Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 1 SC068664 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider to care for up to five children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There are five children currently living in the home. The inspectors spoke to the children during this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There are two registered managers who job-share the registered manager’s role. One of the managers registered with Ofsted in February 2014 and the other in October 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 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: 19 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: SC068664 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/11/2019 Full Good 08/08/2018 Full Good 08/11/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are sensitively and warmly welcomed by the staff when they move into the home. This helps to reduce anxieties that the children may experience and supports the children to settle quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is an alarm system fitted to the children’s bedroom doors. This system, which is rarely used, can be activated should staff decide that this is necessary to meet the children’s presenting needs. However, there is a delay in obtaining consent from the children’s placing authorities for this. This means that this method of monitoring may occur without the appropriate consent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children choose their activities and they are given opportunities to develop new hobbies and to pursue their interests. The home is well stocked with a broad range of games, which the staff often play with the children. The children all say that they enjoy spending time with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children have needed to isolate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff have spent extra time with the children. This has helped to provide the children with familiarity and continuous care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff facilitate the children’s health appointments and consistently encourage good health. Children are helped to develop self-care skills and to learn about the benefits of a healthy diet. The support that the children receive from the staff helps the children to become healthier.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend an educational provision and make good progress. The managers act swiftly to gain the input of relevant professionals to explore the options for children without an education placement. The staff support these children to maintain a routine of educational activities and home-based learning. This helps to ensure that the children continue to learn and supports them to prepare for a return to formal education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The kitchen is routinely locked at night, which the children say that they do not like. Additionally, there is a bathroom that is sometimes locked. This prevents the children from accessing it without a member of staff allowing them entry. This practice denies the children the ability to freely access these areas, which detracts from the otherwise cosy atmosphere of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are often helped to make a positive move back to their family home with improved relationships with their family. Children, including those who have moved on from the home, seek the input of the staff, who are committed to providing ongoing support and encouragement. Children benefit from this as they feel relaxed and cared for. One child said: ‘I really like living here, the staff are helpful and caring.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 4

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

Children develop strong, trusting bonds with the staff and say that the staff help them to feel safe.

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

Children have not gone missing from the home for a considerable period. When such incidents have occurred, the staff persistently attempt to locate the children and seek to understand the potential triggers for this behaviour. The staff use this information to implement effective strategies that deter the children from going missing. This helps the children to become increasingly safe.

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

When safeguarding concerns occur, the managers act promptly to put measures in place to protect the children. The managers share information with relevant professionals to support a multi-agency approach to keeping the children safe.

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

The children’s risk assessments do not always include the children’s known vulnerabilities. There is an inconsistent approach to keeping these documents updated. This means that the staff are sometimes provided with conflicting guidance regarding how to keep the children safe. Additionally, children’s records sometimes contain stigmatising language. This is not helpful to the children.

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

Key-work sessions focus on the children’s individual developmental needs. These are used to help the children to understand how to stay safe. However, pertinent information obtained through these sessions is not always clearly recorded. This oversight prevents the staff from having all the relevant up-to-date information about the children’s bespoke needs.

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

The managers ensure that those who provide care are recruited safely. When additional checks and information are required, the managers make sure that this is followed up quickly. This ensures that the children receive care from adults who have been suitably vetted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Both registered managers are skilled, experienced and suitably qualified. They, as well as the assistant manager, are committed to ensuring that the children, current and past, receive a good level of care. This promotes the children’s ongoing development and helps to ensure that the children’s experiences of living in the home are positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The system for maintaining an accurate record of how the home has been staffed is poor. The rotas do not identify which manager has been in the home and when; nor is it clear which members of staff have been involved in providing support and care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Sanctions are rarely used, as a system to reward and celebrate positive behaviour is preferred. When sanctions are imposed, the managers do not include a date when they make an entry in the sanction records. This means that it cannot be established Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 5 whether their input was provided within the necessary time frames. Additionally, managers do not consider the effectiveness of the sanction. Therefore, there is insufficient scrutiny of this practice to ensure that it is fair and proportionate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers and staff receive a good level of support to help them to be equipped for the positions they hold. The managers share information and updates about the children with staff during regular team meetings. The members of the staff team receive regular supervision from their managers, who are trained and experienced to provide this effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff receive more frequent support, including fortnightly supervision. They complete the provider’s induction and training plan and a sign-off probation appraisal. These processes help to ensure that the new staff have the knowledge and skills they need to care for the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers encourage and promote the staff’s development. Staff are encouraged to consider their future aspirations and complete a range of training so that they can develop professionally. However, not all staff have completed training to help them to understand sexually harmful behaviour. This limits the possibility for these staff to support children with this specific need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers use auditing tools to monitor the quality of care provided to the children. The managers challenge staff when they identify shortfalls in practice, to raise the standard of care that the children receive. Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 16 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 1 April 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

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 16 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 7 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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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

This specifically relates to ensuring that a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home and a record of the actual rosters worked are kept. 17 April 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that consent is gained for any monitoring or surveillance from the placing authority in writing at the time of the child’s placement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that there are sufficient suitably trained staff (including someone in a management role) on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that

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Recommendations

will be helpful to the child. This specifically relates to ensuring that language used in documents is helpful to children. This also relates to ensuring that information for staff is clearly recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 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: SC068664 9

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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

Paula Kelly, Social Care Inspector Janine Shortman-Thomas, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 10 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

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