Children's Home run by Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited in Southend on Sea

Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 1 Registered provider: Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to four children aged between 10 and 17 years. The aim of the home is to support children with social and emotional difficulties resulting from their early life experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced and has been registered with Ofsted since September 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: 2 February 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/02/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 3

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improvement to be good

This inspection identified some shortfalls in help and protection and leadership and management. This means that the home has been judged overall as requires improvement to be good.

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improvement to be good

One child was living at the home at the time of the inspection. Since the last full inspection in August 2021, four children have moved into and four children have moved out of the home. No children have lived at the home for longer than six months and two children moved out of the home within four weeks of moving in. For one child, this was a positive planned move in accordance with their care plan. For other children, this was because the home, or child’s placing authority, ended the placement. The staff supported positive endings for the children. However, the matching of children to the location, staff’s skills and experience and other children living at the home has not been consistently effective. Consequently, despite the good intentions of the staff, the home was not able to meet the children’s complex needs and provide suitable stability for children.

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improvement to be good

The staff have taken positive action to support children’s health and well-being, such as providing weekly access to a therapist and referring to local mentoring agencies. Children have made some progress. For example, one child has reduced their cannabis use. However, because children have only lived at the home for a short time, the ability to make significant progress in children’s health and education outcomes has been limited.

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improvement to be good

The staff are caring and have developed positive relationships with the children. One child’s social worker said that this home had been the only place that the child had ever hugged anyone.

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improvement to be good

The home environment feels warm and welcoming. However, particular areas of the home require repair and improvement. Two currently unused children’s bedrooms need the planned decorative improvements to be completed. The provider advised that these issues will be addressed within two weeks of this inspection.

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improvement to be good

The staff understand that the complex behaviours that children present are a means of communication linked to past trauma. There have been no physical restraints and, on most occasions, any sanction applied has been relevant and proportionate. However, on one occasion, a financial sanction applied in respect of damage caused by a child was not restorative in nature. Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 4 Fire-prevention arrangements require improvement to ensure that fire risks are fully understood and reduced. The home’s fire risk assessment refers to the storage of flammable items in a basement, which the home does not have. Some flammable items were unsafely stored under stairs that are the only exit route from the first floor. These items were removed by staff when this was highlighted by the inspector. Small holes, which have the potential to compromise the integrity of the fire door,

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improvement to be good

were noted in the kitchen-diner fire door.

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improvement to be good

Sleep-in staff are the only staff on site at night. However, staff have not had the opportunity to practise how they would safely evacuate the home safely at night. This does not ensure that the staff and children are as prepared as they could be in the event of fire at night.

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improvement to be good

Children’s individual risk assessments are not consistently updated with new information and are not always sufficiently detailed or individualised to the child. As a result, staff are not consistently aware of strategies to reduce risk.

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improvement to be good

The positive relationships that the staff develop with children help the staff to identify community-based risks. The staff have established positive relationships with partner safeguarding professionals and information about risk has been shared. This has helped agencies to work together to try to keep children safer.

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good

The staff team is relatively new and inexperienced. Of the eight staff currently employed to work at the home, five have less than one year’s experience of working in residential childcare. The acting deputy manager, who is the most senior team member, has not yet achieved the required level 3 qualification.

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good

The staff receive a variety of online training and most staff have recently enrolled on a level 3 or higher childcare qualification. Three staff hold a level 3 or higher health and social care or childcare qualification. However, the content of these qualifications has not been mapped to the level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare to establish relevance and equivalency. No staff currently hold the level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare. The inexperience of the staff team means that staff are less equipped to work effectively with children with complex emotional, behavioural and additional needs. The staff may potentially be less able to deal with any complex situations that occur.

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good

External monitoring arrangements are not sufficiently strong. The independent visitor did not visit the home but carried out virtual visits for four consecutive months between October 2021 and March 2022. The responsible individual advised the inspector that they have raised this shortfall with the independent person. The reports of the visits do not consistently demonstrate that independent person seeks regular suitable feedback from children or from staff and professionals involved with the home. The effectiveness of the visits and the ability of the independent person to have a full understanding of the quality of care and safeguarding in the home are Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 5 undermined. As a result, there has not been a sufficiently robust and challenging review of the home.

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good

Two staff recruitment files viewed did not contain a copy of the staff member’s qualification or a clearly documented reason why this was not held.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose contains inaccurate staffing information and inappropriate information about children living at the home. Partner professionals said that, on occasion, information has not been protected effectively.

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good

Some records held do not evidence the care and support that children receive or the staffing arrangements at the home. For example, staff rotas have not been updated to reflect changes in staffing arrangements. On occasion, staff have worked alone at the home. There is some guidance on lone working; however, no suitability assessment of individual staff to lone work has been completed. This is particularly relevant given the relative inexperience of the team.

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good

Staff are caring and motivated and say that they enjoy working at the home and feel well supported by the manager and responsible individual.

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good

The manager has met two of the four requirements that were raised at the last inspection. Two requirements are restated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that strategies in children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are reviewed when required to reduce risks.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 23 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 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; and 23 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 7 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; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff provide consistent boundaries and care and support;

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Requirement Due date

maintain confidentiality of information;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that records are available and accurate and evidence the support that the children receive.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, implement an effective system to understand the combined risks of children living together and improve the detail and quality of matching assessments.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 23 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that information contained in the statement of purpose is clear, accurate and appropriate. 23 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (1) applies to the home— 22 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 8 the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that flammable items are safely stored. If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the fire risk assessment clearly and accurately details all the fire prevention arrangements at the home. Furthermore, ensure that damaged fire doors are repaired and that fire evacuation practices take place to reflect the variety of staffing arrangements in the home. 23 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff duty rotas are clear and accurate. 23 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (4)(a)(b) (5)) 23 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 9 In particular, ensure that the independent visitor completes an on-site visit to the home each month, and that reports are of consistently good quality and are reviewed by the responsible individual.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should provide a nurturing, homely environment. In particular, ensure that all areas of the home are decorated to a consistently high standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature. The use of sanctions should follow the principles set out in paragraph 9.35 of the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’ relating to treating each child with understanding, dignity and kindness. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should document how they assess whether staff qualifications are ‘equivalent’ based on whether the content of any qualifications held by the individual closely corresponds with the qualifications set out in

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Recommendations

regulation 32 (4) for those in a care role. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.13)  The registered person should, when there might only be one member of staff on duty at any time, make a formal recorded assessment of the implications for children’s care, including any likely risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.18)  The registered person should, as set out in regulations 31–33, maintain good employment practice. In particular, ensure that copies of relevant staff qualifications are held. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2596906 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Indigo Children’s Care Homes Limited

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Inspector

Joanna Heller, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2596906 11 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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