Children's Home run by Future Focused Ltd in Wigan

Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 1 Registered provider: Future Focused Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of a number operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children who may have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 1241634 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/04/2021 Full Good 14/05/2019 Full Good 17/04/2018 Full Good 02/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home receive compassionate and supportive care. The home is welcoming, and children can personalise their own space as they wish. This helps them feel comfortable and gives them a sense of belonging. Children have access to gym equipment in a covered area in the back garden, although currently they prefer to spend time with their family and friends or on activities in the local community. One child has been supported to pursue his keen interest in rugby, with the staff helping him to join a local team. He is rightly proud of his achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in the home make good progress. Both children are in full-time education and are thinking about what they want to do in the future. Staff are supporting them to consider the options available to them locally, to help identify the most appropriate college course or apprenticeship.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs and show compassion and empathy for the difficulties that they have faced in the past. Staff support children to maintain relationships with their family and friends. Staff respect the value children place on these relationships. Staff also work hard to develop positive lines of communication with these individuals, enhancing the care provided to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff have access to an in-house therapist to support children’s emotional health. This allows staff the opportunity for consultation and therapeutic advice, to ensure that they are responding in the most appropriate way to aid children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Medication is securely stored, and staff consider allowing children to administer their own medication if appropriate, to help prepare them for independent living. For one child, medication had not been administered as prescribed on two separate occasions, and new medication had not been documented as received in the home’s records. This change of medication was also not consistently reflected across all the child’s records, potentially leading to further errors in medication administration.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has moved into the home since the previous inspection. This move was well planned, with the child having the opportunity to visit the home and meet the staff before moving in. Two children have left the home, with one transitioning to independence. Her move was carefully planned, with staff providing some support initially following her move. Staff have maintained a positive relationship and keep in contact with her, as does another child living in the home. This confirms the quality of the relationships formed by children while living here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social work professionals are positive about the support children receive. One social worker commented in feedback requested by the home, ‘Staff are fully invested in ensuring that quality support is received. They have a person-centred approach and Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 4 encourage engagement in age-appropriate activities. They understand individual interests and promote them.’

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

The promotion of positive relationships with children and a good understanding of their difficulties helps staff deal with most challenges presented by children. Significant progress has been made in respect of reducing missing-from-care episodes for one child, as the staff have worked proactively with them by listening and responding to their views. Similarly, physical interventions are rare, with good- quality records indicating the need to intervene to keep the child or others safe.

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

Staff focus on the use of incentives and each child has a weekly incentive plan. When consequences are used, they are proportionate and fair. However, follow-up key-worker sessions are not always carried out, resulting in a missed opportunity for reflective work with children.

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

Individual risk management plans are detailed and show a good understanding of the risks for each child. The use of monthly summary charts indicates marked progress for the children, however, the method of assessing current risk is not always clear.

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

Allegations and complaints are managed well. Managers take appropriate and timely action and work in partnership with other safeguarding bodies. The safety and well- being of children is clearly paramount.

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

Staff recruitment processes are safe. The induction of new staff is robust and comprehensive to ensure the least disruption to children and encourage the development of positive relationships.

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

The completion of an independent fire risk assessment and the fitting of thumb-turn locks on external doors has improved the fire safety in the home since the last inspection. Although regular fire evacuation drills take place, these frequently take place when only staff are in the home. Children have not taken part in a drill for many months and drills have not been undertaken at night. This does not provide reassurance about children’s ability to leave the home in the event of an emergency. When a drill was last completed with a child in the home, she refused to leave the premises, but there has been no follow-up work regarding this poor decision- making.

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

Staff adopt an empathic and nurturing approach to children and are receptive to children’s individual needs. Although staff carry out regular key-working conversations with children, insufficient emphasis is placed on work relating to children’s specific risks, limiting their effectiveness. Furthermore, staff have omitted to carry out any monthly structured key-working sessions with one child since they moved into the home over four months ago. This error was only identified during this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 5

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good

The home is led by a suitably qualified and experienced manager. She is child- centred, committed to the children and understands them well.

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good

The staff team is relatively stable, with some long-serving members of staff. There is a good balance between established and new members of staff working in the home. Staff say that they feel supported by the manager, and they receive regular effective supervision. Supervision records are detailed and support staff development. New members of staff receive a comprehensive and supportive induction package, ensuring that they develop confidence in their role.

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good

Staff have completed core training, however, not all staff have received training specific to the children’s needs, such as the misuse of drugs and alcohol. This would ensure that they have the skills to identify any concerns and be able to provide children with accurate information.

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good

Managerial oversight is inconsistent and has failed to identify a number of matters identified at this inspection. This includes: confidential third-party information on another child’s case record; staff failure to sign updated documents; key-working sessions not being completed; and no management evaluation for one physical intervention which involved the manager herself. Furthermore, the concerns relating to medication records and fire drills highlighted above had not been identified before this inspection.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose outlines the objectives of the home but does not currently include detail regarding the use of door alarms at night. Furthermore, the necessary consent from the children’s social workers to this practice has yet to be obtained.

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good

Staff meetings generally take place on a regular basis and any actions set are monitored and updated on completion. The meeting records are detailed and demonstrate information-sharing among staff.

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good

The manager demonstrates commitment to the children and is passionate in respect of their long-term outcomes. Professional feedback is positive, commenting that children are provided with a good standard of care and that the home operates in a manner that is responsive to children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that regular key-work sessions are carried out for each child and that follow-up work is undertaken following incidents. 27 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

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; 27 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 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;

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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)(b) (2)(a)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, improve the quality of managers’ oversight and review to ensure that children’s records contain the required information and that any omissions in the home’s procedures are identified.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (3)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the statement of purpose is updated to reflect changes of staffing and the use of door alarms. 27 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, medication is administered as prescribed, logged appropriately and children’s records are updated and reviewed. 27 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 27 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 8 In particular, fire drills are undertaken for all children, including night-time evacuation.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that consent is obtained from local authorities in respect of the use of door alarms. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that staff access appropriate training specific to the children’s individual needs, and that they understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 1241634 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Future Focused Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office 1, Crows Nest Business Park, Ashton Road, Billinge, Wigan, Lancashire WN5 7XX

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Inspectors

Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Claire Hobbs, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1241634 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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