Children's Home run by Safe Base Care Limited in Wirral

Inspection report children's home: SC480075 1 SC480075 Registered provider: Safe Base Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered on 11 March 2020.

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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 17 December 2020 to carry out an assurance 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: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC480075 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 04/07/2019 Full Good 20/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC480075 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive high-quality care that has brought them stability and is preparing them well for adult life. They are happy and have a strong sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy warm and trusting relationships with staff. Children know that staff are on their side and always try their best to help them. Staff know children very well. Staff are helping children to make significant progress in their education, training, health, emotional well-being and life skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff support children to prepare practically and emotionally for adult life. Staff make sure that children develop confidence and skills in cooking, shopping and managing their money and a household. Staff help children to understand about healthy lifestyles and how to look after their own health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop the emotional resilience and social networks to prevent feelings of loneliness and isolation when they live in their own accommodation. The manager and staff work with the local authority and housing providers to ensure children have a meaningful choice about where they will live in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children talk to staff openly and know that their views are taken seriously. Staff respond appropriately to children’s wishes and feelings. Staff help children understand when their wishes may not be in their own best interests and cannot be followed or carried out straight away.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff help children to express their views to other adults, including social workers and independent reviewing officers. Staff support children to actively take part in meetings about their care and decisions about their lives. Children are supported by independent advocates who advise them, help them express their views and make challenges when they do not agree with the plans for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children see important people in their lives more often. Children are now able to stay with their families overnight. Staff work effectively with children, their families and friends to make sure that seeing each other is a safe and positive experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s participation in education and training has improved significantly. Their attendance is very good, and they are motivated to work hard to learn a trade. Staff work together effectively with education providers to provide children with individualised support that meets their learning needs. Any barriers to children’s progress are identified and addressed quickly. Staff are working with colleges to give children additional support in mathematics. Staff help children to understand the importance of this subject and how it will be beneficial to their lives and jobs. Inspection report children's home: SC480075 4 The location and design of the house are suitable for meeting children’s needs. However, the children’s bedrooms need redecoration, and several small repairs throughout the house require attention.

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

Children feel safe living at the home and in the local area. Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and know what they must do to protect children from harm. Staff actively and continually assess the dangers for each child and follow up-to-date plans effectively to reduce the risk of harm. Children are now safer from the risks of aggression, bullying, going missing from home and harmful relationships.

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

Staff are vigilant and recognise the signs that children may be at risk of harm. Staff take appropriate action when they have serious concerns about children’s safety. They work well with social workers and the police to understand and manage risks to children’s safety effectively.

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

Staff have the skills and confidence to help children understand about healthy and respectful relationships and to know how to keep themselves safe. Staff always keep in touch when children go out or are staying with their family or friends. Staff help children to recognise unsafe situations or places, to make positive choices about their safety and ask for help.

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

Children are developing a sense of emotional security. Staff understand the impact of children’s experiences on their development and relationships. Staff provide children with emotional warmth and clear boundaries and expectations that help children feel safe.

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

Staff use clear and effective communication and their positive relationships with the children to deal with any problems constructively. Children are supported to manage their feelings safely. Staff are calm and patient. They understand that children may communicate their feelings through their behaviour. Staff think about what is happening in the child’s life at the time and what they can do to help.

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

However, children’s behaviour support plans have not been reviewed. They do not contain clear and specific strategies for staff to follow to help each child manage their feelings and frustrations safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is very experienced and suitably qualified. She provides strong and effective leadership. The manager and staff are ambitious for children to be safe, happy and to reach their potential, despite the difficulties children may have experienced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are caring and resilient. They place the well-being of children at the centre of their practice. The staff team is stable, experienced, skilled and qualified. Staff provide children with a high level of care and consistency. Inspection report children's home: SC480075 5 The manager has responded flexibly to unexpected changes when staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Children have always been looked after by adults they knew well from the existing staff team. On four occasions, one member of staff cared for two children overnight. This was a suitable arrangement based on the children’s needs, and both children were extremely well settled at night. However, the manager did not complete a written assessment of the implications for children’s care, including any likely risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes sure that she has the relevant information about a child’s needs from their placing authority. This assists her in assessing the home’s suitability to care for the child. However, written assessments do not contain a detailed evaluation of the staff’s ability to respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs. Additionally, they lack evaluation of the child’s compatibility with each of the children already living at the home. Likewise, the assessments do not analyse what additional resources or training staff may need to care for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with partner agencies to consistently identify and meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides staff with the right support, training and guidance to provide children with high-quality care and protection. Regular practice-related supervision with the manager, annual appraisals and team meetings provide staff with the chance to reflect critically on their practice, children’s progress and learning from training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The effective use of monitoring and review systems, including reviews by an independent person, helps the responsible individual and manager understand what is working well and what needs to improve. However, quality of care reports do not evaluate the children’s experiences and outcomes or the difference the quality of care makes to children’s lives. Inspection report children's home: SC480075 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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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 refers to making sure that the home’s redecoration and maintenance schedule is completed. 31 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 31 March 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC480075 7 This refers to registered person only agreeing to care for a child when they have considered the impact of the move on the child and the children already living at the home. Additionally, they must keep a record of this assessment.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the assurance visit and is repeated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make sure that staff know how to respond to children’s individual behaviour consistently. In particular, ensure that children’s behaviour management plans include clear and specific strategies for staff to follow to support each child to manage their feelings and frustrations. (‘The Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’ page 39, paragraph 8.14)  The registered person should make sure that if there might only be one member of staff on duty at any time, the manager makes a formal assessment of the implications for children’s care, including any likely risks. This assessment should be recorded and available for inspection by Ofsted and placing authorities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.18)  The registered person should make sure that the review of quality of care report

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Recommendations

shows the impact the quality of care is having on children’s experiences and outcomes and what difference it is making to children’s lives. When children struggle to make progress, the review should show what is being done to deal with the situation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64-65, paragraph 15.2)

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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: SC480075 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Safe Base Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 11 Tapton Way, Whitfield Accounting & Integrated Services Ltd, Liverpool L13 1DA

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC480075 9 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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