Children's Home run by Progressive Futures Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 1 SC066242 Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/02/2020 Full Good 22/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/07/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 3

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improvement to be good

There are two children currently living at the home. Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home and one child has moved in.

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improvement to be good

One child’s placement ended in an unplanned way as he was returned to secure accommodation. Staff ensured that he was supported as much as possible immediately prior to his move to reduce the impact of this.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance of relationships and support children to see their families. Children benefit from this, and it helps them to maintain positive relationships even though they are living away from home.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to learn independence skills, such as budgeting and learning to cook. Both the children living at the home were seen to cook themselves a meal. This is important as it ensures that children are prepared for the next stages of their lives.

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improvement to be good

Children’s progress in education is mixed. One child attends school and said that she enjoys being at school. Another child has been reluctant to engage in education; however, staff have been creative in finding incentives to encourage her to attend her exams.

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improvement to be good

There has been some improvement regarding consultation with children since the last inspection; however, there are still shortfalls. When children express their views and wishes, these are not responded to, or the responses given are not explained. This has led to the children saying they do not feel listened to.

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improvement to be good

The staff demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of risks to children and the protective strategies in place. However, the quality of written risk assessments is variable and, at times, information is missing or not up to date.

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improvement to be good

The children have been missing from home together and this is not reflected in their risk assessments. This means that staff do not have written guidance of the strategies they are to follow to minimise risks and ensure children’s safety.

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improvement to be good

Children have incentives in place to promote positive behaviour and they regularly receive rewards. There have been no negative consequences since the last inspection and physical interventions have not been used. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 4 Managers recruit new staff safely. Staff are thoroughly vetted and assessed before any appointment is confirmed. These safe recruitment procedures make sure that children are protected by preventing unsuitable adults from working in the home.

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good

Staff are suitably qualified or currently undertaking their qualifications in residential childcare. There is a good training programme in place to ensure that staff have the necessary skills to meet the complex and challenging needs of the children in their care.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision. The supervision is purposeful and allows staff to reflect on their practice.

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good

Team meetings are held regularly and identify what is working well and what improvements need to be made. Not all staff attend, and so they may miss important updates. Leaders intend to either make future team meetings mandatory for all staff or ask staff to sign to confirm that they have read the minutes. This will ensure that all staff are aware of changes in the home.

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good

Since the last inspection, the acting manager has left the organisation. The post of registered manager is now vacant. Although leaders are proactively trying to recruit a manager for the home, the absence of a manager has led to shortfalls in the day- to-day monitoring of the home.

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good

Children’s case records do not include all the information staff should have about each child to ensure that they are providing care in line with local authority plans. This is particularly in relation to health and education documents. The absence of information hinders the leaders’ ability to demonstrate how the home’s care planning supports children to make progress against the placing authorities’ expectations.

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good

The most recent review of the quality-of-care report was completed by the previous acting manager. The report does not include consultation with stakeholders. This does not support leaders and managers to drive forward improvements in the quality of care provided to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that children have the opportunity to express their wishes and feelings and receive responses in relation to these from the registered person. 24 August 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specially relates to ensuring that all risk assessments, including missing-from-care protocols, contain all the relevant information and are kept up to date. 24 August 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 24 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 6 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

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

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that there are effective monitoring systems in place to ensure that oversight of all aspects of the day-to-day running of the home is undertaken. 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. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s case records contain up-to-date plans and reports relating to each child, specifically health and education documents. 24 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. 24 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 7 (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(b)(c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that reports include feedback from stakeholders and a clear action plan.

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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: SC066242 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 22 Hoghton Street, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0PG

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Inspector

Rachael Crook, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 9 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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