Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 1 SC035499 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates and runs this home. The home provides medium- to long- term residential care for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager’s post is vacant. The deputy manager is undertaking day-to- day management of the home.

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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 7 December 2021 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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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

Date of last inspection: 19 October 2021

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: Following the full inspection on 19 October 2021 serious concerns were found around children’s safety and the leadership of the home; two compliance notices were issued. These were found to be only partly met when the monitoring visit took place on 07 December 2021. Consequently, the two compliance notices were re-issued and were deemed to have been met at the current inspection. Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/10/2021 Full Inadequate 19/11/2019 Full Good 05/02/2019 Full Good 23/10/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 4

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improvement to be good

Children receive individualised care that is tailored to their specific needs and vulnerabilities. Some children make progress in all areas of their lives, including education, emotional and social well-being and feeling settled in the home. For some children, this is significant progress, which improves their opportunities later in life.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and staff enjoy trusted relationships with children, using common interests to forge bonds. This means children have adults around them who they can approach to share any worries and concerns. The children do not always enjoy positive relationships with each other, and there have been incidents of conflict between the children. These are managed well, and further interactions between children are closely monitored to reduce opportunities for repetition.

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improvement to be good

When children have needs relating to their emotional well-being and mental health, they are supported to engage with specialist services. When children feel unable to engage in this work, staff have the clinical support of a psychologist to advise them on how to care effectively for children in the interim. Due to the success of this, the psychology service is currently being expanded to provide even more guidance to staff.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they do not always feel listened to. There are mechanisms for consulting with them, but they sometimes do not fully understand why their wishes cannot be met. In response, staff have supported children to join the young people’s council, which demonstrates that they recognise the importance of promoting the children’s voice. Children also sometimes say they do not feel happy in the home. However, their view of their care fluctuates and depends on wider factors affecting them.

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improvement to be good

Children personalise their rooms and are encouraged to develop and follow their interests. This helps them to develop a sense of identity and enriches their lives. To try and maximise children’s engagement with learning, staff encourage interests that could lead to further study.

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improvement to be good

Some children move on in a managed way, and staff say this is done at the child’s pace with a collaborative plan to build their readiness for independence. However, despite reassurance from staff, children say they do not always feel they are being properly equipped, which creates anxiety for them. To address this, there are options for children to stay beyond their eighteenth birthday when the additional time is needed to prepare them. Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 5

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improvement to be good

Children’s risks are generally well understood and consistently described by staff who apply a detailed knowledge of strategies to mitigate those risks. However, not all of the written risk assessments reflect all known risks. This could prevent a consistent response from staff.

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improvement to be good

Shortfalls relating to online safety have now been addressed, although some new practices are still to be fully embedded. Managers and staff have worked with children to make safeguarding in this area more robust, and they are aware of the continued need to be vigilant.

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improvement to be good

There has been a reduction in the number of missing-from-home episodes, which is partly due to children feeling more settled within the home. Similarly, incidents of self-injurious behaviour have reduced as staff are more aware of cues and have clear plans about how and when to intervene. One child has a potentially harmful item in their possession and refuses to relinquish it; staff have not taken effective action to recover this item. This results in an item being in circulation in the home that a child could use to harm themselves.

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improvement to be good

There have not been any occasions where staff have needed to hold children to keep them safe. Instead, other techniques are used to manage children’s behaviour when they become highly emotional and struggle to self-regulate. This results in a positive atmosphere in the home.

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improvement to be good

Bedroom door alarms are used to safeguard children, and their use is kept under regular and appropriate review. However, the required consents are not in place, which does not provide reassurance that this is done with the agreement of the children’s families or social workers.

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improvement to be good

One child requires regular monthly monitoring of blood pressure to be reassured their health is not at risk. This was delegated to the home’s staff to ensure this happened, but due to an oversight, this has not been done for the last five months. This does not promote the child’s health and could compromise their well-being.

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improvement to be good

One child occasionally views images which are illegal for them to see or share with others. This exposes the child to potential harm and would place them at risk of criminalisation if they were to show them to other children. The provider has not responded with sufficient urgency to this situation or taken all the possible steps to address it.

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good

The acting manager is held in positive regard by staff and professionals. She has made improvements since the last inspection and monitoring visit. Staff now describe her as present and accessible, and written records show there is better Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 6 management oversight. The on-call rota means that staff have access to support whenever they need it. Use of agency or relief staff has reduced, and therefore children are cared for by staff who are familiar to them and aware of their needs and vulnerabilities.

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good

Managers have a clear understanding of children’s progress and work in a multi- agency way to progress children’s plans. Managers have also demonstrated some creativity in implementing plans when children have initially not engaged with professionals.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision, and they are also appropriately trained. However, there is a gap in staff training about how to conduct room searches. As a result, a recommendation has been made for the manager to ensure staff have the relevant knowledge and skills.

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good

The manager has an appropriate understanding of the time frame for the submission of safeguarding notifications. However, on at least one occasion when she was absent, this was overlooked. This reduces the opportunity for the regulator to have oversight and ensure all actions needed to safeguard children have been taken.

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good

When staff are recruited for the home, safe practices are followed, and the induction is well planned and delivered. This ensures children are cared for by staff who have the relevant skills and do not pose a risk to them.

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good

There are positive relationships with other professionals, which provide staff with direct access to the right people to support the children and meet their varying needs. One child has been given additional support to explore their identity and appropriate links have been established for specialist intervention and advice.

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good

Managers and leaders are aware of children’s wishes, views and feelings, but on some occasions, due to organisational policy, are unable to meet these wishes. Children do not feel they have been given adequate explanations when their wishes could not be met. Additionally, they do not feel their requests have been considered on their own merit. This does not help children to feel their views are valued, and that they are listened to.

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good

Since the previous inspection and monitoring visit, there was significant improvement noted by inspectors. The compliance notices and previous requirements have been met. The atmosphere in the home feels more settled, and staff appear confident in their roles and managers expectations of them. Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 7

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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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being.

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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

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring regular health appointments are arranged and attended as set out in plans and/or arising from meeting actions. 28 February 2022

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe; and-

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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)(ii)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring children do not place themselves at risk of criminalisation through their online activity. 28 February 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 8 This also refers to ensuring there are no harmful items in circulation within the home.

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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;

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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 refers to ensuring written risk assessments are kept up to date to accurately reflect current risks and include the most recent strategies employed to mitigate these risks. 28 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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring a notification is submitted, including at times when a manager is absent. 28 February 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any home using CCTV or other monitoring equipment must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 9 placing authority in writing at the time of placement. (Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities

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Recommendations

and resources to support their training needs (around conducting room searches) and should understand the key 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)

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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: SC035499 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Room - AF97, Goole Council Offices, Church Street, Goole, East Yorkshire DN14 5BG

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Inspectors

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Regulatory Inspector (Lead) Jan Edwards, Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035499 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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