Children's home run by Rochdale Borough Council in Rochdale

Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 1 Registered provider: Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council 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 run by a local authority and is registered to provide care for up to four children. The home has adopted a ‘No Wrong Door’ approach to their services. The home acts as a ‘hub’ offering both residential short-term placements for children and outreach support services.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in May 2021.

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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 23 February 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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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 2 On 20 January 2021. Ofsted carried out a monitoring visit. As a result, a compliance notice was issued in relation to Regulation 12, the protection of children standard. A restriction notice was also issued, which meant no additional children could be accommodated in the home.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 23 February 2021 to review progress made against the compliance notice and the restriction notice. Following the visit on 23 February 2021, the compliance notice had been met and the restriction notice was lifted. The provider applied to vary their registration and reduced the numbers of children they care for from six to four. Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2020 Full Good 20/08/2018 Full Good 18/09/2017 Full Good 01/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, there was only one child living at the home. Two other children had recently moved successfully to live either with family members or foster carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Over time, the child has developed trusting relationships with staff. Underpinning this progress is the nurturing and supportive environment staff have created in the home. The child expressed that she feels that staff care about her.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is understood well by the staff. This understanding is informed by the guidance and insight offered by the home’s psychologist. It is further complemented and enhanced by the home’s speech and language worker.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is treated with kindness and respect by the staff. The kindness and respect of staff, alongside consistent boundaries, are helping the child to begin to overcome previous life adversities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the child’s time spent with family is fully supported, carefully assessed, and follows agreed plans. They support the child’s exploration of her identity and encourage her to have a positive view of herself.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have utilised several approaches to enable the child to establish her interest and engagement in education. This includes trying to maintain good daytime routines, offering alternative educational activities and general advice giving. Although there have been periods of time that she has attended school or engaged with a tutor in the home, this has not been maintained. A requirement is made in respect of this.

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

The safety of the child is a high priority for the staff. There are detailed plans covering her time away from the home and how staff should respond if they become concerned about her safety or welfare. These plans are kept under regular review and any changes are carefully considered by the manager and other professionals.

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

A multi-disciplinary approach is taken towards the safety of children in the home. A professional ‘hub’ approach ensures that concerns are quickly shared and acted on.

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

Through this coordinated approach, incidents of children going missing from care and safeguarding concerns have reduced significantly since the last visit. This improvement has been further assisted through the development of clear protocols to be adhered to by staff. The actions taken by staff are regularly reviewed and evaluated by the manager. Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 5 Since the last visit, there have only been four missing from care incidents and none since September 2021. When incidents have occurred, staff are active in searching for the child and securing their safe return. Liaison with police during these incidents is prompt and well-coordinated.

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

Since the last monitoring visit, other improvements have also been made. These include appropriate evaluation of a child’s needs prior to admission to the home. This evaluation is guided by a psychological formulation of the child provided by the home’s psychologist. This formulation also addresses any additional training staff may require in order to meet the child’s needs. Although the assessment is detailed in its consideration of the child moving in, it does not address in detail what the impact may be on other children already living in the home. A recommendation is made to address this.

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

It has been the practice of staff to lock internal doors at night. This unnecessarily restricts the child’s movement around the home. This practice has not been subject to a risk assessment or review. A requirement is made in respect of this.

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

Any complaints, allegations or suspicions of harm have been appropriately addressed and investigated by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious for the home to improve and has met the previous requirements and recommendations. Managers have employed the specialist skills of other professionals at the home to provide a wide variety of training for staff. This has improved staff practice and knowledge base.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are a range of systems that the manager uses in order to ensure that children receive care that supports their progress while at the home. He regularly evaluates the work of staff to further improve the care offered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

He understands the child well and is aware that further efforts are required to improve the child’s educational outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive formal and informal support from managers, the home’s psychologist, the speech and language therapist and a police officer. On the whole, supervision is clear and well-recorded by managers. However, this is not consistent across all records. A recommendation is made with regards to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last full inspection, there has been a high turnover of staff. This effects the continuity of care offered to children. In order to cover vacancies and other shortfalls in the rotas, there have been a high number of occasions when non- permanent staff have been used. The manager has sought to minimise the effects of this through using a limited number of individuals. The additional staff who are employed with a high level of frequency are suitably trained in the approach and ethos used at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to fully reviewing the child’s engagement levels and evaluating the efficacy of intervention by staff to encourage engagement with learning. 30 April 2022

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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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care for each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) (2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children in this home are offered care from a stable team of core staff and that the provider minimises staff turnover. 31 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 30 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 7 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any imitation 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

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that risk assessments are specific with regards to the impact on children already living in the home and detail how staff will minimise or mitigate against those risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that there are appropriate systems in place for making clear recordings of supervision and that staff receive reflective practice that is also clearly recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: 1237582 8

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Children’s home details

Registered Provider: Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale OL16 1XU

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Inspector

Pauline Yates, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1237582 9 regulates and inspects 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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