Children's home run by Exceptional Care Limited in Knowsley

Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 1 SC483070 Registered provider: Exceptional Care 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 organisation. It is registered to provide care for up to four children with social or emotional needs. Three children can live in the main house, and there is additional accommodation for one child in a basement flat.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a suitably qualified manager in post who registered with Ofsted in April 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were four children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/02/2020 Full Outstanding 09/05/2018 Full Good 22/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 3

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improvement to be good

Children are making good progress in some areas. They are cared for by people who know them well and understand their needs. However, shortfalls in safeguarding practice mean that children have not always been protected from harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to stay healthy and well. They support children to access healthcare as required and have been proactive in requesting that a child’s medication be reviewed. However, smoking is an area of concern for some children and there are no clear strategies in place about how this is being addressed.

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improvement to be good

Staff closely encourage children’s learning. Children have made positive progress in education since they moved to the home. For example, one child who had not attended education for several years has just successfully completed her first year at college.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from good-quality direct work with staff. This supports children’s understanding and learning in areas that are relevant to their individual needs, such as safe relationships and safe behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Some children take pride in their home and are proud of their bedrooms. However, the child who is living in the basement flat has expressed concerns about this part of the home. It was identified during the inspection that children do not have keys to their bedrooms. This could result in children feeling a lesser sense of safety or privacy.

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improvement to be good

Staff work well with external professionals to help ensure that children are well supported to prepare for independence. Individualised plans demonstrate that children’s strengths and needs are considered. However, further work to ensure that children fully understand expectations and how their day-to-day care may change when preparing for independence would be helpful.

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improvement to be good

The response of managers and staff to a recent safeguarding concern was not effective. The matter was not referred to the relevant agencies or properly investigated. Failure to follow safeguarding procedures means that children are not protected from the risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments vary in quality and, in some cases, guidance for staff about how to manage risks lacks detail or clarity. Staff do not always follow risk management Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 4 guidance. This has, on one recent occasion, resulted in a dangerous situation where a child could have been significantly harmed.

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improvement to be good

Guidance about how to support children’s behaviours requires improvement. In some examples, strategies to de-escalate challenging situations are unclear. Records show that responses to children in crisis are not consistently effective and, at times, could cause a situation to escalate further.

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improvement to be good

Some records of incidents where staff have been required to restrain a child do not provide sufficient information. This shortfall prevents effective monitoring of these incidents, which does not support children’s safety or well-being.

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improvement to be good

Some children are safer as a result of their support, and their assessments show decreasing risk from the point that they moved to the home. For example, one child joined the home needing high ratios of staff support and some restrictions on her liberty. This child has made very good progress and her levels of support have been significantly reduced.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of children going missing from home have reduced over time. When such incidents do occur, staff take appropriate and prompt action to safeguard children while they are missing, including carrying out their own searches.

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good

There is a suitably qualified manager in place who registered with Ofsted in April 2022. The manager demonstrates a strong vision for the home and a commitment towards continuous improvement. However, she has not yet had sufficient time in post to embed positive change.

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good

Following the home’s last inspection, the manager put an action plan in place with support from the organisation’s compliance team. However, during this inspection, it was identified that requirements relating to the protection of children, behaviour management, and leadership remain outstanding.

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good

Internal monitoring is not yet effective in highlighting shortfalls. For example, some shortfalls in risk management and safeguarding practice found during this inspection had not been previously identified. It was confirmed that the manager had recently completed the six-monthly review of care. However, this has not been provided to Ofsted.

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good

The home has experienced some staff turnover. This has not had a significant effect on the consistency of children’s care, as rotas have been managed well. However, there have been some challenges recently, which have affected staff morale. Records of staff supervision do not reflect that managers are addressing concerns raised by staff or practice issues effectively. Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 5 The quality of induction, training and development is inconsistent. There is a significant reliance on online training, and records of staff induction are unclear and, at times, conflicting. Positively, a review of staff training has recently been carried out, which has led to some planned improvements. Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 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; and

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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)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was first raised on 15 March 22. 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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 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)(a)(b) (2)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was first raised on 15 March 22. 29 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 7 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(ii)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was first raised on 15 March 22. 29 July 2022

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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. 29 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 8 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. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with keys for their bedrooms unless there is a specific reason why this would not be safe or appropriate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.17)  The registered person should ensure that any children who undertake an independence programme, which includes changes to their day-to-day care (such as independence budgeting and meal preparation), are supported to fully understand these changes and expectations on them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that children’s internal care plans reflect how they are being helped to understand risks and change behaviours in relation to smoking. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s behaviour support plans reflect the risk of physical restraint causing physical injury, psychological trauma or emotional disturbance. When considering whether restraint is warranted, Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 9 children’s plans should take into account the age and understanding of the child, the size of the child, the relevance of any disability, health problem or medication, the relative risks of not intervening, the child’s previously sought views on strategies, the method of restraint which would be appropriate in the specific circumstances and the impact of the restraint on the carer’s future relationship with the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.55)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced

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Recommendations

professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and provides an opportunity for either party to discuss any concerns. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC483070 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Exceptional Care Limited, Malthouse Business Centre, Southport Road, Ormskirk L39 1QR

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Inspector

Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC483070 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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