Children's home run by Teen-Works Care Limited in Liverpool

Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 1 SC472480 Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people.

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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

The registered manager has been registered since January 2014.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/07/2019 Full Outstanding 21/06/2018 Full Good 02/05/2017 Full Good 27/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children in this home are experiencing good-quality, structured care in a comfortable, child-centred environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager considers the needs of the children already living in the home when they are planning for other children to move in. Admissions processes are sensitive to children’s needs. Information is shared and children visit the home before moving in to support them to adapt and settle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A strength of the care in this home is that staff and managers know children’s individual needs and personalities. Children who have lived in the home for some time continue to make very good progress. Children who have recently moved in benefit from positive role models, established routines and consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled in building and sustaining positive relationships with children. They use humour and active listening effectively. All the children are very positive about their lived experiences in this home; they consider it to be home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child said she liked living in this home because it was peaceful. All the children said they have adults in the home they can share their worries with. Difficulties and challenges in their daily lives are reduced. As a result, they have improved mental health and self-esteem and have aspirations for themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

During recent restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the children created their own learning timetable and helped neighbours in the community and family members with shopping and gardening.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs, including their emotional well-being needs, are known and understood. Children’s health is improving as a result of access to preventative health services. Staff ensure that children receive immunisations, and that their general and dental health are regularly checked. Children are encouraged, and supported with information, to make positive choices about diet, nutrition, exercise and relationships. Staff refer children to specialist services when this is required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a result of established routines and supportive relationships, children have overcome barriers and are making good progress in education. All the children have appropriate education arrangements in place. Staff advocate for children in planning meetings to ensure resources are in place to support them to do well. One child is receiving extra tuition in maths to support her plans for college.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate children’s achievements and are ambitious for them. Children celebrate each other’s achievements. One child has done so well in her work experience she has been offered a weekend job. Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 4 All the children have daily targets with incentives. This helps to motivate them to take responsibility for themselves. All the children have made progress from their starting points in developing life skills and independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in a range of activities that support the development of their social skills, self-esteem and confidence. They enjoy swimming, horse riding, kick boxing and attending a gym. One child is about to join the cadets.

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

There is an established safeguarding culture in the home. Children report that they feel safe. The home is an inclusive, respectful environment, where children learn to consider each other’s needs. There is no peer-to-peer conflict; children’s progress is strengthened by positive peer relationships.

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

Staff have had training in safeguarding and understand the vulnerabilities, needs and histories of the children and how this can impact their behaviours. Three of the children have lived in the home for over three years and staff continue to assess their risks and vulnerabilities as their needs change and develop.

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

Staff support safe contact with family and friends. Children are encouraged to invite friends to visit. Staff have met one child’s boyfriend and his parents to support good communication about arrangements.

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

Staff work with agencies and individually with children to enhance their awareness and understanding of what staff and the team around the child are worried about. This helps children to keep themselves safe.

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

Risks have reduced for all the children. There have been a small number of safeguarding incidents. When there have been concerns, staff follow the relevant child protection and missing-from-home procedures and amend risk assessment and behaviour management plans. Managers and staff share information effectively with placing social workers, police, health and education partners to manage and reduce risks to children.

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

There is a clear policy about managing the risks associated with the use of digital technology. Staff are alert to the need to support children to keep safe when using technology. They undertake careful monitoring as agreed with each child when they move into the home and undertake individual key-work sessions in respect of online safety. For one child, the risks associated with online safety and exploitation at times appear to reduce but improvement is not sustained. The manager has requested a professionals meeting to consider strategies to manage risk and sustain change. When there have been incidents, a lessons learned exercise has not been undertaken by the manager and agencies. This may help prevent further incidents.

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

There has been a sustained reduction in the number of incidents of children going missing, substance misuse, aggressive behaviour and damage to property. Children Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 5 have improved safe behaviour and staff have supported them effectively to manage risk.

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

The manager and the team around the child ensure that when there are specific child protection needs, specialist services are involved.

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

There have been no allegations or complaints. Children say they feel safe and raise any concerns or grumbles with staff and managers directly. As a result of feeling listened to, any concerns are resolved.

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

While there have been no allegations made by children, there has been one concern identified in staff supervision about practice in the home in respect of staff use of mobile phones. There has been no impact in respect of risk to a child. This has been addressed by managers revisiting the mobile phone policy and with the individual concerned.

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

One social worker said that the child she works with is ‘blossoming in this home. There have been significantly reduced risks and she has enhanced self-esteem as a result of care in this home.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home has an experienced, qualified and motivated manager. She has a track record of being committed to developing the skills and knowledge of individual staff and of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

She is hands on, involved with children’s care on a daily basis. This means that she has a good understanding of children’s needs and progress to drive improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a range of experience and qualifications. All have the required qualification or are enrolled on a course to achieve the qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff morale is very positive and there is low turnover of staff. Staff report that they are supported by supervision and training and that managers are accessible and visible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision records evidence that managers review practice and performance as well as enquiring about staff welfare. Staff have had mandatory training and additional training relevant to the needs of children living in the home. The manager prioritises the development of staff and the importance of retaining staff. She is considering with the team nominating an e-safety champion. Some staff have recently undertaken mental health first-aid training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are child-centred, and the language is non-stigmatising and professional. Staff can easily access children’s records. There are daily summaries available. Staff ensure night staff have all relevant information from the day’s events when they come on duty. Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 6 Staff advocate on behalf of children to ensure their needs are being met in a timely way. They are proactive in problem-solving to reduce barriers to children’s progress. As a result, children continue to make good progress. For example, staff provided transport for school when a child was waiting for this to be arranged, and supported another child with visits to prospective colleges, so that she has time to consider her options.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work with a range of resources to support children’s access to opportunities in the community. Good partnership working with families supports reliable contact arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are generally reports that are of good quality from the independent visitor. The manager is receptive to learning in response to this monitoring, as are the staff. However, the mechanisms in place for the manager to review the quality of care in the home need strengthening. The quality of care review requires more evaluation and analysis. Currently, the manager does not undertake a learning review following safeguarding incidents. This may help to prevent further incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 7

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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 requires the registered person to ensure that staff— have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm and understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Staff and managers require training in safe care and allegations against adults who work with children. 2 May 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 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to the manager ensuring there are robust quality assurance mechanisms in place to review the quality of care in the home, including undertaking a learning review following safeguarding incidents. 2 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 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: SC472480 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lonsdale & Marsh Ltd, Cotton House, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9TX

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Inspector

Cathey Moriarty, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC472480 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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