Children's home run by Derbyshire County Council in Derbyshire Dales

Inspection for report children’s home: SC062536 1 SC062536 Registered provider: Derbyshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to six children with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a new manager who was appointed in March 2022. The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean that children and young people are not protected, or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 9 February 2022

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: Ofsted opened a compliance case following the receipt of serious safeguarding notifications. The notifications indicated that children were at risk of sexual exploitation. This led to a full inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/02/2022 Full Good 15/10/2019 Full Good 20/08/2018 Full Good 16/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have not been adequately safeguarded. There have been serious incidents which have left children subjected to harm and exploitation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The overall progress and experience of children is weak because of safeguarding shortfalls. Management systems are ineffective and there are insufficient staff. Children have been placed at increased risk of harm because of poor communication. For example, on one occasion, this led to a child not receiving medical attention in a timely manner. Children’s whereabouts are not always known. There have been incidents where staff have not identified the whereabouts of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff team has been through a turbulent time. Several experienced staff have now left. Staff cover for night shifts has been particularly problematic and agency staff have not always been reliable. Experienced staff report that the changes to the staffing structure have had a negative impact on the quality of care provided to children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite shortfalls, some children have made progress. Two children have been well supported by staff with planned transitions into supported living. For one older child sustained their engagement with work experience. This helps them develop skills and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is a high degree of warmth and nurture from staff towards children. Children have some positive relationships with staff. There is, however, a lack of clear structure and positive behaviour management, leaving children and staff with a lack of clarity with regard to behavioural expectations. This has led to a weakened safeguarding culture. For example, children described being awake all night together and established custom and practice is children communicating with staff from mobile phones from their bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is a core group of staff who are experienced and are committed to improving outcomes for children in their care. Staff are remorseful and reflective when children have been subjected to risk or experienced poor outcomes.

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

Children have not always been safeguarded during their care experience. There has been a recent increase in harmful incidents. A child said: ‘I don’t always feel safe here. They are always short staffed. Children have been going into each other’s rooms and there was the incident between two children.’ As a result, children do not always feel safe.

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

There are several serious safeguarding concerns that have resulted in children being placed at risk of harm. Managers and staff have not always responded effectively to these concerns, resulting in risks not being managed well. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 4 Staff are not always aware of children’s whereabouts. This means that they do not know if children are safe and well. In addition, staff are not always aware of potential risks in the home. For example, a child’s bedroom was found to be unsafe. Staff were unaware of these risks and so did not act to make the area safe.

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

A lack of staff monitoring has enabled children to access each other’s bedrooms unsupervised. Staff were unaware of this activity. Children have been left at increased vulnerability due to shortfalls in monitoring and supervision by the staff.

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

Children who are prone to self-harm attempts have not been adequately safeguarded from this harm. Insufficient staffing and poor staff communication meant that a child did not receive timely medical attention following an incident of self-harm. This left the child in a position of vulnerability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has experienced changes in leadership and management and senior leadership support since January 2022. The changes in leadership have affected the stability and functioning of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Changes in the staff team have affected the consistency of care for children. There has been a particular vulnerability on night shifts. Agency staff have been regularly used and this has not always been reliable. One child said: ‘agency staff don’t do anything’. Staffing sufficiency and experience has affected children’s sense of security and stability. The lack of a consistent and competent team has failed to meet children’s needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not established a culture that promotes children’s welfare and safety. Partnership work with other agencies to reduce the vulnerability of children to sexual exploitation has not been effective. Local authority escalation processes have not been used successfully and this increases children’s vulnerability to harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A long-term placement for a child has recently ended due to managers and staff being unable to meet the child’s needs. Although assessments were under way to progress care planning, this was not an ideal ending to the placement. Children were not well prepared for the ending. Children were concerned at the time of inspection about when the child would be returning to collect their belongings and how they would be supported with this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of management review and oversight of the home’s functioning. Managers have been covering shifts and responding to safeguarding incidents, leaving limited management capacity for oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Daily logs are written in a way that is directed to children. Staff’s recording is not always recorded in a positive regard and in line with language that cares. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 5 There has been no registered manager at the home for 24 weeks. The acting manager has made an application to Ofsted to become registered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and senior leaders recognise the shortfalls identified. They acknowledge that the team has been through a difficult period. They accept that at times, care practices and safeguarding have not been effective. They have decided not to admit additional children until they are confident in staffing levels and the abilities and skills of staff to meet children’s needs. Leaders have also implemented an action plan which has provided additional management support. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 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

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)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers escalating concerns effectively with the local authorities when plans are failing to keep children safe. 21 August 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to sufficient and consistent staff understanding and following safeguarding processes to keep children safe. 21 August 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. 21 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 7 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(d)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the deployment of sufficient staff with relevant skills, knowledge and experience to care for children safely. In addition, that managers are afforded capacity to have oversight of the functioning of the home.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and 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 managers working effectively with other agencies when children’s needs are not being met and/ or the impact of a child’s placement is putting other children at increased risk of harm. 21 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 21 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 8 The requirements are that—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered person obtaining proof of qualifications for staff and having an effective system for accessing such information in the home.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are 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 the 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: SC062536 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Derbyshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Matlock DE4 3AG

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Inspector

Bev Allison, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 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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