Children's home run by Tressell Homes Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 1 Registered provider: Tressell Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and social difficulties or learning disabilities. It is operated by a private company.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager resigned in December 2020. An interim manager has applied to Ofsted for registration.

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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: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/03/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 26/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/03/2020 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there was a sibling group of two children living in the home. The home is a warm and homely environment suited to the needs of the children. The children’s bedrooms are well decorated and personalised to their interests. Children are happy and settled in their home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well; they spoke with warmth and pride about the children and the progress they had made. Inspectors were able to observe positive interactions with the children. Consequently, children are supported to build trusting relationships with the adults caring for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote the importance of education. Both children have excellent attendance at school. Staff have developed positive working relationships with schools. There is daily communication between the home and school to monitor the well-being and progress of the children. Due to this, the children are continuing to make progress with both their behaviour and achievements in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress with their health needs. Staff register the children with appropriate health services. Staff complete key-work sessions with the children around the importance of attending health appointments. A child who has refused to attend health appointments recently attended their first appointment, demonstrating progress for this child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the value of time with family and others important to the children. Children have regular time with their family, which staff arrange and supervise. Consequently, the children are able to maintain their sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a range of activities suited to their interests. Other professionals reported that the variety of activities offered to the children is a strength of the home. As a result, the children can enjoy hobbies and develop their areas of interest.

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

Children living in the home are safe. There are individualised risk assessments in place for children that contain known triggers and clear strategies to keep children safe. There have been no incidents of children going missing from home and staff are clear about the actions that they are required to take should this happen.

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

Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding and how to keep children safe. Staff were able to talk confidently about identified risks for the children and the strategies in risk assessments to keep them safe. Staff have completed training which covers the identified needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 4 The staff team implements a restorative model of behaviour management. There have been no incidents of physical intervention. The manager ensures that staff are trained in using de-escalation techniques; this works well for the children, who develop a positive sense of well-being and respect.

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

Recruitment processes have been strengthened to ensure that the adults caring for the children are safe. A senior member of staff has verbally verified all references for new members of staff and identification checks have been conducted on all staff members.

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good

The manager does not have sufficient oversight of the home and has not maintained the workforce development plan. There is evidence that the manager does evaluate and review documentation in the home; however, this is inconsistent. This was particularly evident in the signing and dating of daily records for the children. As a result, the quality of documentation can be inconsistent.

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good

Serious incidents are infrequent. However, when a serious incident happened, the debriefs were not completed by a staff member with appropriate standing. The review of the incident was completed by a less senior member of staff. This demonstrates a weakness in the management oversight and evaluation of these incidents. Furthermore, when a child made an allegation, this was not immediately reported to all safeguarding agencies. Immediate action was taken by the responsible individual to report this allegation during the inspection.

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good

There is not a full staff team in place and the home has staff vacancies. The rotas evidence that there has been occasion when staff have lone worked or agency staff have been used. As a result, there is not always a continuity of care provided to the children.

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good

The manager ensures that supervision takes place regularly with all staff. Supervisions are used to reflect on individual staff practices, learning and the progress of the children they are caring for. Regular team meetings also take place. As a result, team members reported that they are supported by the management team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 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 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 has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement relates specifically to ensuring that the home has a consistent staff team, and the manager has appropriate monitoring and review systems in place. 23 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have in place an up-to-date workforce plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that all children’s records are clear and specific, kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 6

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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: 2540658 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tressell Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 41, Price Street Business Centre, Price Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 4JQ

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Inspectors

Rose Maddocks, Social Care Inspector Genevieve O’Reilly, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2540658 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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