Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Coventry

Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 1 Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a private company. It provides medium- to long-term care for up to three children aged between five and 18 years. The children may have physical disabilities, sensory impairment and complex learning, social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2019 and holds a management qualification in residential childcare at level 5.

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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 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: 3 February 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 children’s home: 2515609 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/02/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/09/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live in this home. One child has done so for two years, and the other child has lived in the home for three months.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children are attending education and are making progress. For example, a teacher stated: ‘Staff encourage them to be more independent, which is reflected in their attitude at school. For example, one student has a positive attitude to his life and can see the opportunities he has open to him, and the staff seem to have given him that confidence.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child recognises the positive progress he is making. For example, he told the inspector that he is more independent in being able to go out in the community. He is applying for his driving licence and is making plans for his future. This includes him planning to live in his own home independently. He is excited for his future and feels supported by the staff team to achieve his ambitions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The other child is also developing his independence skills. He can use the washing machine and can make meals from scratch, such as home-made burgers. Although children can independently cook their meals, there is also an employed cook who works in the home. She freshly makes the children’s chosen meals and the smell of home-cooked food fills the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The two children get on well and support each other. Recently, when both children were due to sit their exams, they revised together. Children enjoy spending time with each other and staff. They play card games, watch quiz shows and go to the cinema.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has a fear of dogs. Work has been carried out and he is now able to tolerate a dog being near him. This has helped him to achieve his goal of accessing the community and has relieved some of his anxieties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see their friends and loved ones. A parent told the inspector that a strength of the staff is how welcome they make her feel when she visits. Furthermore, a child told the inspector about a recent event that had taken place at the home to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee. He invited his family and a friend. Staff and their families also attended. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed painting canvases and cups, playing games and eating lots of nice food to mark the special occasion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is ongoing work being carried out to the home. It has benefited from redecoration and the slabs have been re-laid in the garden. This enables one child to manoeuvre his wheelchair more easily. Although some work has been completed, the home’s kitchen is still not fully accessible for children who use a wheelchair to access the oven and work surfaces. An occupational therapist has visited the home Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 4 to offer advice, and quotes are being obtained for this work to take place. In the meantime, the child can shop for and prepare his meals, but he would like to be able to develop his independent use of the oven. A recommendation has been made to ensure that this work is carried out.

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improvement to be good

In the main, staff demonstrate a good understanding of how to safeguard children. Staff take part in training that supports their knowledge of how to report concerns and the actions they would take should a child be at risk. However, on one occasion, staff did not fully follow the safeguarding procedure. As a result, there was a short delay in the concern being shared with the manager. The manager promptly shared this concern with the child’s social worker and parent, and immediate action was taken to keep everyone safe. However, the manager did not seek feedback from the local authority designated officer. In addition, the inspector identified potential poor practice in a child’s daily records. The manager is taking action to address these shortfalls.

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improvement to be good

There is a consistent team of staff who understand the children’s behaviour, potential risks and how to manage these well. However, this knowledge is not always captured in up-to-date risk assessments for one of the children.

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improvement to be good

Regular health and safety checks are carried out. Specialist equipment, such as the bathroom hoist, is well maintained and serviced. Children take part in fire evacuations and leave the building quickly. However, staff do not consistently follow the necessary actions to keep children safe as set out in the home’s fire risk assessment. For example, the home’s bins were seen to be located under the kitchen window and not safely stored away from the home. Quick action was taken to address this during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond to children’s behaviours in a positive way and are skilled to be able to de-escalate situations. This has meant that no children have needed to be held to keep them safe. Children have not gone missing from care, and the police have not been called to the home. When a child did leave the home, staff followed him and was able to talk to him. He later safely returned to the home with staff.

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improvement to be good

One child has developed his skills and knowledge and is now able to manage his own personal care in relation to his medical needs with minimal support from staff. This is supporting his ability to be independent.

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improvement to be good

Staff training is up to date, and staff are working towards their level 3 qualification in residential childcare within the necessary timescales.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager ensures that staff who are recruited to work in the home are subject to all the necessary checks. This helps to ensure that staff who work at the home are safe to do so. Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 5

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good

Despite the many positive aspects of the home, the manager’s monitoring systems are not yet fully developed to be able to identify and address shortfalls in relation to how well children are helped and protected in a timely manner. Furthermore, some other shortfalls have been identified in the leadership and management of the home. For example, the statement of purpose and the quality of care review have not been sent to Ofsted as per the requirement, and staff rotas do not accurately reflect the hours worked by staff.

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good

The registered manager spent a period away from the home. In her absence, another manager oversaw the home. There are documents missing from this time to demonstrate information regarding children moving in and out of the home. Although no concerns have been raised, important information is missing.

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good

Staff are happy in this home. A member of staff told the inspector, ‘I just recently started working at [name of home] and I absolutely love it. The staff at the home are so welcoming and friendly and helped me settle in so well.’ Staff benefit from good-quality supervision.

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good

Professionals spoken to are happy with the care their child receives. A social worker stated, ‘Communication is good from the home, with regular updates and reports. Staff attend all meetings.’

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good

There is a diverse staff team that supports the varying needs of the two children. A child told the inspector that he would go to different staff for different things. For example, one member of staff is good at sourcing the spices he likes in his meals, while another member of staff is fun to go out with in the community.

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good

All of the requirements from the previous inspection have been met.

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good

The registered manager has a clear plan to develop the home and has high aspirations to improve the service. Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff and the registered manager follow the safeguarding policy and ensure that allegations are quickly shared with line managers and the local authority designated officer. This also relates to ensuring that the fire risk assessment is followed and that the home’s bins are safety stored away from the home. 29 July 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— 29 July 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 7 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))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the statement of purpose is shared with Ofsted and that monitoring systems are in place to identify shortfalls in practice and the running of the home.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child’s death. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s risk assessments reflect their individual needs and that documentation is kept in the home for each child for the necessary amount of time. 29 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 29 July 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 8 This specifically relates to ensuring that the rotas accurately reflect the hours worked by staff in the home.

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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 quality of care provided for children;

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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

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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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. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the report is written and shared with Ofsted within the necessary timescales. 29 July 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 9

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that, where appropriate, children can develop independence skills within the supportive environment of the home, including through encouraging independent use of kitchen and laundry areas. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.25)

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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: 2515609 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire WV4 6JG

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Inspector

Louise Battersby, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2515609 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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