Children's home run by Proactive Care (Manchester) Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 1 Registered provider: Proactive Care (Manchester) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to two children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is managed by a private company.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 30 August 2019.

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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 18 November 2020 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

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were two children living at the home at the time of inspection. Since the last inspection, four children have moved in to the home and two children have moved out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to attend health appointments and are encouraged to live healthy lifestyles. Both children smoke. They have been offered smoking cessation and educated on the impact of smoking on their health. Children are helped to understand the benefits of healthy lifestyles and one child has reduced the amount of cigarettes that they smoke. One child is engaging with therapy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have time with family that is appropriate to them. One child has regular overnight stays and holidays with family. Both children are encouraged to take appropriate and positive risks in the community to maintain positive friendships. One child has had a sleepover with her friend. Children are helped to maintain relationships that are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. The children said that staff really care about them. Staff give verbal praise and write notes to children that are encouraging and kind. Staff are consistent in their approach and are a stable staff team. One child said that it was the best home he had ever lived in. Children feel nurtured and were observed to be happy and relaxed with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have regular discussions around important and relevant topics. These topics include sexual health, healthy lifestyles and how to keep themselves safe. Staff approach sensitive issues in a nurturing way. Children feel able to talk openly with staff without feeling judged.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop independence skills that are appropriate to their age and stage of development. One child said she has learned to cook healthy meals. The manager has developed an interactive and informative pack for children to enhance their independence skills. Children are working towards preparation for when they move on from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have education places. One child is working towards her GCSE exams and another child is currently studying horse care at college, with additional one-to- one tutoring. The staff have attended education with him so that he can sustain his education progress. One child wants to change their college course and the manager is advocating for him in education meetings. Children’s views are acted on, and children are making good progress in education. However, the manager has not ensured that up-to-date personal education plans for one child are kept on record. The staff, therefore, do not have all the relevant details to ensure that they are supporting children towards the identified education goals. Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 4 The house is a small, cosy home with a calm and family home feel. The children’s bedrooms are personalised and both children keep pets. Both children said that the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

home really feels like their home, and they are happy living there. The home is well decorated and there are pictures on the walls. However, the dining room has been used to store items, which takes space away from children. The garden has disposed cigarette butts in a small watering can. This detracts from an otherwise homely environment.

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

Children said they feel safe at the home. The manager and staff have taken appropriate action to help keep children safe. The staff are confident and well equipped to manage safeguarding incidents, which help to keep children safe. However, despite every effort being made to keep children safe, situations out of the staff control have meant that, at times, children have been exposed to risky situations in the community.

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

The manager has ensured that children who are at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation have risk management plans in place. These plans are regularly reviewed by all relevant professionals. Regularly reviewing risk to children and agreeing protocols and safety plans through joined-up working enables appropriate action to be taken to safeguard children.

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

Staff manage missing-from-home episodes well. Children are welcomed back to the home and independent return interviews are completed. One child said that incentives had helped her to reduce her missing-from-home incidents. The manager has taken proactive steps to reduce the risk of children going missing, including stopping taxi companies from picking up children from the home. There has been a notable decrease in incidents of children going missing from the home.

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

The staff have physical intervention training. Staff use their positive relationships with the children and effective behaviour support plans to manage incidents, and this has resulted in no physical interventions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced and holds a relevant level 5 diploma in management. The manager is dedicated to helping children to progress and is a good role model for the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff said that the manager is excellent and offers them good support and guidance. The manager is approachable and has regular supervisions with staff. Staff feel motivated, have confidence in the manager and benefit from her experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive a good range of training to enable them to meet the needs of the children. Three staff members have a relevant level 3 diploma, and one staff Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 5 member is working towards this qualification. The staff are qualified with a good range of experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has improved how children are supported to move in to the home. The manager carefully considers any risks or impact that the child moving in may have on children already living there. The last child that moved in to the home benefited from a gradual move. Before moving in, the child met the manager, before visiting the home with a parent to meet the staff and child already living there. Thorough planning means that children and families feel prepared for the move. The manager ensures that she has all the relevant information about a potential admission to the home, which helps her to make an informed decision about if the staff can meet the child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some moves out of the home have been unplanned. This has been to keep children safe and have been managed with sensitivity. Children moving out of the home are supported to have a positive ending. Some children keep in touch with the manager and staff when they have moved on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses a range of monitoring tools to review the effectiveness of the home. She uses information from reviews to develop and implement an action plan. The manager continually makes improvements at the home and improves the quality of care for children. Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 6

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, and dispose of cigarette butts appropriately and ensure the dining room is not used for additional storage. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that staff have access to children’s relevant personal education plan to have all information to help children achieve education goals. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.3)

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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: 2542024 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Proactive Care (Manchester) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Houldsworth Business Centre, Houldsworth Street, Stockport SK5 6DA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Ashley O’Leary-Jones

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Inspector

Amy Miles, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2542024 8 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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