Children's home run by Exceptional Care Limited in Knowsley

Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 1 SC483070 Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home that is registered for four young people with complex needs arising from emotional trauma and the subsequent impact on behaviour. The home caters for three children in the main part of the house and one child in the basement annexe, which is designed to support children that benefit from a solo setting or who are preparing for independent living.

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Information about this children’s home

The newly appointed manager is suitably qualified and is in the process of registering 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 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 19 February 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/02/2020 Full Outstanding 09/05/2018 Full Good 22/11/2017 Full Good 17/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 3

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improvement to be good

There are areas of strength in the service, and some of the children make good progress. However, the inspection has identified some shortfalls in safeguarding practice.

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improvement to be good

It has been a challenging period for the home since the last inspection. This was due to the impact of COVID-19, together with changes in the management team, including nine staff who have since left the home. However, a core staff team have remained and have continued to provide consistency for children. Managers have worked hard to ensure these posts have been recruited to and there are currently no staff vacancies. Despite these changes, children have built trusting relationships with staff. One child said, ‘I feel safe and happy here, everyone is so nice. I would rate the staff 10 out of 10.’

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improvement to be good

Children receive care from a confident and compassionate staff team. Children have good routines and enjoy an excellent range of activities. There is a great deal of fun and laughter in the home and children enjoy spending time with staff. Staff hug children and are not afraid to tell them how much they care about them. A social worker said, ‘They have made this home, not just a house it’s the children’s home.’

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to have high self-esteem and a positive body image. They are good at sensitively supporting children who are exploring their own sense of identity. Staff make sure that children do not feel judged or stigmatised and diversity is celebrated.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported with their education. Some children are transported to school by staff and other children are home educated. The manager and staff help children to learn. They have developed good relationships with school staff. As a result, children develop skills to manage their school day and achieve consistency with their work at school and at home. This helps them make good progress.

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improvement to be good

The team has faced many challenges in working to promote behavioural changes and to keep children safe. Staff have demonstrated calmness and resilience. Physical intervention and sanctions are only used as a last resort. Staff use incentives, and positive relationships and reflection to support children to learn better ways of expressing their behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s safety needs. However, risk assessments are not comprehensive. They do not provide staff with clear guidance on how to manage the identified risks. Assessments lack the required guidance to Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 4 keep children safe. For example, one child’s assessments did not reflect changes in their staffing ratios for transporting the child to school. The same child’s care plan failed to provide updated information to reflect changes in medication. This places the child at increased risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff monitor and track the progress of children. Staff are alert to any behavioural triggers and respond accordingly when children’s behaviour becomes concerning. This has ultimately led to positive outcomes, such as a reduction in challenging behaviour and the use of physical interventions. However, when physical interventions have been used, records do not include essential information. This prevents rigorous oversight of incidents in order to ensure the intervention was required and undertaken in accordance with guidelines.

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improvement to be good

Staff use sanctions to educate children and to support them to learn from situations. However, a number of records were identified as incomplete and had not been reviewed by a member of the management team. This prevents learning to identify the effectiveness of sanctions used.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of children going missing from the home has significantly reduced. Staff respond quickly and appropriately to any such incidents. There is a clear learning culture in the team. They adapt their practices to further reduce the risk of children going missing.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to start managing responsibilities and risks for themselves, where this is deemed suitable. For example, one child is now allowed free time with her friends and family. This was previously a risk due to the child frequently going missing from care. The child is able to learn to manage the risks while there is a support network around them, in preparation for semi-independence.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint. When complaints are made, these are thoroughly investigated and the management team responds to children in a timely manner, providing them with a clear explanation of the complaint outcome.

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good

The manager has recently been appointed and is experienced and qualified. This has brought stable leadership to the home and staff report that this has been positive. She has a good understanding of the team’s strengths and areas for development. However, her time in post has been limited, reducing her ability to monitor and review systems to make continuous improvements.

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good

Management monitoring systems are not yet robust. They have not supported the manager to identify shortfalls in some records and assessments. This hinders the manager’s ability to oversee the quality-of-care practice and outcomes for children.

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good

The staff receive regular supervision. However, management oversight of staff supervision has failed to identify that they do not include reflective practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 5 Furthermore, they do not support staff to identify lessons learned from incidents they have been involved in. This is a missed opportunity.

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good

Staff are happy, motivated and report that they feel valued and enjoy working in this home. Staff share the ethos and vision of this home and are highly motivated to deliver child centred care. Staff at all levels are very committed to children. There are examples of when staff have stayed on duty past their working hours or have come to the home during their time off to help children when needed. Together, the staff have successfully built a family-like environment in which children feel cherished. One staff member said, ‘It’s a happy home with warmth, care and love.’

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good

Staff receive in-depth, tailored training. They also have opportunities to shadow other staff members in order to observe and learn good practice. Staff can readily describe how the training has positively influenced their practice. They are able to adapt their practice to meet the individual needs of children in their care. The organisation has recently created an online learning library for staff which contains a wealth of training resources and useful information to support staff in their role. Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 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;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that risk assessments reflect the needs and identified risks for each child and includes guidance on how staff should respond to risks. 11 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 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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; 11 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 7 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers embedding monitoring and review systems, and the supervision and development of staff.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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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 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;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(ii)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(c)) 11 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 8

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. ('Guide to 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: SC483070 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Exceptional Care Limited, Malthouse Business Centre, Southport Road, Ormskirk L39 1QR

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Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC483070 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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