Children's Home run by Aspire House Ltd in Brent

Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 1 Registered provider: Aspire House Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager were registered with Ofsted on 14 May 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

This inspection was conducted on site and involved meetings with children, staff and managers. Email and telephone contact took place with parents, family members and placing authority social workers.

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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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be 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: 1278959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/08/2019 Full Good 22/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 3

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improvement to be good

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection. Children’s overall experience and progress are limited by shortfalls in the quality of care and support. Staff are not suitably trained to meet the specialist needs of the children in their care.

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improvement to be good

Despite this, children enjoy positive and meaningful relationships with staff. They keep in touch even when they have left the home. Staff prepare children well when they move on from the home. Children speak positively about living in the home. They feel that staff listen to them and that the home has a calm atmosphere.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to maintain positive relationships with their families. Staff work closely with children and their families to ensure that the time spent together is enjoyable. This helps children to rebuild important family relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff prioritise children’s education needs. Consequently, all children are making good progress in education from their individual starting points. Two children are now engaging in education for the first time in two years.

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improvement to be good

Children learn how to manage their own behaviour. During the inspection, one child showed the inspector the work she has been doing with staff to create a ‘mood ladder’. The child explained how this piece of work helps her and that she can reflect with staff if the strategies do not work.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to develop their independence skills by actively engaging them in their care planning. They also help children to learn how to cook, budget and do their own laundry.

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improvement to be good

Feedback from placing authorities is positive. Social workers reported that managers advocate well for children and there are good levels of communication with staff.

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improvement to be good

The home has managed the COVID-19 pandemic well. Staff have implemented an enhanced programme of cleaning. This helps to limit the risk of infection.

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improvement to be good

A lack of staff training limits the quality of safeguarding practice. Staff do not receive training in important areas of practice, such as around child sexual exploitation, gang culture and self-harm. Although there have been no serious failures in safeguarding practice, the lack of training does not provide staff with the skills to recognise and respond to concerns and protect children. Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 4 Additionally, as a result of poor staff training, children do not receive individualised support to help them to keep themselves safe. Key-work sessions do not address the areas of concern identified in children’s care plans.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments for children are not sufficiently robust. They lack clear guidance on what actions staff should take to manage risks to children. For example, risk assessments relating to self-harm do not inform staff when they should seek medical attention for children. This compromises the ability of staff to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow the protocols when children are missing from the home. However, independent return home interviews are not consistently taking place. This limits the support and safeguards in place for children at such a vulnerable time.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health records are confusing, unclear and not up to date. One child’s healthcare plan includes details of prescribed medication that is no longer required. In addition, the child’s records lack written confirmation of this change from the prescribing doctor. This confusion does not ensure that children’s health needs are met.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment practice is unsafe. Staff recruitment files are incomplete and lack updated checks of staff suitability. This does not ensure that all staff are safe to work with children.

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improvement to be good

Children’s bedrooms are not safe. Bedroom wardrobes and drawers are not secured to the walls. This presents a potential hazard to children.

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good

The registered manager is supported by a deputy manager. The deputy manager has been in post since 2019 and is due to complete their management qualification by June 2022.

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good

The registered manager is open and reflective. He accepts the findings of this inspection and is committed to improving the care provided to children.

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good

Staff supervision records fail to include information about the progress achieved by children. This limits the assessment of the complex needs of children and the ability of staff to suitably address children’s needs. As a result, the registered manager and staff are unable to identify suitable training and development needs to enable them to meet the needs of children in their care effectively.

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good

Case recording is weak and does not include sufficient information to demonstrate the progress achieved by children.

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good

The home continues to use closed-circuit television in the communal areas. This is without the signed consent of children and their placing authorities. This presents an Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 5 invasion of children’s privacy and an institutionalised feel to the home. The registered manager took action to address this shortfall during the inspection.

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good

The registered manager has not updated the workforce development plan since 2020. This limits a full evaluation of the training and development needs of staff. Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 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

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)(ii)(iii)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that risk assessments address all areas of concern, that staff are undertaking direct work with children to help them to keep themselves safe and that wardrobes are attached to walls. 25 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 25 March 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 7 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a) (2)(c)(f)(g)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that staff are suitably trained to meet the complex needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that recruitment records include up-to-date DBS information and a copy of staff photo identification, and that all references are verified. 25 February 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, supervision must focus on the needs of children and evaluate their progress. 25 February 2022

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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; 11 February 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 8 the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that the specific responsibilities of the home towards supporting the health and well-being of each child are agreed with the placing authority and recorded accurately in the child’s placement plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.7)  The registered person should ensure that they have an up-to-date workforce development plan. The plan should include ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of the staff, including the home’s manager, to

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Recommendations

meet the specific needs of the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 1278959 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 32 Byron Hill Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 0HY

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Inspector

Leanne Grant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1278959 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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