Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 1 SC059635 City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates and runs this home. The home provides long-term care for up to four children with a range of social and emotional needs. The registered manager has been absent from work since August 2021. A temporary manager started in January 2022 and is yet to be registered with Ofsted.

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This monitoring visit

This home was judged requires improvement to be good at the last full inspection on 15 September 2021. At the interim inspection on 16 March 2022, Ofsted judged that it had declined in effectiveness. The inspectors found serious shortfalls in children’s risk assessments and the checks completed on agency workers.

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This monitoring visit

At the interim inspection, Ofsted issued two compliance notices under section 22 of the Care Standards Act 2000. These were in relation to regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 32, the fitness of workers.

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this visit was to assess the progress made to meet the compliance notices.

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This monitoring visit

Consistent guidance from the senior leadership team and the acting manager has provided progressive stability for the staff. This has helped the team to develop a familiar narrative about how they explore the children’s needs. As a result, progress is being made by staff to help the children to feel happier and well cared for.

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This monitoring visit

Staff receive practice-related supervision that helps them to reflect on the needs of the children and provides them with an opportunity to talk about the support they need to be effective in their roles. Weekly team meetings also provide staff with an opportunity to discuss the children and the operational aspects of the home. Staff Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 2 are given ownership of their key-working roles, and they speak proudly about the children and celebrate their achievements.

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This monitoring visit

Risk assessments and plans have been developed to provide staff with clear direction about the actions they should take to keep children safe. There is a strong focus on having regular conversations with children to assess their physical and emotional well-being. There are clear thresholds for when staff should escalate their concerns to other agencies, such as the police. This helps to ensure that there is a coordinated response for children when staff are worried about their safety.

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This monitoring visit

The warning signs that inform staff that children may be struggling to cope with difficult emotions are described in the children’s behaviour plans. However, there are no clear strategies for how staff should help them when children are in crisis. This may result in inconsistent help for children.

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This monitoring visit

The staff have worked extensively with other agencies in response to a missing- from-home incident where a child had been harmed. The strength of the multi- agency response enabled key professionals to agree on the actions needed to provide protection for the child.

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This monitoring visit

Return home interviews with children are completed by an independent person after a missing-from-home incident. This enables critical information about the children’s safety to be shared with other agencies so they can evaluate the level of risk associated with missing-from-home incidents.

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This monitoring visit

Standards are being established with staff about how they should communicate with children and the quality of records they complete about their day-to-day care. This will improve the children’s experience of being cared for and enhance their ability to look back at their time living at this home.

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This monitoring visit

The new system for the recruitment of agency workers is aligned to the Children’s Homes Regulations to provide protection for children. The acting manager has shown appropriate curiosity in recruitment documentation and has explored discrepancies in the information submitted. However, a reference was not sufficiently verified with an agency worker’s previous employer. This limits the manager’s ability to explore and fully evaluate the agency worker’s suitability to care for the children.

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This monitoring visit

The regulator has been notified when there has been a serious incident involving a child. This enables the regulator to monitor that the actions taken by managers provide protection for children.

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This monitoring visit

The provider’s whistle-blowing procedure has been shared and discussed with staff to establish the importance this has in keeping children safe. This supports staff to have a better understanding about what their responsibilities are and how to share their concerns. As a result, the compliance notices have been met. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/03/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness 15/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 4

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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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— 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; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(b)) The registered person must ensure that the children’s risk assessments and behaviour support plans provide the staff with guidance and direction regarding what action they should take to help children to cope with difficult emotions.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The requirements are that— full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d)) The registered person must ensure that references are explored and verified with agency workers’ previous employers, in addition to the reference provided by the agency. 10 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 5

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC059635 7 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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