Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Today

Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 1 SC025409 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides accommodation for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. The home may also provide care and accommodation for children with learning disabilities and mental health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 6 July 2018.

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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.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 25 March 2021 to carry out a monitoring 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/06/2019 Full Good 18/12/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/09/2018 Full Inadequate 16/01/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming. There are many pictures on the entrance hall walls displaying positive images of children. This gives children a sense of belonging and ownership. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘The home itself was warm and comfortable and decorated in a homely manner.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress. They are in education or training and their health needs are being met. Neither child would change anything about their home. One parent stated that her child has come on in leaps and bounds while she has stayed there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team is stable and consistent, which enables children to build positive and trusting relationships with them. This means that children are more confident in sharing their thoughts and feelings. One child said about staff, ‘They’re my family and they look after me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to complete life-story work throughout their placements. Children create scrapbooks and books of memories to record their experiences. This helps them to reflect and measure their progress. One child said, ‘I love making memories.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to prepare for independent living. They encourage them to complete a programme of independent living skills that covers a broad range of issues. This helps to build self-belief, confidence and skills. This means that children move into semi-independent accommodation with higher levels of confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to manage their health needs. Children register with doctors and dentists and access support from a wide range of other services. This means that children’s routine appointments and checks are up to date.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend weekly meetings to discuss their wishes and feelings. This includes their suggestions for activities, home improvements and cooking. This ensures that children feel listened to and helps to personalise their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Where it is appropriate, staff help children to build positive relationships with their families. There is a strong focus on family support and establishing children’s support networks. This promotes children’s physical, social and emotional health and well-being.

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

Staff safeguard children effectively as part of a multi-agency approach. They use their assessment of risks to identify the progress of children and to address areas of concern. As a result, children feel safe living in the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 4 Risk management plans provide clear strategies for staff to follow. However, plans are not clear enough for all children to understand. This affects their understanding of how risks are reducing or increasing.

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

Safeguarding incidents are well managed. The registered manager promotes a positive safeguarding culture that helps to protect children. Staff work closely with agencies to promote multi-agency working. However, there was a delay in reporting two incidents to the regulator. This delayed the regulator’s oversight of the incidents.

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

Staff use de-escalation techniques to help children to manage their behaviour. This ensures that physical interventions are rarely required. This helps staffto maintain positive working relationships with children.

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

Children have clear missing-from-home risk management strategies. This helps to reduce the likelihood of children going missing from home and the length of time of each episode. Children attend independent return home interviews following such episodes. As a result, the number of missing-from-home incidents has greatly reduced.

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

Staff support children to stay safe online. They raise children’s awareness of risks through key-work sessions. This includes child exploitation and learning about safe and healthy relationships, for example. Outside agencies also provide support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and passionate about her work. She is developing a culture of high aspiration for children. One worker said, ‘I have worked here for many years, and this is the best it has been.’ This means that children are consistently well supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides a nurturing home in which children make progress. Staff support children daily with reading, for example. A health worker stated that, ‘The child’s care and support has been great.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel fully supported and attend supervision on a regular basis. This focuses on children’s needs and enables staff to reflect on their work. As a result, staff can make continuous improvements to the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are not always encouraged to access their case records or contribute to them. This limits the understanding they have about their experiences and backgrounds.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Independent assessments and quality of care reviews are inconsistent. Reports do not consistently provide evaluation of practice. They generally fail to include the views of children and external stakeholders. This does not support improvement in the home as it does not provide a clear insight into the quality of care. Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 5 Staff attend a wide range of training to develop their skills and knowledge. This helps them to provide better care for children. However, the workforce plan does not contain a coordinated strategy to highlight current or future training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager encourages children to attend their social care review meetings. One child recently co-chaired her review, while another makes positive contributions. This helps children to participate fully in their care planning and to communicate their views. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘I was impressed with the care home’s support to [name of child] in taking part in his review.’ Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 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, the 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 complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the report should provide a clear statement of opinion and provide robust evaluation of practice in the home. This should include feedback from children and external stakeholders to inform and enrich the registered person’s evaluation. 29 April 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 7

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that Ofsted is notified of any incidents without delay. This relates to incidents that are specified in regulation 40(4)(a)- (d). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered provider should ensure that the independent person produces a rigorous assessment which relates to children in the home and forms an impartial judgement concerning the quality of care being provided. This should be informed by children, parents and external stakeholders. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered provider should ensure that each child has access to their records. Staff should actively encourage children to read their records and contribute to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that any information recorded about the child is clear and helpful to them. Risk management records should be clear for children to read and understand. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.4)  The registered provider should ensure that the workforce plan details processes relating to staff induction, supervision and how poor performance is managed. The plan should also contain up-to-date information on any new staff training and their continual professional development needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraphs 10.8)

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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: SC025409 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspectors

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Mark Broomhead, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC025409 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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