Children's Home run by Smartcare Services in Enfield

Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 1 Registered provider: Smartcare Services 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 for up to four children. The provider states in their statement of purpose that they provide care for children with social and/or emotional difficulties. The home registered with Ofsted in April 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager registered with Ofsted in May 2021.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were three children living in the home at the time of this inspection. Feedback was only provided from one child, as one child declined to speak with the inspector and another was missing from care and away from the home during the inspection. Children were observed to be relaxed, happy and comfortable in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff strive to help children to achieve academic success. Children who struggle to engage in education are supported to attend their tuition. Staff advocate strongly for children with local authorities to ensure that children have some form of education provision. As a result, children who have had long absences from school re-engage in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles and achieve better physical and mental health. A diabetes nurse said, ‘Staff brought her to her recent appointment and were knowledgeable about her. They call to keep us updated.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to have fun. Staff make sure that children access recreational activities and explore their talents. For example, one child showed an interest in basketball and showed promising football skills. The staff have supported the child to attend regular football coaching and to go to watch a professional basketball game.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their family when it is safe to do so. Staff support children to maintain relationships with those who are important to them. This positive support helps children to develop and maintain important relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff restrict the children’s access to the kitchen and lounge at night. This action is not risk assessed or evidenced as proportionate to the risks posed to and/or by the children living in the home.

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

Staff focus their efforts on building positive and meaningful relationships with children. This child-centred care helps children to feel safe and know that staff care about them. One parent said, ‘She is very safe here. My mum also spoke to the staff and she was very impressed with the home and the staff.’

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

Staff understand children’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. They use this informed knowledge to help children to make safe decisions. As a result, children’s episodes of going missing from the home significantly reduce. However, staff do not always keep good records of information obtained from return home interviews. This is a missed opportunity to evaluate themes and patterns related to episodes of children going missing from home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 4 Allegations against staff are managed well. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge of the policies and procedures relating to the management of allegations against senior staff and whistle-blowing procedures. Consequently, this helps to keep children safe.

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

Children receive good guidance to help them to keep themselves safe. Additionally, there are clear boundaries in place to support staff to provide safe care. This is also the case for children who are subject to deprivation of liberty court orders. Staff are familiar with children’s vulnerabilities, and this helps them to anticipate and address children’s presenting behaviours.

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

The use of physical restraint is rare. Staff have only used physical restraint once since the last inspection, when it was necessary to safeguard children and others. However, the record did not contain all relevant information, such as the type of hold used.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified registered manager. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the home experiencing staffing instability and difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. The home has used a core group of agency staff to cover shifts. The manager demonstrated her commitment to the staff and children by covering shifts herself to ensure that children received good-quality care and were protected. However, this impacted on the quality of the manager’s oversight of the records in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite the manager’s best efforts to work with the upgraded recording systems, managers state that records continue to be lost. This has impacted negatively on the manager’s time, as much of her time has focused on recovering records. Leaders have decided to bring in a recording system that is fit for purpose, however, this has not yet been implemented. The requirement for recording has been repeated from the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some stakeholders and external professionals do not recognise the registered name of the home due to managers and staff referring to the home by the provider’s name. This has created confusion and has the potential to negatively impact on the accurate sharing of information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported. They benefit from regular supervision, appraisals and team meetings. However, supervision and appraisal records are not always sufficiently detailed. This compromises the oversight of staff practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers actively and regularly monitor the quality of care provided to children. This helps leaders and managers to identify areas that require improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The pandemic has impacted on staff undertaking face-to-face training. Additionally, two members of staff have not kept up to date with their core online training. Staff have also not completed training that is specific to the needs of children in their Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 5 care, including in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The manager supports staff with on-the-job training and coaching, which has reduced any impact on children due to the lack of staff training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers plan carefully for the matching of new children moving into the home. However, impact risk assessments do not include the manager’s evaluation of risk and any mitigating and support factors. This compromises the decision-making when new children move into the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work very well with other agencies and carers to support the day-to-day care of children. However, leaders and managers have failed to consult with safeguarding partners when updating the location risk assessment. This does not equip leaders to respond effectively to risks related to the location of the children’s home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 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

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that the home uses its registered name as stated in the statement of purpose in all communications with stakeholders and professionals in matters that relate to the home. 10 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child’s death;

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Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth;

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to: 10 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 7 ensuring that systems used for recording of information securely store children’s records to guard against the loss of records;

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Requirement Due date

ensuring that full records are kept of children’s daily experiences, including efforts made by staff to encourage children to attend and engage in education and develop good routines;

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Requirement Due date

ensuring that all the relevant details are captured when keeping records of restraint, such as the type of hold used;

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Requirement Due date

ensuring that full records are kept of the evaluation of risk when conducting impact risk assessments and how any identified risk will be managed.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 10 June 2022

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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;

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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)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that staff receive training to meet the needs of each child in their care, such as in ASD and ADHD. 10 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home, including the kitchen, unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Any Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 8 decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions are recorded and that both the person giving supervision and the staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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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: 2561501 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 10 Watermark Way, Foxholes Business Park, Hertford, Hertfordshire SG13 7TZ

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2561501 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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