Children's Home run by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 1 SC369825 Registered provider: Stoke-on-Trent City Council 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 local authority. It is registered to care for up to two children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently no registered manager at the home.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC369825 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/10/2021 Full Good 26/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/07/2018 Full Good 27/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children currently live in the home. Since the last inspection in October 2021, one child has moved out and one child has moved into the home. Staff plan children’s transitions well to ensure that children have positive experiences of moving into and out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value children’s education. When children struggle at school, staff provide them with good support. As a result, children’s attendance is good. Managers and staff have regular communication with children’s educational professionals to promote children’s learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers have put in place detailed care plans that provide staff with essential information. Staff use these documents to review children’s progress in all aspects of their care. However, staff are not supporting children to read and contribute to their care plans. This shortfall can prevent children from meaningfully engaging with their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend activities and keep themselves busy. One child enjoys fishing and is skilled at it, and this is supported by the staff team. Staff try their best to offer children experiences that will help them develop socially and grow in confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with children’s social workers and families. Staff help children to maintain important relationships by promoting and supporting family time. One child’s parent told the inspector that staff spend time with him, have been a great support to her son and herself and that staff are always available.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Currently, children do not have independence plans in place to help them develop the necessary skills for adult life. This is an area that the new manager is aware of and has plans to address.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have personalised their bedrooms. The home environment is clean, tidy and welcoming. There are some areas that require further redecoration; however, this is in process.

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improvement to be good

The two children living in the home do not always get along with one another. Regular key-work sessions between children and staff have not focused on promoting healthy relationships and behaviours. As a result, there is sometimes tension in the home. In addition, staff do not record low-level bullying. Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 4 Staff reward children for their achievements and positive behaviours. Both children have incentive plans in place that help children learn to make positive choices. However, these are not regularly reviewed and amended to promote further progress. When necessary, staff will impose sanctions on children. However, the managers have not reviewed the effectiveness of these sanctions to assure themselves that they are appropriate. As a result, sanctions put in place do not deter repeated behaviours. On occasion, staff have failed to put in place sanctions when required. This shortfall does not support children to understand the impact of

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks and potential hazards for each child, and, when necessary, take effective action to safeguard children. Risk assessments are in place; however, not all are up to date or accurate. Some risk assessments do not provide staff with sufficient strategies. Due to the staff’s good knowledge of the children, this has not yet compromised the safety of children. However, these shortfalls do not ensure that new staff supporting children are adequately informed of how to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Serious incidents rarely occur. Children rarely go missing from the home. On the odd occasion that they do, staff follow the children’s missing-from-care protocol. Staff use de-escalation and distraction techniques to help keep children occupied and to reduce the need for physical interventions.

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improvement to be good

The managers have ensured that new staff working at the home are safely recruited. All relevant checks have been made before new staff start their employment. This means that staff have been suitably vetted to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has resigned. A new manager has recently commenced in post and together with the assistant manager they lead a small, dedicated staff team. Staff enjoy their job and speak well of the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that they feel supported by the new manager. Staff receive regular supervision and have access to monthly team meetings and reflective practice sessions, which provides the opportunity for staff to reflect on children’s needs and practice issues. Newly recruited staff are provided with a thorough induction and probation process that helps them to understand their roles and the children they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a comprehensive range of training available to staff and most staff have completed key training for their roles. This means that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to care safely for the children. One member of staff has not obtained the required residential childcare qualification within the required time frame.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, managers have worked hard to ensure that the home is safely staffed. On occasion, staff work additional Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 5 shifts or staff from other homes cover shifts to ensure that the needs of children can be met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work positively with professionals and communication is good. One social worker told the inspector that ‘staff have a very good understanding of [name of child’s] additional needs and support and encourage him to build on his independence skills. He is offered lots of emotional warmth, which he thrives on.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite the shortfalls identified, staff are providing good care to children and children benefit from living at the home. The new manager is aware of areas that can improve and has plans in place to address them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff support children to form positive relationships with other children living in the home. 29 July 2022

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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; 29 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 7 help each child to understand how to keep safe.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered provider ensuring that risk assessments are up to date and provide staff with effective strategies to help children. In addition, the registered provider should ensure that staff complete work with children to help them understand and reduce their risk.

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

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. 29 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 8 (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered provider ensuring that all staff have completed the relevant qualification in residential childcare.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the effectiveness of any sanction is reviewed within the required time frames. 29 July 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that staff help children prepare for moving on from the home. This should include preparing children to develop essential independence skills to prepare them emotionally and practically, including self- care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.27)  The registered provider should ensure that there is a system in place to record, intervene and address bullying behaviours effectively. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.16)  The registered provider should ensure that staff encourage children to view and contribute to their records in a way that reflects their voice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19) Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 9

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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: SC369825 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City Of Stoke-on-Trent

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Swann House, Boothen Road, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 4SY

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Inspector

Debbie Holder, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC369825 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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