Children's Home run by Idem Living Limited in Knowsley

Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 1 Registered provider: Idem Living Ltd Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company and provides care for up to three disabled children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2021.

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Inspection date: 22 March 2022

Date of last inspection: 12 October 2021

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Inspection date: 22 March 2022

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection date: 22 March 2022

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 2

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged requires improvement to be good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judged that it has improved effectiveness.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children are settled and enjoy good relationships with staff. They receive individualised care that is in line with their assessed needs.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children are encouraged to pursue their hobbies and interests. Personal choice is encouraged and staffing levels are sufficient to support both individual and group activities. This is enabling children to lead active and fulfilling lives. For example, one child is a season ticket holder for the football team he supports.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff are supporting children to overcome their anxieties and try new activities. Careful and sensitive planning has taken place with one child who was anxious about visiting the hairdressers. Staff helped the child to prepare for the visit by using photos of the shop and the route they would take to get there. This helped to reassure the child and enabled him to better manage his anxieties.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms to reflect their individual tastes. This gives children a sense of permeance and helps them to feel at home. One child has decorated his bedroom in the colours of his football team and has lots of football memorabilia on display. Communal areas of the home are generally well decorated and maintained. However, some soft furnishings are tired and marked. This detracts from the homely atmosphere. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children are maturing and growing in confidence. One child has developed new friendships at the local college he attends. He has recently arranged to socialise with his friends after college.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

There have been no incidents of physical restraint at the home. This demonstrates the ability of staff to de-escalate challenging situations. Children are encouraged to reflect on their behaviours and this is supporting them to better regulate their emotional responses.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

All children have behaviour support plans which detail how staff should support them if they become upset and/or frustrated. However, there have been occasions when staff have attempted to diffuse incidents using strategies that are not included in children’s plans. These strategies were less effective and contributed to the incidents being more prolonged. A recommendation has been made to ensure that staff practice is aligned to children’s support plans. Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 3 Improvements have been made to children’s individual risk management plans. They now contain more up-to-date information about known risks to the safety of children. However, one risk assessment was not clear about the level of supervision a child required during a particular activity. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Managers have taken effective action to address the shortfalls identified at the last full inspection. This has led to improvements to the children’s experiences and to the arrangements in place to safeguard them.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last inspection, the manager has taken effective action to recruit sufficient staff. However, this issue is not fully resolved as newly recruited staff are not yet in post. The staff team is working hard to cover vacancies in the staff roster and the use of agency staff has reduced.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

While improvements have been made to the frequency of formal supervision for staff, the frequency is not in line with that identified in the provider’s statement of purpose. The requirement has been repeated at this inspection to secure improvement. Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/07/2019 Full Good 22/05/2018 Full Good 08/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 5

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(e)) 8 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 8 May 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have read, understood and act in accordance with children’s behaviour support plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10)  The registered person should ensure that tired and worn internal furnishings are replaced in a timely manner. This specifically relates to the sofas in the lounge. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 6  The registered person should ensure that children’s risk assessments contain clear control measures to support staff to minimise risks to children. This is specifically in relation to how staff should supervise children’s swimming sessions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Information about this inspection

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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 children’s home: 1240449 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 6 Stable Court Business Centre, Water Lane, Tarbock Green, Prescot L35 1RD

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Inspector

Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1240449 8 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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