Children's Home run by Interactive Development Residential Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 1 Registered provider: Impact Childcare and Education Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by an independent provider. The home provides care for up to four children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2019 and is suitably qualified for the role.

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Information about this children’s home

During this inspection, the inspector spoke with all of the children currently living in 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 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: 10 January 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are happy and settled at the home. Staff provide the children with good-quality care in a homely environment. The children know that staff care about them. As a result, the children feel listened to and valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s daily lives are positive, and they enjoy living in the home. They share good relationships with the staff and access the things that matter most to them. The children communicate with their family and friends regularly, either via face-to- face meetings or online. This enables them to stay in touch with those who are important to them. The children particularly enjoy the time that they spend with their friends in the community. This means that the children enjoy similar social experiences to their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s voices are heard. The children are supported to engage in their care planning reviews. Regular house meetings ensure that children’s wishes and feelings are heard. The children choose their activities and weekly menus. The children’s social workers acknowledge that the manager and the staff advocate well for the children in the home. This has helped the children to get the right support and make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are encouraged to have fun and enjoy themselves in the home and their local community. At the weekends and during the school holidays, the children enjoy lots of fun activities, such as go-karting, playing football, visiting theme parks and beaches.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the children’s education. Children either attend school or have tuition in the home. The manager actively engages with educational professionals to request alternative education arrangements for children who face challenges in accessing mainstream education. This ensures that the children’s educational needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are helped by the staff to view their health, including their mental health, as important. Staff offer the children guidance and advice on all health matters. This includes supporting the children to make an informed decision on accepting the COVID-19 vaccination. The skills that the children are taught help them to develop their independence, which helps them to prepare for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and the staff prepare well for children who move into the home. They make sure children who move in do so at their own pace and at the right time. However, this practice is not consistent when children move out. Despite a child becoming increasingly unsafe, the manager failed to request a looked after review for the child. This missed opportunity resulted in the manager and staff not receiving the additional support that they required to manage the child’s disruptive Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 4 behaviour in the home. This oversight resulted in the child’s placement being disrupted and their placement ending prematurely in an unplanned way.

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

Staff have a good understanding of why children behave the way they do. They know each child well, and they can identify the child’s risks and vulnerabilities. Staff understand and know how to respond to safeguarding concerns.

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

When the children are absent from the home without permission, the staff and the manager follow safeguarding protocols. Staff complete focused key-work sessions with the children when they return. This helps the children to understand the danger of going missing from the home.

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

Children know how to make a complaint. When children do complain, this is taken seriously. The manager investigates the complaints and addresses any identified actions thoroughly.

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

Safer recruitment practice is thorough. This ensures that the staff are suitable to work with children. This ensures the safety of children living in the home.

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

Some of the children have experienced verbal bullying and racial remarks in the home. Staff are quick to acknowledge and label this behaviour, bringing it to the forefront of the children’s discussions. The staff support the children when they have experienced bullying. The staff have been creative in sensitively supporting the children to learn about and understand the impact of their hurtful words. This encourages the children to think about the wider influences of their language and behaviours in and outside of the home.

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

The children’s risk assessments are detailed and updated monthly to reflect the children’s presenting needs and risks. Concerns about the children are recorded as required. However, the risk assessments are not consistently updated in a timely manner when new concerns first emerge. This means that the staff do not consistently respond to children’s emerging risks. This has the potential to compromise the children’s safety.

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good

Leadership and management of the home are not yet consistently good. However, the manager is passionate about providing good-quality care to the children. He works closely with the children’s families and external professionals, and their feedback is positive. These positive partnerships mean that the children feel secure and know that everyone has their best interests at heart.

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good

Children’s records are detailed and provide a comprehensive picture of each child’s needs, experience and progress. Internal documents, such as care plans and risk assessments, are reviewed and updated. However, supporting documentation from Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 5 external agencies, such as looked after review minutes, health assessments and education plan review minutes from the placing local authority, has not been acquired in a timely manner. Furthermore, the manager has failed to challenge the placing local authority when outstanding documents have not been received in a reasonable time. This means that the children’s records are incomplete. In addition, the manager cannot be assured that he and the staff are providing care in line with the children’s most up-to-date care plans.

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good

The manager’s monitoring and review systems are not used effectively, and shortfalls in the record-keeping have not been identified. Ineffective monitoring and review systems limit the manager’s ability to assess whether the care provided to the children is in their best interest.

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good

The manager and senior leaders provide regular supervision to the staff. The supervision process provides the staff with the guidance that they need to provide good and consistent care to children.

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good

The provider has experienced some staffing difficulties due to staff turnover, sickness and absence. The staff report that this is a challenging time and that new staff have been recruited. The manager identified an issue causing a delay in recruitment, and he has shared this with the senior managers to prevent a future occurrence. The children do not report that this has had any impact on them. This is because they have received consistent care and support from a core group of staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; and

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must escalate their concerns to the director of children’s services of the placing authority when documents, such as the children’s looked after review minutes, health assessments and education plan review minutes, are not received in a reasonable time. 28 June 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 specifically relates to ensuring that risk assessments are accurate and include relevant strategies to keep the child 28 June 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 7 safe. In addition, ensure that risk assessments are up to date.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered person requests a looked after review if the child is at risk of harm. In addition, the registered person must ensure that children move on from the home in a planned way. 28 June 2022

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Requirement Due date

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; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the children’s looked after review minutes, health assessment and education plan review minutes are obtained and kept up to date. 28 June 2022

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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: 2534102 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Impact Childcare and Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3-5 Brenkley Way, Blezard Business Park, Seaton Burn, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland NE13 6DS

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Inspector

Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2534102 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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