Children's home run by Your Chapter Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide medium- to long-term care for up to four female children.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a manager in post. He is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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 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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Compliance notices were issued in September 2020 under Regulation 12, the protection of children standard; Regulation 13, the leadership and management standard; and Regulation 14, the care planning standard. These notices were met in January 2021. Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/05/2019 Full Good 15/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently two children living in the home. The home is well presented, comfortable and homely. Children have chosen items for their bedrooms, and they are individualised to the taste of each child. Throughout the inspection, positive relationships were observed between children and staff. Both children told inspectors that they are safe and happy living in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are treated with dignity and respect. Staff provide care that is sensitive to children’s individual needs, and staff take account of children’s life histories. For example, staff helped a child remember a significant family anniversary in a sensitive and caring manner. This helps children build emotional resilience and a sense of their identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education placements. Children’s attendance has improved since they moved into the home, and both children talked about their achievements in school. Staff celebrate children’s achievements and talk to children about their future. One child said, ‘I am looking forward to going to college. I hadn’t been to school for a long time before moving here. I’ve surprised myself with what I have achieved.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote the health and well-being of children living in the home. Children attend routine health appointments. However, routine dental care has not been accessible due to a lack of local resources. Children, managers and staff have access to the company’s therapist. This has helped to manage and support children in times of crisis. The therapist said, ‘The staff offer children support at difficult times. They do an amazing job and need to understand even small differences are big.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see the people that are important to them. Staff appreciate the significance of these relationships and work with children’s placing authorities to ensure that the arrangements in place are beneficial for children. Families appreciate the help and support that staff provide for children. One parent said, ‘This is an amazing place. The staff are doing their best for [name of child] and always go above and beyond.’

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

Children’s risk assessments include their known vulnerabilities. The risk assessments include strategies for staff to follow to reduce risks. However, some risk assessments have not been updated in a timely way when changes have occurred. Furthermore, agreed changes to strategies are discussed, but they are not consistently recorded in the children’s plans. There is also an absence of management oversight, which is necessary to consistently ensure that any incidents are evaluated so that the manager can consistently review risk management strategies. Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 4 Safeguarding incidents are managed well. Information is shared with relevant professionals, and there is a multi-agency approach to addressing issues and reducing risk. Children are supported to understand the actions that staff take to protect them. As a result, children feel safe.

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

Managers and staff know what to do when children go missing from home. There is a clear protocol in place to protect them. This provides clear guidance for staff to follow in practice. Furthermore, the guidance includes practical help for staff and a ‘grab bag’ with various items to help staff when they are looking for children, such as a torch and a high-visibility jacket so that staff are protected if they need to go out late at night. Records demonstrate that staff follow the missing-from-home protocol. Furthermore, managers and staff seek to understand the reasons why children may go missing from home.

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

A clear strength in this home is the relationships between the children and staff. This contributes to an all-round effective safeguarding approach. Positive behaviour is promoted through praise and incentives for children. Focused discussions support children to reflect on their behaviour, and sanctions are rare. However, when sanctions have been used, the manager has not ensured that these are recorded in line with regulation or reviewed for effectiveness.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been a change in manager. Since his appointment, the manager has worked hard to establish his leadership. He has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service, but he needs time to embed the changes into practice.

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good

This is a newly formed staff team. The manager is aware of its skill base and has arranged training to address the gaps. He works alongside new staff on shift and is providing day-to-day management. However, due to the amount of time the manager is working shifts, this has impacted on his ability to maintain and establish good monitoring systems. The manager is aware of this shortfall and is developing systems to consider and evaluate all care practices. This will improve consistency in the home.

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good

Staff report that they are well supported by the manager. However, not all staff have received records from formal supervision sessions. New staff have not had fortnightly supervision sessions, and induction processes have been delayed. Furthermore, not all staff have attended training on key areas, including caring for children, substance misuse and self-harm. This does not ensure that all staff are skilled to safely support children.

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good

Staff rosters in the home are not changed or updated when staff cannot complete planned shifts. Furthermore, the manager’s hours are not recorded or amended as required. This does not always provide a clear audit of the staff on shift. Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 5 The manager does not make effective use of internal or external monitoring systems, which means that areas for improvement are not always identified or addressed.

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good

The manager has not notified Ofsted of a significant event, and some notifications have been delayed. This does not support effective monitoring and compromises children’s welfare and safety. Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 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 registered person must ensure that all employees —

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 09 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the records include a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, a record of the actual rosters worked and a record of any person who works at any time at the home, including the registered manager. 09 May 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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

is instigated; or 09 May 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 7 concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); 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. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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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: 1271213 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Care 4 Children, 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspectors

Catherine Fargin, Social Care Inspector Michelle Edge, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children's home: 1271213 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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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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