Children's home run by Bramley Care Limited

Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 1 SC013553 Registered provider: Bramley Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home can accommodate up to eight children who require specialist support. Every child who is admitted to the home must agree to engage with the home’s therapeutic services. There were five children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager in post since 6 May 2022.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/11/2019 Full Good 22/11/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided to children has improved since the last inspection. Staff are helping children to live together more harmoniously as a group. Children report that the home feels much calmer. They were observed to be comfortable and relaxed with each other and with staff. Children are living in an environment where there is a positive atmosphere, which supports them to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are actively encouraged to understand the importance of respect and acceptance. The thoughtful support that children receive teaches them how to build and to maintain positive relationships. The children frequently remind each other to be more understanding of difference. This has been particularly helpful for one child as he was struggling to fit into the group due to the way he interacted with his peers. The child’s social worker spoke extremely positively about how well staff understand the child’s needs and the progress the child has made in relation to his social well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their starting points in education. Two of the children are participating in activity-based learning arranged by the organisation’s school. One of the children was struggling to manage, and some of his school days were ending in a negative way. Following consultation with the education and therapy teams, managers have adjusted the child’s school timetable, and care staff are supporting him in school. The child is now coping with the expectations of him and is enjoying his time in school again. Three of the children are currently taking their GCSE exams. Staff are nurturing and give children the encouragement they need to cope with the pressure of their studies and exams. Proactive support from managers and staff, collaborative working and a flexible approach to respond to children’s individual needs are helping children to engage and achieve in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience sensitive care and therapy, which enables them to make good progress in relation to their emotional well-being. They are supported to recover from past traumatic events in their lives. In one example, a child is waiting for a potentially life-changing decision to be made about his future. Staff are helping the child to manage his emotions and stay focused on goals which are important to him. In another example, a child’s self-harming behaviour has dramatically reduced because he has learned other ways of coping and expressing his feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The documents used for tracking children’s progress do not consistently demonstrate that individualised goals are set for children, and they are not updated when children achieve their goals. This shortfall in recording undermines the good work which is helping children make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work in partnership with children’s families. A family member of a child who has recently moved out of the home told the inspector that she has nothing but praise for the care, education and therapy the child received. She went on to say Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 4 that communication with the home is effective and open, and that this means that the family and staff have given consistent messages to the child. The family member said, ‘The staff deserve medals as big as frying pans.’ This is because they helped the child to stick to boundaries and learn how to keep himself safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive professional support to improve their physical and mental health. Managers advocate effectively for children to ensure that they are accessing the resources and support that they need.

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

Staff prioritise the safety and well-being of children. Incidents where children are at risk of harm are rare. When concerns arise, managers take swift and decisive action to ensure the safety of children. They identify any shortfalls in practice and take steps to ensure that learning from incidents is shared with the whole staff team. This reduces the risk of a similar incident happening again. Managers notify Ofsted about all serious events.

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

The process which is followed when children move into the home is thorough and thoughtful. Children usually come to the home for an assessment week before their placement is confirmed. During this time, the impact of the child moving into the home on the children already living there is assessed by observations of children individually and as part of the group. As a result, children are well matched and staff have a good understanding of their individual needs in the context of living in the home.

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

A well-planned free-time programme gives children the opportunity to demonstrate that they are becoming increasingly safe and can start to have more time unsupervised in the local community. One child described to the inspector how this works in practice. His goal is to work up to being able to attend church by himself. The child is very clear about what he needs to do to achieve this. Children are involved in their support plans. They understand how their plans are helping them to keep safe. This helps them to feel secure and to make safer choices.

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

Due to the positive relationships enjoyed between children and staff, incidents which require physical restraint are rare. When they do occur, managers carry out a prompt and thorough review with the children and staff involved. They explore what happened and seek to find ways of reducing the risk of incidents reoccurring.

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

Managers and staff recognise that, due to the specific vulnerabilities which exist for the children, there must be a robust response from staff when children’s whereabouts are unknown. There is a clear protocol in place which has been agreed with the police. As a result of this effective joint working, children are supported to return home as soon as possible. Staff complete missing from care records to capture all the actions they have taken to ensure that children return home safely. However, there are missed opportunities to fully understand the implications and children’s motivation for leaving the home without permission. This is because the Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 5 discussions that are held with children when they return after being missing from care are not always captured in records.

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

Some children’s care plans and risk assessments describe risks which are no longer present for children. As a result, they do not provide staff with an accurate description of children’s current and most relevant risks.

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good

There have been changes to the leadership and management of the home since the last inspection. The registered manager has resigned, and a new deputy manager has very recently started to be in day-to-day charge of the home. The responsible individual is fully supporting him. The deputy manager was already known to the children and they have responded positively to his arrival.

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good

A further development is that the organisation has been acquired by a different company. The responsible individual reports good support from her new senior management team and wider support services. The changes to leadership and management of the home indicate that some improvements have been introduced. However, these are not yet embedded and so the impact is not fully known.

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good

Many of the shortfalls identified at the last inspection have been addressed, particularly in relation to helping children build positive relationships and protecting children who self-harm. However, shortfalls in management monitoring remain. Managers do not have effective systems to provide sufficient oversight and scrutiny to ensure best practice in relation to children’s records. Although this is not currently having a direct impact on the quality of care or progress and experience of children, recording needs to improve to underpin good practice.

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good

Since the last inspection, managers have taken steps to ensure that the environment is cleaned to a higher standard and have tried to make it look more homely. However, some fixtures and fittings are damaged and there is graffiti in a shower room that has not been addressed despite being noted at the last full inspection. The new owners of the home have agreed on the scope of a refurbishment of the home, but there are no firm plans in place for the works to be completed.

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good

The statement of purpose for the home has not been reviewed for over a year. As a result, the version which was most recently sent to Ofsted, and which is published on the organisation’s website, does not contain up-to-date information. Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 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

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the documents used to track children’s progress consistently demonstrate that children are being supported to achieve the goals which are important to them. 30 June 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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 30 June 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 7 Specifically, the registered person should ensure that management monitoring systems provide effective oversight of children’s records.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

If a home has a website, the registered person must ensure that a copy of the statement of purpose is published on that website unless the registered person considers that such publication would prejudice the welfare of children in the home. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b) (4)) 30 June 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children’s risk assessments accurately describe children’s current risks. Staff need the knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, there is opportunity for the child to have a return home interview. The home should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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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 children’s home: SC013553 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bramley Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Malvern View, Hanbury Road, Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove B60 4AD

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Inspector

Helen Simmons, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC013553 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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