Children's Home run by Cumbria County Council in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 1 SC034158 Registered provider: Cumbria County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is owned and run by a local authority. The home provides short-break accommodation for children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The service has two main functions. The first is to provide short-term intensive outreach work in the community. The second is to provide short-break care. The home can accommodate up to four children or young people on a short break.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been registered since July 2003. A new manager has recently been appointed and plans to apply for registration 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 SCCIF 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 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: 23 January 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2020 Full Outstanding 11/01/2019 Full Outstanding 19/01/2018 Full Outstanding 16/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the home’s statement of purpose was amended to include children in need of emergency care and support that was likely to exceed the short breaks usually provided at this home. For some other children during this period, when government restrictions were eased, this has meant missing out on planned weekend activity breaks at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, children who have lived at this home have made good and sustained progress. Some have successfully moved on to live independently or have returned to their parents’ care, while others have moved on to live with foster carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the highly positive relationships they share with staff. A social worker commented: ‘Staff are sensitive and supportive. The support [child’s name] receives is great. Staff very quickly got to know him and found out what he was interested in and encouraged him to be part of the community.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff proactively support children’s education and learning, ensuring that children have good opportunities to continue their studies and learn new skills while living temporarily at the home. For one child, this has increased his confidence to attend a local college and apply for part-time work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to keep in touch with family and friends that are important to them. This ensures that children’s valuable relationships are preserved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents greatly value the support the home can offer. One parent commented: ‘I wasn’t coping and needed a lot of advice and reassurance. Staff were very helpful; they were always there at the end of the phone when I needed them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable and generally well maintained. The home is due to close for several weeks for necessary refurbishment that has been delayed during the pandemic. This includes the installation of new en-suite bathrooms in children’s bedrooms that were identified as needing some work at the last inspection.

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

Staff keep children safe and are effective in promoting their well-being. Staff are well trained and experienced in safeguarding practice and understand children’s emotional and mental health needs. One child commented: ‘Staff are nice and that’s an understatement. I feel safe and they just do everything to support me.’

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

Children’s needs and vulnerabilities are well understood and well managed. Children’s individual risk assessments clearly identify the nature of concerns and successfully guide staff to minimise and mitigate risk where possible. Accordingly, children’s risk usually declines while they are living at this home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 4 The use of restraint is minimal, particularly considering the number of children that have stayed at this home since the last inspection. However, records do not routinely reflect staff debriefings and do not always accurately record the time restraint lasted. Also, wording used can at times be ambiguous, causing some uncertainty in the reader’s understanding.

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

The home has experienced several incidents of children going missing from home since admitting children on an emergency basis. However, most of these admissions have been of short duration, with staff being able to maintain contact with children by mobile phone to check on their welfare. Records of all incidents are well maintained and reflect a proactive approach by staff to achieve the child’s safe return to the home.

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

Bullying is not identified as a particular concern or feature of this home. However, one incident did occur where a child was physically assaulted and injured by a peer. Staff appropriately intervened and dealt with the incident and provided first aid, but did not follow up with further medical attention despite the child receiving bruising and swelling to her eye. Although the child declined the offer of further medical attention, given her young age it would have been good practice to encourage the child to be examined by a medical professional.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably experienced, having until recently managed a similar home within the council’s edge of care service. The manager holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management of children’s residential care and has previous experience of working at the home as a former assistant manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is currently working to statement of purpose, which was changed during the height of the pandemic to meet the local authority demand for emergency care placements. This has proved to be a challenging period for staff, balancing the demands of their usual outreach work and children needing emergency care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite the challenges experienced since the last inspection, staff morale remains positive. Staff say that they feel well supported by the manager and each other as colleagues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has benefited from a very stable staff team for many years. However, there has been some recent turnover of staff, with some leaving for personal reasons and new staff appointed to assist with managing the demands of emergency care as well as the team’s outreach work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A real strength of the home has been the flexibility of staff in adapting to meet the needs of the children requiring emergency support. The home demonstrates good multi-agency working, ensuring that children make progress and placement planning is not allowed to drift. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 5 The future of the home is an issue that is providing staff with some uncertainty as the local authority is looking at further service development options to ensure that the service remains responsive and meets the needs of children living in the locality.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are well maintained, and it is evident that there is good management oversight of day-to-day practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good internal monitoring arrangements exist but it appears that data, routinely captured as part of the monitoring arrangements, is not always evaluated effectively and reported on to demonstrate the success of the home’s professional practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 16 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; 16 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 7 the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)–(viii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the record reflects a clear and accurate time for the duration of each intervention that occurs.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both inside and outside the home, to the extent that any good parent would. Specifically, ensure that children are guided to understand the importance of seeking medical attention following an injury, even when they may not wish it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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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: SC034158 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cumbria County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cumbria House, 117 Botchergate, Carlisle CA1 1RD

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034158 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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