Children's home run by Pathways Care Group Limited in Runnymede

Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 1 SC429369 Registered provider: Pathways Care Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private company. It cares for up to four children aged between eight and 18 with a range of additional needs and learning disabilities. These include autism spectrum disorders, social communication issues and associated behavioural and medical needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2019.

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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 inadequate

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following the interim inspection in March 2022, Ofsted served a compliance notice in respect of the leadership and management of the home. This inspection found that the provider has met each of the steps set out in the compliance except for one. This is in relation to providing all staff with training in physical intervention. This is now raised as a statutory requirement. Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 07/07/2021 Full Good 29/08/2019 Full Good 10/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 3

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improvement to be good

Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection. Since the last full inspection, children have made limited progress. More recently, significant staffing difficulties have affected the quality and consistency of the care that children receive. Recently, this has resulted in the provider serving notice on one child’s place at the home. This is because there are insufficient staff available to meet the child’s needs safely in the long term.

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improvement to be good

There are currently only six permanent staff working at the home. One of these, the registered manager, is leaving in May 2022. One staff member is on maternity leave and still on probation. Another staff member works part time and is on probation. The deputy manager has been in post since February 2022 and is also on probation. While there are several experienced bank staff, most are only able to cover a few shifts. Consequently, there is a huge reliance on agency staff, with occasions when there are more agency staff than permanent staff working at the home. This means that children are experiencing frequent changes of staff and sometimes receiving care from people they are not familiar with. This has contributed to a deterioration in children’s experiences and in the quality of care. Leaders and managers are continuing to attempt to recruit to posts, but this has not been successful.

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improvement to be good

Records relating to children’s progress are limited. Monthly reports have not been completed since December 2021. Records on the home’s new online recording system are sparse. The absence of good, clear records limits staff’s understanding and awareness of children’s progress.

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improvement to be good

The staff support children with their health needs. Feedback from a health professional was generally positive. One child is attending school and the other child has home tutoring. Both children are noted to be making some progress in their education.

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improvement to be good

The staff support the children to engage in activities. The activities vary for each child. For one child, leaving the home has been extremely difficult since the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Staff are working with the child, his social worker and his tutor to encourage and support him to leave the house for short activities.

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improvement to be good

Managers have made improvements to the physical environment since the interim inspection. This has created a more welcoming and pleasant environment for children.

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers are working with local placing authorities to try to ensure that children’s moves are managed effectively. However, the abrupt ending to one child’s placement is a concern. Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 4

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that risk assessments and behaviour management plans are in place for children. Broad safeguarding plans give an overview for staff.

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improvement to be good

Since the interim inspection, managers have ensured that the physical environment is safer for the children. This has included removing hazards in the garden.

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improvement to be good

The staff know how to raise concerns about practice at the home. They are aware of whistle-blowing procedures and how to contact senior managers. The staff said that they have received greater support from and access to senior managers since the interim inspection.

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improvement to be good

The staff support children without routine use of physical intervention. Since the interim inspection, additional staff, including some agency staff, have been trained in physical interventions. Further training is booked. However, there have continued to be occasions when there are not enough staff working at the home who are trained in physical interventions to meet the expectations of behaviour support plans.

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improvement to be good

On the one occasion since the interim inspection when a physical intervention took place, this was proportionate to the presenting risks. However, the manager involved did not receive a debrief. The absence of debriefs for staff involved in incidents means that staff may not receive the support that they need and reduces the potential for issues to be identified and rectified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers are responding to the issues at the home. However, the steps taken so far have not been effective in making sufficient improvements and there are widespread failures in the management of the home. As a result of the shortfalls, the home is struggling to achieve its aims and objectives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last full inspection, there has been very limited managerial capacity. The organisation has set the home up to have a manager, a deputy manager and three senior residential staff. Between September 2021 and February 2022, the manager had no deputy or senior residential staff supporting her. These huge gaps in managerial capacity have significantly contributed to widespread issues and shortfalls in the management of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Agency staff are working a significant number of shifts to try and provide a degree of consistency. Despite this, they have not been receiving supervisions. Some permanent staff have also not had supervisions at the frequency expected. Managers have not ensured that all staff have had an annual appraisal. This means that the staff who are working with the children are not getting the support and guidance that they should receive. Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 5 Managers have not ensured that agency staff have had all necessary safe recruitment checks before working at the home. This does not prevent unsuitable people from working at the home, as far as reasonably possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although all staff have had safeguarding training, managers have not ensured that staff have had training in safeguarding disabled children. Staff showed limited insight into the increased vulnerability of disabled children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the interim inspection, managers and staff report greater involvement and engagement from senior managers. This is positive, but was reactive to Ofsted serving a compliance notice. Changes to management monitoring and quality assurance have led to some improvement but the changes are still being embedded. Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 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 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is sufficient management capacity to deliver the outcomes set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 28 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 promotes their welfare.

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff receive physical intervention training and training that provides them with a good understanding of safeguarding disabled children. 28 April 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 7 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 promotes their welfare.

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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 to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the use of agency staff is carefully monitored and reviewed so that children receive continuity of care. 12 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that all checks outlined in Schedule 2 are undertaken for agency members of staff before they work at the home. 14 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction; and

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Requirement Due date

that all employees— 31 May 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 8 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 (1)(a) (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it. (Regulation (45) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 27 May 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff receive recorded debriefs following physical interventions. The reviews should enable the registered person and staff to monitor the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly when any issues or trends of concern emerge. The reviews should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that staff and managers keep clear records that will be helpful to the child and that detail the progress that children make. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC429369 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathways Care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Minton Place, Victoria Street, Windsor SL4 1EG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Olubunmi Fabusuyi

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Inspector

Ashley Hinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC429369 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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