Children's Home run by Platform Childcare Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 1 SC479230 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to care for up to three children who have social and emotional difficulties. The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2021. She is suitably experienced and is working towards a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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 home on 2 February 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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers 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: SC479230 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/06/2019 Full Good 11/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/05/2018 Full Good 16/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the monitoring visit, one child has left the home and one child has moved in. Three children lived at the home at the time of this inspection. One child has lived there for over two years and one for 18 months. Staff work hard to create a nurturing environment which promotes the children’s well-being. For example, staff read to children every night at bedtime in the way a good parent would.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is generally a homely and welcoming place for children to live. Photos of the children are prominently on display, and age-appropriate books and toys are readily available. However, one child’s bedroom is poorly planned with limited storage. It looks cluttered and uninviting. The child told the inspector she did not like her bedroom. The carpet outside the children’s bedrooms is stained and needs replacing. This risks impacting on children’s well-being and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have many opportunities to share their views in planned discussions and general daily conversations. However, the independent person’s report frequently does not include discussions with children. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that children feel safe and that they feel their health and well-being are promoted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and are providing good-quality, individualised care. Children’s plans are purposeful and have clear targets and objectives. Staff include children in planning their care. This means that children invest in decisions about their life. Staff diligently follow these plans, and this helps children to make good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to explore issues relating to culture, diversity and equality, and staff and children celebrate a range of events and festivals together. This helps to increase the children’s understanding about difference and inclusion, and it develops their curiosity and social awareness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with social workers to ensure that children maintain relationships with people who are important to them. They support children to meet with family members in person and online. Staff also enable children to develop and maintain friendships. Children benefit from these positive relationships. For example, one child has now joined the local Brownies. This is going well and gives this child the opportunity to meet friends and integrate into the local community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health and well-being are promoted well by staff. Staff ensure that healthcare plans identify children’s individual health needs and that children attend required medical appointments. Managers and staff advocate for children to have additional support when they need it. They work with professionals and clinicians to understand children’s complex behaviours and to ensure children’s emotional needs are met. This enables staff to support children during times of crisis and helps children to regulate their emotions. Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 4 All children attend school full time and are making good progress from their starting points. The excellent communication between the staff and the children’s schools means that the children’s emotional needs are understood and sensitively managed. Teachers praise staff for their caring attitude, resilience and commitment. One teacher told the inspector, ‘I feel we were very lucky to have found them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to take age-appropriate risks as part of their development of independent living skills. When the time is right, children are supported to spend time safely with friends. This helps children to build strong relationships with their peers through shared experiences. As a result, a child is able to walk to school with a friend and is looking forward to spending time away from home for some nights on a school trip.

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

Staff have an excellent understanding of the importance of safeguarding and the need for vigilance so that children stay safe. Clear rules and boundaries enable children to feel safe and contained.

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

Staff are guided to manage children’s complex behaviours by good-quality risk assessments and behaviour management plans that clearly tell staff what to do. Plans include the triggers for complex behaviours and provide staff with strategies to manage these. This means that although incidents do occur, they are generally well managed.

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

Management oversight is sometimes weak. The manager has not ensured that, when restraint has occurred, records contain full and accurate information. For example, when debriefs take place with children, records are not always signed and dated. Staff are not always debriefed by an independent person. These omissions potentially compromise the quality of children’s care and their safety.

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

Although children do not go missing from the home, protocols are in place which tell staff what to do should they go missing. Information has also been shared with the police. On the rare occasion that a child leaves the home in an unplanned way, staff keep the child in sight and use their skills and their strong relationship with the child to calm the situation and bring the child home.

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

Staff are vigilant of children who are at risk from self-harm and act quickly to keep them safe. Staff use their knowledge of children and their strong relationships to calm them and to help them to relax. Staff then talk with children and give them strategies to help them to manage their emotions. This empowers children and promotes resilience. Staff then ensure that children receive the care and support that respond to their individual needs. This means that behaviours do not escalate, and children feel confident about asking staff for help when they need it.

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

Staff use their strong relationships with children to educate them about risks. Each child has a ‘keep me safe’ plan individualised to their developmental needs. For example, staff talk with children about road safety, staying safe online and stranger Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 5 danger. As a result, children become more aware of risks and able to keep themselves safe.

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

Managers take incidents of whistle-blowing seriously. They work in partnership with children’s social workers and the designated officer, and carry out thorough investigations. As a result, staff feel confident to raise their concerns.

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

Regular health and safety checks ensure that the home is a safe environment for children to live in. The manager liaises with agencies to ensure the home is safely located. However, the manager has not identified all risks in the local area and has not identified strategies to keep children safe from known risks. Although there have been no incidents, these omissions leave children vulnerable.

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

Children are protected by the organisation’s safe recruitment practice. Staff are vetted and assessed as suitable before any appointment is confirmed. These procedures promote children’s safety by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a registered manager and a deputy. They have worked at the home for over four years and have been a consistent presence in the lives of all three children. The manager talks with pride about the children in her care and the progress they have made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good oversight of the service and is able to drive improvement. She regularly reviews the quality of care and uses monitoring systems to identify patterns and trends in children’s behaviours. The manager uses this information to set ambitious targets and goals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works effectively in partnership with a range of professionals. Professionals are extremely positive about the care and support that children receive and the communication they have with the manager and staff. They see that children’s confidence and self-esteem are growing and that children are making progress from their starting points.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure that children receive good-quality care. Strategy meetings are arranged when required following allegations of harm, which ensures a full multi-team approach. This partnership working results in young people receiving the best possible care to meet their individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular good-quality supervision, and probationary and annual appraisals. This helps them with their development and to reflect on their practice. The registered manager and experienced staff support new staff through a clear, effective induction process. Staff therefore develop the knowledge, understanding Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 6 and skills to provide children with high-quality care. Staff are positive about the support they receive from the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Any shortfalls in staffing are covered by existing staff, who go above and beyond to ensure that children are cared for by familiar adults. The manager and deputy have led by example during the COVID-19 pandemic by being flexible with their working patterns to cover shortfalls in the rota. As a result, no agency or cover staff work in the home. This means that children experience exceptional consistency and have the opportunity to form meaningful relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff access a range of training opportunities, including essential courses such as safeguarding and first aid. In addition, they receive training that is specific to individual children, including training in attachment and trauma. This helps staff to understand the complex needs of the children in their care. Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 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 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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Requirement Due date

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

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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

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

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to leaders and managers ensuring that a child’s bedroom has appropriate furniture and storage. 26 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the risks from a nearby canal and a children’s playground are included in the locality risk assessment along with strategies to manage identified risks. 26 March 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 8 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

This specifically relates to the oversight of physical restraints that the manager has been involved in. 26 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iii)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the date and time when children are debriefed by staff following a restraint are included in the record and that the name of the staff is clearly identifiable. 26 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to leaders and managers ensuring that children are asked if they want to speak with the independent person at each monthly visit. 26 March 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 9

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. The home should be a well maintained and attractive place for children to spend time in. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC479230 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 2, First Floor, Millennium Court, First Avenue, Centrum 100, Burton-Upon-Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC479230 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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