Children's home run by Stockport Supported Accommodation Service in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 1 SC039070 Registered provider: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by the local authority and is registered to care for up to five children who exhibit complex behaviours because of their childhood experiences. The home was registered by Ofsted in October 2003.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in April 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 16 September 2019 to carry out a full inspection. 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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 16 September 2019

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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: SC039070 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/09/2019 Full Good 31/07/2018 Full Good 05/07/2017 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently five children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are safe and happy living at this home. This is because they develop positive relationships with staff who understand their needs and know them well. Feedback from professionals during the inspection was very positive. One professional said, ‘The staff at [the home] are wonderful and have the needs of the children in their care at the heart of everything they do.’ Another professional stated that, ‘It is an absolute joy to work with this home’ and that staff show, ‘Genuine affection for the children that they look after.’ This support means that children make good progress in all aspects of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s transitions into and from the home are well managed. Risk assessments help managers to understand whether staff can meet a child’s needs alongside children already living in the home. Furthermore, the registered manager provides children and their families with information about the home. One child’s family member stated that she visited the home prior to the child moving in and that staff had helped to reassure her. This reassurance means that children and their families feel supported during important moments in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children are respected and valued in the home. They support and encourage children to express their views and develop their own identities. Children are also encouraged to access support from external groups to meet their individual needs. The ethos promoted by staff means that children respect each other’s culture and identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to meet children’s health needs. They promote a healthy diet and ensure that both routine and specialist health appointments are attended by children. Furthermore, staff and the registered manager work effectively with the home’s psychologist to improve outcomes for children. For example, staff have supported one child to lose a considerable amount of weight since moving into the home. As a result, the child is significantly healthier and has grown in confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend school and to engage positively with their learning. Also, they work with the relevant professionals to help children to overcome barriers to their learning. This support improves children’s confidence and raises their aspirations. For example, one child spoke about his wishes to go to university in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has undergone a full refurbishment. Children’s wishes and views were gathered throughout the process. Children were able to personalise their own bedrooms and contribute to the home’s decoration. As a result, children feel that they belong and are respected in the home. However, the inspector found that several doors in the home were locked. This meant that Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 4 children had to ask staff to open doors to enter their own bedrooms and other communal areas of the home. Leaders took action to address this during the inspection.

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

Staff respond effectively to safeguard children who are at risk of exploitation and who go missing from the home. They work with partner agencies to exchange important information and intelligence. Staff use this information to inform risk- management plans and when searching for children who have gone missing. This proactive approach supports children to return to the home promptly and safely.

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

Staff educate children about bullying. Also, they arrange and complete teamwork sessions with children to help them form positive relationships with each other. For example, following incidents between children in the home, four of the children attended a residential trip with staff whereby they took part in team-building activities. This helped to ease tensions and reduce the number of incidents between children.

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

Staff work therapeutically and restoratively with children to help them learn from their experiences. This approach helps to reduce the number of incidents in the home. There have been no incidents requiring physical restraint with children for ten months. Furthermore, for one child, the number of incidents involving physical aggression has significantly reduced.

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

Children’s risk-management plans are regularly reviewed and updated. Managers assess risk well and identify clear strategies for staff to follow. This supports staff to work consistently to keep children safe. Additionally, risk-management plans are routinely shared and discussed with social workers and the home’s psychologist.

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

The registered manager responds efficiently and effectively to allegations made by children. She ensures that senior leaders and the relevant external professionals are informed. Investigations are carried out in a timely manner and appropriate decisions are made to maintain children’s safety and well-being.

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good

The home is led by a registered manager, who is suitably experienced and is currently in the process of completing her management qualification.

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good

Leaders work hard to provide a nurturing environment for children and staff. Staff feel supported and empowered to do their best for children. Supervision sessions are regular, reflective and of good quality. In addition, children are discussed, and staff are encouraged to be creative. These sessions improve staff’s confidence and awareness. Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 5 The registered manager has not ensured that all staff complete the specific qualification within the required timescales to work in the home. This means that not all staff who support children are fully qualified. Since the last inspection, staff have completed some training courses, which are relevant to the needs of children. Staff have used strategies and resources from this specific training course to support children to express their emotions. However, staff have failed to complete missing from home training and some staff have not completed internet safety or

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good

exploitation training. These shortfalls have the potential to compromise children’s safety.

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good

Leaders ensure that the home is adequately staffed. Staff work as a team to cover gaps in the home’s rota. Staff remain working in the home and staff retention is good. As a result, children receive consistent care from staff, who know and understand their needs. However, new staff are not safely vetted prior to working in the home. The registered manager does not verify the reasons staff have left previous employment involving work with children. In addition, some staff have not provided a full employment history and action has not been taken by the registered manager to address this.

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good

The registered manager has failed to ensure that monitoring systems are used consistently to support the development of the home. For example, her own internal systems have failed to identify shortfalls in staff training and staff recruitment. Additionally, some of the records in the home have the wrong details included in them or are not completed in full. Furthermore, two of the requirements made at the home’s last inspection were not met, these have been restated. This has the potential to impact on the quality of care received by children.

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good

An independent person visits the home to provide external monitoring and oversight. However, the reports produced are poor and fail to assess whether children are effectively safeguarded. Also, they fail to offer adequate challenge, do not drive improvement, and do not improve the experiences of children.

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good

The registered manager regularly reviews and submits the home’s statement of purpose to the regulator. However, this does not contain up-to-date information in relation to the health professionals providing therapeutic support to the home. This shortfall prevents the regulator from having clear and up-to-date information on the support received by children.

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good

Senior leaders are aware of the shortfalls identified during the inspection and are taking action to make improvements. For example, a new recording system is to be implemented and changes are to be made to the external monitoring systems. Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 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 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

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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Requirement Due date

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

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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)(a)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider should ensure that staff complete missing from home, child exploitation and internet safety training to equip them with the skills to meet the specific needs of the children. Also, leaders should ensure that monitoring systems are used to identify areas for improvement in the quality of care received by children. 22 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 22 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 7 notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is updated to include an accurate reflection of the home. This refers to staffing and details of the clinical teams providing support to the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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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; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, 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. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders should ensure that a full and accurate employment history has been provided and validated before any individual commences work in the home. Furthermore, leaders should ensure that they carry out checks where staff have previously worked with children. 22 March 2022

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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

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate 22 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 8 qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma").

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(b) (4)(a) (5)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider should ensure that staff achieve the appropriate qualification within the required timescales.

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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

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the independent person’s report should ensure that recommendations are made for improving the quality of care received by children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 22 March 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 9  The registered person should ensure that children are able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that child’s individual needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: SC039070 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Stockport, Cheshire SK1 3XE

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Inspector

Dean Wilton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC039070 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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