Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in St. Helens

Inspection report children’s home: 1241757 1 Registered provider: Inspire Children’s 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 the home’s statement of purpose that it provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since May 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 inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 21 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

Date of last inspection: 28 November 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: 1241757 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2019 Full Good 12/06/2018 Full Good 23/08/2017 Full Good 28/02/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children live in the home. One child has recently moved in. The manager ensures that there is a good matching process in place and children have opportunities to come to visit and have tea before moving in. Recently, one child has left. This was unplanned but done in the child’s best interests, as the location of the home was no longer suitable. The child has remained in contact with the staff. This demonstrates the strong relationships he had made during his time living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is in keeping with that of a family home. There was some redecoration of the lounge taking place during the inspection. This adds a fresh look and a homely feel.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spoke about some staff changes in the past few months. The staff team now feels more consistent. Caring and supportive relationships were observed between children and staff. Children understand how to make a complaint and can identify staff they trust and can talk to about any issues. When complaints do occur, the manager ensures that these are dealt with promptly and a thorough response is provided to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a wide range of good-quality direct work that takes place with children. This ensures that children learn about relationships and understand how to treat each other with respect. This work has helped to improve relationships between the children. Consequently, children have started to enjoy activities together, such as going to the cinema and attending local rugby matches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lots of opportunities to share their views and feelings through their meetings and feedback forms. For example, they have a say on what activities they want to take part in and what foods they like.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a strong focus on education attainment and attendance. Staff are ambitious for children to attend education full time, and they work effectively with partner agencies, such as schools, social workers and the virtual school team. This helps support children to make good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children’s health needs are met. Staff are proactive in making appropriate appointments with the children’s looked after nurse and general practitioners to ensure that children receive the right support. One social worker said, ‘Staff have supported appointments that are very important, which is a development, as previously they would not attend any at all.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to maintain a strong sense of identity. Time spent with family is promoted and arranged in children’s best interests. Consequently, they are Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 4 spending good-quality time with family members to maintain relationships with people who are important to them in their lives.

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

Children are encouraged to make positive choices. Behaviours are well managed through the good use of de-escalation techniques. As a result, incidents of physical intervention are minimal. Staff are skilled in supporting children with calming techniques to help them when they are upset or distressed. This is a strength of the team and helps children manage their emotions effectively.

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

There are clear procedures in place for when children go missing from the home. Staff understand what they should do when a child goes missing. Detailed chronologies are in place to demonstrate the many attempts staff make to locate children. When children return, they are supported to take part in return interviews with an adult who is independent of the home. As a result, children are given additional opportunities to discuss things openly.

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

Leaders and managers conduct safe recruitment in line with safer recruitment procedures. All checks undertaken are robust. This confirms that only suitable people are employed to work with children living in the home.

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

When there are concerns for children’s well-being, staff carry out appropriate room searches. These checks are sensitively done and accurately recorded in line with children’s consent. This enhances safeguarding practices to keep children safe.

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

Risk assessments are regularly reviewed, and staff understand the risks and potential dangers for each child. They understand what action to take to safeguard a child. However, one child’s risk assessment does not provide staff with clear guidance on managing devices safely. Additionally, not all staff have received training around internet safety. These shortfalls compromise the safety of the child when online.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an experienced, qualified and passionate manager, who is supported by a deputy manager. Together, they lead the team with a culture of high standards and aspirations for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been some changes in the staff team since the last inspection. However, over the past few months, there has been a more consistent team in place. This helps children to benefit from continuity of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Annual appraisals and regular good-quality supervision provide staff with well- structured discussions. Staff have opportunities to be reflective about their practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 5 The staff said they work well together as a team and spoke about the supportive managers. Feedback from professionals is positive, and one social worker said, ‘There is good communication and effective sharing of information.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Daily handovers and regular team meetings take place. These are thorough discussions about children’s plans and demonstrate that there are good communication systems in place. This enables staff to continuously meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that there are suitable levels of staffing in the home. However, when there is sickness and cover is required, these working hours and the hours worked by the registered manager are not shown on the roster. This is not safe practice for children as there is no clear record of who was working with the children at that time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care that children receive. However, there are some children’s case records, such as their education, health and care plans, that need to be signed and dated by the author. Additionally, the manager needs to ensure that, when notifications are submitted to Ofsted, they contain all actions taken and the outcomes of any investigations. This would help to provide the regulator with all relevant information to ensure that children are fully safeguarded. Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 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 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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that there is a risk assessment for managing devices, which provides clear guidance to staff. Additionally, ensure that all staff complete training around internet safety to support children to stay safe online. 1 April 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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. 1 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 7 (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the roster contains details of the manager’s actual hours worked, and that, when staff sickness occurs, staff covering these shifts are clearly shown on the rota.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s case records, such as education, health and care plans, are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, when completing regulation 40 notifications, the record of the event includes a description of the action taken and the outcome of any resulting investigation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.14)

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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: 1241757 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1GJ

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Inspector

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1241757 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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