Children's Home run by BTTLR Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 1 Registered provider: BTTLR Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is privately owned. The home provides care for one child with emotional and social difficulties who may also have complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager at the home.

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this visit was to monitor compliance notices that were restated following the last full inspection on 12 April 2022. These notices were initially issued following a monitoring visit on 22 March 2022. The compliance notices were in relation to keeping children safe and the leadership and management of the home.

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This monitoring visit

This children’s home has been without a registered manager since July 2021. There is currently no acting manager or deputy manager in post. As a result, the responsible individual is undertaking this role alongside his wider responsibilities. The responsible individual has recruited a new manager who is due to start imminently.

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This monitoring visit

Staffing the home remains a challenge. Agency staff are being used to cover sickness and annual leave. The child has not been consulted about gender ratios of staff on shift. This is necessary to find out whether the child feels comfortable with the staff caring for her. The responsible individual acknowledges that the child needs more consistent care. He has proposed a plan to Ofsted which would address some of the staffing shortfalls.

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This monitoring visit

Staff grievances and whistle-blowing practices have been discussed in team meetings and individual staff supervision meetings. However, individual supervision meetings are still not happening consistently. These meetings are important for staff Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 2 to raise any concerns and issues they may have. Additionally, these meetings enable discussions over the care and safeguarding of the child.

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This monitoring visit

All staff have attended a refresher course in safeguarding. Although permanent staff are now trained in physical intervention and first aid, agency staff are not. This is a risk because both staff caring for the child need to be trained to hold a child safely.

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This monitoring visit

Recording requires further improvement. For example, a child had their room searched and equipment that could pose a risk was removed. However, there is no record of this taking place. There is no management evaluation as to why this room search was required, or why the search took place without the child being there. On another occasion, the child had an injury but there is no record of how this child’s injury happened or who offered her treatment. There have been some delays in recording important information and this obscures objective evaluation of what has taken place.

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This monitoring visit

The house is in a good condition. The child’s bedroom has been redecorated and was presentable at this visit.

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This monitoring visit

Overall, compliance actions as set out in the notices require further work. Despite this, the child is making progress. She has become safer since being cared for in the home. This is because risk-taking behaviours have significantly reduced. The child is attending education and now has ambitions for the future. She is doing daily fitness activities and feels more positive about the future.

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This monitoring visit

The communication from the home with the child’s social worker and local authority requires improvement. Full and complete information is not always being passed to the social worker. This prevents the social worker being fully aware of the care, support and/or any concerns the responsible individual and staff may have about the child. Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 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.

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the homes child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to staff needing to record when room searches have taken place and for managers to assess risk. 14 August 2022 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 5 When children have injuries, these need to be recorded and the manager needs to assess risk and the care provided to the child.

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Requirement Due date

Staff should be trained in physical intervention to ensure that children are held safely.

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Requirement Due date

Incidents should be recorded and responded to in a timely and accurate way.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child

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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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback and experiences of children including complaints received; and

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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) (2)(a)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(f)) 14 August 2022 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 6 This is with specific reference to insufficient staffing arrangements and not providing continuity of care to the child. This is also in relation to not identifying shortfalls in relation to the child’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 14 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the person in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph, a person has the appropriate experience and qualification if the person has—

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Requirement Due date

within the last 5 years, worked for at least 2 years in a position relevant to the residential care of children;

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Requirement Due date

worked for at least one year in a role requiring the supervision and management of staff working in a care role; and

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Requirement Due date

the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 5 Diploma"); or a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level5 Diploma. 14 August 2022 Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 7 The relevant date is—

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a person who starts managing a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 3 years after the date on which that person started managing a home; or in the case of a person who was managing a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2017.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider may defer the relevant date if the person—

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Requirement Due date

does not manage, or has not managed, a home for a prolonged period; or manages, or has managed, a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 28 (a)(b)(i)(ii)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to the appointment of a person to manage the home and that they meet the regulatory requirements to become registered.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that supervision and performance management of staff safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. This is in relation to making sure that staff can discuss previous safeguarding concerns. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that good employment practice is followed. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. This is in relation to the recruitment of staff from an agency who are on temporary contracts. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should oversee the welfare of the children in their care through observation and engagement with: each child; the home’s staff; each

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Recommendations

child’s family/carers where appropriate; and professionals involved in the care or protection of each child, including their social worker, independent reviewing officer, teachers, clinicians and other health professionals, etc. This is in relation to being open and transparent with the child’s social worker about the quality of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23) Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 8  The registered person should, whenever possible, ensure that staff in day-to-day contact with children should include staff from the different gender groups. Where the home’s statement of purpose makes it explicit that the home uses staff of one sex only, clear guidance will need to be in place and followed as to how children are enabled to maintain relationships with people of a different gender.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality care standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.22)

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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: 2556338 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4 Shirley Road, Old Stone Factory, Rushden, Northamptonshire NN10 6BY

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Inspector

Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home - monitoring visit: 2556338 10 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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