Children's home run by Total Care Matters Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 1 Registered provider: Total Care Matters Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is owned and run by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties and/or learning difficulties. The home currently provides care and support for one child.

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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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides good-quality care to children who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home currently provides care and support for one child. Staff collaborate with professionals as a multi-disciplinary team to provide cohesive care. This approach is successful in improving outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed strong and warm relationships with the child. These trusting relationships enable the child to make accelerated progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational arrangements have not been adequate. From the start of the child’s placement, it was necessary to support the child to work through recent trauma. This meant a delay in the child taking part in education. The importance of formal education has drifted, and the child has not been engaged in consistent structured activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s health needs have been a priority. A full healthcare programme has included a comprehensive health and welfare check. This means that the child’s health needs are understood and addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The views of the child are central to the operation of the home. The child says she feels valued and staff listen to her.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Boundaries for the child are not always clear. This has led to poor monitoring of some activities, particularly the use of a mobile phone. Staff have not always successfully balanced the child’s wishes against what is in the child’s best interests.

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

Staff work within a multi-agency plan for the child, who has complex needs. The collective safeguarding strategy is having a positive impact on the child and how safe she is, with the intention that she will become increasingly safe over time. The strategies employed by staff to manage complex safeguarding situations are not without risk, but the plan is closely monitored and reviewed by all stakeholders.

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

From the point of admission, the child’s risks were well understood. Strategies to manage risk are clear. However, one situation was not fully risk assessed and led to a safeguarding incident. This was referred appropriately and investigated by the local authority safeguarding team. Plans are in place to ensure that this incident is not repeated.

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

Staff teach the child to keep safe. The child is responding to this, and she confirms that she now knows how to make safer choices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 3 The child benefits from individual work with the staff and a therapist. This is effective in helping the child to make positive choices.

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

From the child’s starting point, the risks have significantly reduced. This means that the child gains more free time. This is an incentive for her to make safe choices.

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

Staff manage complex safeguarding behaviours effectively. The registered manager ensures that safeguarding practice and any incidents are rigorously audited. This ensures safe care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is qualified and experienced. She is a tenacious manager, who leads by example and has high expectations of her team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager advocates on behalf of the child. She challenges responses which are not in the child’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision and training arrangements are effective. Staff confirm high levels of support and professional development. They feel valued. They share the registered manager’s commitment to improving the child’s experiences and outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is exceptionally strong. External professionals spoken to during the inspection were unanimous in their praise of the management team and staff team. A child protection manager said: ‘The team has good, consistent relationship-based practice. If only all care providers could get this right.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The combined processes of internal and external quality assurance effectively promote good practice. The external visitor is rigorous in their analysis of the operation of the home. This means that any shortfalls are highlighted early.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Written accounts in children’s records and evidence of progress are of an exceptional calibre. This provides easy retrieval and analysis of documents. Importantly, the records represent a significant contribution to the child’s life history. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 4

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to preventing unknown strangers entering the home. Also, to strengthening the monitoring of mobile phones. 7 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 staff— 7 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 5 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the risk assessment process for meetings with individuals, where the risks are unknown, and to intervene when phone calls are inappropriate.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, leaders and managers must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full- time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. If no education place is identified by the placing authority, the registered person must challenge them to meet the child’s needs under regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: 2627028 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Total Care Matters Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 230 Bathley Street, The Meadows, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 2ER

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Inspector

Amanda Ellis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2627028 7 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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