Children's home run by Pathways Care Group Limited in Runnymede

Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 1 SC461846 Registered provider: Pathways Care Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private organisation. It provides care for up to six children who have experienced trauma that has left them vulnerable. The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2016.

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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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2020

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2020 Full Good 23/01/2019 Full Outstanding 06/11/2017 Full Good 08/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 3

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inadequate

Children live in a house that is in a state of disrepair and in need of upkeep and maintenance. Windows and doors have flaking paint and are ill-fitting. Strip lighting gives a harsh and institutional feel. One child’s bedroom has been prepared for wallpapering and left unfinished. The front entrance has flower beds that are extremely overgrown and contain items of rubbish. Smoking debris and garden waste are evident either side of the front door. A large planter filled with water is used to extinguish cigarettes, which float in the water. This provides an unpleasant entrance that does not reassure or welcome new children. This lack of care gives children a very poor example of how to care for the home environment. In contrast, the communal lounge and kitchen are refurbished to a good standard.

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inadequate

There is an established and protected culture of smoking at this home. All the children and a number of the staff smoke. Although the staff do not openly smoke with children, it is clear that they smoke regularly. At times, smoking paraphernalia is stored in reach of children. Some children smoke in their bedrooms. One child has been exposed to serious and significant risks when trying to obtain cigarettes while out in the community. The staff fail to provide smoking cessation support or to act as healthy role models. As a result, children’s smoking has not reduced. Children’s physical health is at risk and their exposure to the risk of exploitation is high.

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inadequate

The manager and staff allow children to keep poor sleep routines. Children are often awake until the early hours of the morning and asleep until past midday. There are no plans to help children to improve their sleep patterns. Consequently, children have unhealthy routines. These routines are not good for children’s mental or physical health and do not prepare children for returning to school.

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inadequate

The manager and staff have failed to ensure that children have education places within an acceptable timeframe. Two of the children have had long delays before they have returned to school. This is not good enough for children who have had adverse education experiences and significant gaps in their learning.

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inadequate

Children like the staff and have built relationships with them. They trust the staff, who help them to process difficult past experiences and talk to them about their feelings and emotions.

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

The registered manager has failed to manage several staff practice concerns and allegations, which have not been referred to the relevant external professionals or investigated. The manager has failed to notify Ofsted of allegations. The manager’s failure to identify some of the allegations as safeguarding concerns has left children with staff who have potentially placed them at risk. The manager has not shown Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 4 good safeguarding awareness or professional curiosity in the management of these concerns.

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

The manager has failed to realistically assess the needs of a child who moved into the home. There are numerous and significant risks for this child. The staff have been unable to keep this child safe or act to reduce these risks.

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

The manager has not assessed the combined risks of the children living together. The group dynamics are concerning. One child does not always feel safe living with the other two children and feels excluded. These dynamics can be subtle and the staff do not always capture or record these as bullying incidents. Therefore, it is hard to gauge the severity and impact of these behaviours on the child.

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

The rear garden includes a rubberised play area and a grassed area. A concreted area between the house and the activity room has a broken raised concrete edge and the ground surface is worn and uneven. Drains are filled with garden debris. The rear garden perimeter fence is leaning at an angle in one place. These areas all present a potential hazard to children’s safety.

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

There are two fire doors that do not self-close; both doors had worn broken handles. On one occasion, when the staff needed to keep a child out of the kitchen for safety reasons, they closed the door and then could not get back into the kitchen. This reduced the effectiveness of this fire exit.

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

The staff’s approach to behaviour management can be influenced by children who want to earn money. Generous payments are made for children who do chores. At times, staff pay children to sign their records. The consequences and sanctions used to help children learn from their mistakes are inequitable and punitive. Many sanctions are financial. One child was charged three pounds for taking a canned drink and unravelling a toilet roll. Another child was given a financial sanction and reported by staff to the police for taking a member of staff’s cigarettes. The managerial oversight of behaviour is ineffective. The manager has failed to provide a recognised system of or a consistent approach to managing behaviour effectively. Consequently, the staff and the children are unclear about the rules .

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

The recruitment process is inconsistent. There are significant gaps in employment history for one member of staff that have not been explored. Another member of staff had one reference missing; it was obtained by the manager during the inspection. This shortfall was identified at the last inspection and shows poor oversight and an inability to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to manage this home adequately. The staff have very little confidence in the manager. The manager has been in the role for some time and is experienced and qualified. Despite their experience, the manager’s poor decision- making has led to children experiencing abrupt placement endings and poor care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 5 Managerial oversight and monitoring fail to safeguard the children. Despite a child saying that another child had been harmed by a member of staff, the manager has failed to recognise this as an allegation and failed to make the appropriate referrals. The independent person has reviewed the records without any exploration or follow up. This lack of professional curiosity removes the extra safeguard intended through external monitoring. Children’s concerns have not been taken seriously and this has placed children at continued risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not operating in line with its statement of purpose. The environment does not support a therapeutic approach. It is stark, institutional and in need of maintenance and repair. The clinical therapist is undermined by the manager, who fails to share crucial information with the staff or children’s social workers. This places children at risk and reduces the value of any clinical input.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The senior management team has failed to discuss children who are new to the home with the staff team. A decision to take a child in an emergency has resulted in the child being at increased levels of risk. The staff were unprepared and untrained to safely meet the child’s needs. Half of the staff are not trained in the home’s physical intervention model, and access to ligature training was delayed by two months after a child with an identified ligature risk moved in. Gang affiliation training, required as a risk-reduction strategy for this child, did not take place. Half of the staff are not trained in the model or attachment theory that is claimed in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff sickness and COVID-19 have contributed to staff shortages. However, the staffing is not in line with the minimum expectations set out in the statement of purpose. Neither do the staffing levels reflect the risk assessments for waking-night staff deployment. On one occasion, two sleep-in staff could not assist with a physical intervention required to keep a child and a staff member safe. This left no option but for the staff to call the police to manage this situation safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff are exhausted. Staff vacancies and high levels of sickness have left a core team of dedicated staff working up to 70 hours a week. The staff have raised concerns with the manager that are neither acknowledged or addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records are not written in a way that makes monitoring and review easy. The electronic recording system has resulted in duplication and confusion. There are records written about children in an unhelpful way. Some records have been shared with the child sometime after the event for the purposes of getting the child to sign. The time lapsed makes this a tokenistic process that is more harmful to children than helpful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s review of care was four months overdue. This prevents Ofsted from having current oversight of the quality of care provided and does not provide timely information to drive improvement at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all areas of the house and garden are maintained to a good standard and that the home is decorated and furnished to provide a positive environment for children. 30 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use reasonable endeavours to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. 30 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 7 (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(i)(v))

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are provided with support and guidance in smoking cessation and sleep hygiene. 31 March 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from 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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that managers and staff are familiar with and take the necessary action to address safeguarding incidents in line with the home’s safeguarding/child protection policy and procedure; 25 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 8 ensure that the home’s managers assess and take action to remove hazards both in and outside of the home;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s managers and staff regularly review and assess whether the safety and well-being of all children can be maintained, taking any necessary action to safeguard children;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff possess the necessary skills to identify bullying and take action to reduce risk of harm to children.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that there are sufficient trained staff on each shift to meet children’s needs, in line with children’s plans and risk assessments;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the training that they need to deliver the aims and outcomes stated in the statement of purpose and in line with the risk-reduction strategies for children;

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Requirement Due date

provide effective scrutiny and oversight of the home to ensure that the managerial tasks and responsibilities, such as reviewing incident records and sanctions, addressing complaints, referring safeguarding concerns and monitoring 25 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 9 children’s care, education and health outcomes are carried out effectively;

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Requirement Due date

provide all staff with effective support so that they can raise concerns and have their concerns listened to and addressed.

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 1 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the home; and

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the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is a system for the use of rewards and sanctions that is implemented consistently and applied to children equally. 31 March 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

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; 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. 1 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 10 (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensure that children’s records are written clearly and sensitively and in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC461846 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathways Care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Minton Place, Victoria Street, Windsor SL4 1EG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Olubunmi Fabusuyi

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Inspectors

Deirdra Keating, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC461846 12 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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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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