental and local risk management is in place to ensure that the children, staff and environment remain safe. Children are supported to understand the local area and are guided by staff to reduce any potential risk that they may come across when accessing the wider community.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete health and safety checks. The logging and reporting of maintenance issues are of variable quality and the current system does not allow for prioritisation or effective action planning. In one example, the reporting of a missing door seal had not been identified as a health and safety concern. This oversight has the potential to affect the safety of the children and staff in the event of a fire. In a better example, there are comprehensive fire, health and safety risk assessments in place that help to ensure that the children live in a safe environment.

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improvement to be good

Safe recruitment practices are understood and implemented. There is a clear and thorough process, which allows managers to recruit staff effectively. In one example, a member of staff had started work before all reference checks had been completed. A clear risk assessment was completed to consider the risks of the member of staff being in the home. This allowed the staff member to begin their induction and training while ensuring that the children and staff were safe. Leaders and managers balanced keeping children safe while ensuring that appropriate levels of staffing were maintained.

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good

The leadership and management arrangements of the home have weaknesses. The task of monitoring the home’s systems and records, with particular regard to care practice, is delegated to the deputy manager, with no clear oversight or sampling completed by the registered manager. This means that the registered manager does not have a comprehensive overview of the overall quality of the provision and what any shortfalls might mean in terms of the staff’s training needs.

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good

This lack of senior managerial oversight means that signs and indicators of poorer safeguarding practice were not identified at the earliest opportunity. Decisions about children’s overnight stays had evolved without senior management scrutiny and there has been insufficient challenge made to local authority decisions that agreed for children to stay away from the home. This practice demonstrates a reluctance from leaders to appropriately question and challenge significant decisions made by other involved agencies. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 5 The logging and reporting of health and safety concerns are not always effective. This hinders efficient and prompt repair, and on some occasions causes lengthy delay, for example regarding the replacement of the cooker. This shortfall impedes the otherwise positive progress that is being made with regard to the planned refurbishment of the home and this is being carefully overseen by the registered

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good

The responsible individual has identified that a clear and consistent maintenance reporting system needs to be developed and used throughout the organisation. This is intended to provide increased efficiency, prioritisation and clear action planning.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision and feel well supported. Supervision encompasses a balanced agenda, covering areas of childcare practice and responsibilities, and the staff member’s development and progression. Managers complete a skills audit during the probationary period for newly appointed staff. However, these audits are not considered in supervision, which is a missed opportunity to enhance staff training and professional development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 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 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) 31 March 2022

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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; 31 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 7 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 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered manager is fully involved in the monitoring and oversight of the home’s systems and processes, including any delegated tasks. 31 March 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) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Thatch Vine Farm, Stockers Hill, Boughton- under-Blean, Faversham, Kent ME13 9AB

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Inspector

Rebecca Fisher, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC357981 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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