Children's home run by City of York

Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 1 Registered provider: City of York Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority owns and manages this home. The home offers short breaks for up to eight children who have physical and/or learning disabilities and are aged five to 17 years.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The setting provides a lovely environment for children with physical and/or learning disabilities. The local authority has undertaken care and consideration in the development of the building as well as the outdoor spaces. Children have access to modern apparatus throughout the home, which provides them with stimulation and opportunities to have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that they personalise the home for the children. Framed photos of children adorn the interior walls. The home is divided into individually themed areas, each having their own distinct sense of identity and catering for a specific level of need. The layout of the building flows, providing a sense of community. These factors combined provide an enjoyable environment for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff meticulously plan the children’s transitions into the setting by structuring the day and using a hand-over where the senior staff member delegates tasks. Children who use the setting have boxes containing their personal belongings, such as their duvets and other personal comforts. Staff ensure that children’s personal items are available in the children’s bedrooms before they arrive. This welcome to the home gives children and their parents a sense of being valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a core group of senior staff; some staff have worked at the setting for many years and remain dedicated and committed to their role. However, retaining new staff has been challenging, which has resulted in the need for agency cover. The management team is making efforts to recruit the right staff and subsequently retain their employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are passionate about providing the best possible experiences for children who access the service. However, the service does not own a vehicle with wheelchair access, meaning that for children with mobility needs, accessing certain activities is not always possible. Staff do use public transport with children when there is capacity to allow this. Senior managers are addressing this issue so that all children can enjoy equal access to activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents have access to a secure, personalised online facility for their child. Staff use this to upload photos and write comments about the children’s experiences and activities that they have been part of. The inspector heard various parents say that they valued this service as they can look at photos at home with their children. This enables parents to feel connected with their child’s experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s placement agreements provide a clear overview that covers important information about the child. The plan is succinct, which enables staff to retain relevant information about the child’s care needs. Parents read and sign their child’s plan and validate that the setting has understood the appropriate level of care for their child. This also creates some transparency and accountability for the setting. Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 4

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

The independent visitor’s scrutiny of the setting is not broad enough. This shortfall has resulted in the management team overlooking health and safety issues that need to be addressed so that children are safer in the environment.

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

Children’s personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPS) need to provide clear information about the exact support that children need to safely exit the building in the event of a fire. In some instances, the management team could not locate the children’s PEEPS. In addition, practise evacuations of the building are not frequent enough. This means that staff do not teach children how to safely exit the building, nor do they learn what amendments may need to be made to the children’s PEEPS.

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

There is a safeguarding culture at the setting that keeps children safe. However, the management team overlooked one incident that should have been reported to the regulator. Following another incident, the management team did not notify the regulator in a timely manner. Failing to notify the regulator weakens the transparency of the setting and reduces the regulator’s effectiveness if there is a need for intervention.

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

Children’s behaviour support plans clearly highlight the likely signs and symptoms the child may display when they begin to feel agitated. There is clear instruction for staff to follow so that staff are well informed about how to best support the child at this point. Although in some instances, key workers need to review and update the children’s plans. This will improve staff awareness, enabling better support to the child to prevent behaviours from escalating.

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

Restraints in the home are not used frequently. However, some of the children’s behaviour support plans fall short of highlighting techniques staff could use as a last resort to keep children safe.

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

Staff share children’s behaviour support plans with the child’s parents. This collaboration keeps children safer through acquiring important information from parents. This improves the standard of care at the setting when children are in a state of distress.

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

Staff receive training on administering medication to the children that they care for at the home. The manager has a clear system and procedures in place for staff to manage medication. This ensures that if there are staff oversights in the management of medication, management or senior staff swiftly respond and address the shortfall. Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 5

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good

Wider service pressures in the local authority have stifled the efforts of the management team to support staff consistently. Because of this, the manager has delegated several tasks to the deputy and senior staff. Consequently, the manager’s effectiveness in their oversight of the home has suffered. The senior leadership team have recognised this and are recruiting a head of service, which will enable the manager to spend more time supporting the setting.

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good

The management team’s oversight of incidents involving children is superficial. The lack of good-quality staff debriefs does not promote a learning culture, nor does it reveal individual staff’s support needs. This approach and the manager’s delegation of this responsibility to senior staff have affected morale in the team.

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good

Staff meetings take place, but with no regularity. Staff reflect on their practice through peer-to-peer learning, which senior staff facilitate. This allows an opportunity for the staff team to have continuous learning on approaches to children’s behaviour and to share their practice. However, the management team is not visible in this process. This has created a division between management and the staff team, which risks establishing a divisive culture.

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good

Senior members of the staff team facilitate most staff supervisions. The quality of staff supervision varies, which the manager has recognised and attributed to the e- learning supervision course. This course has not fully equipped supervisors with the necessary level of skill and confidence to facilitate supervision sessions. The manager is pursuing additional supervision training for supervisors to access.

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good

The manager undertakes a review of the quality of care to assist in evaluating the effectiveness of the setting. However, the manager’s report does not capture the consultation exercises that the staff have with children. This reduces the manager’s ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the children’s participation and their contribution to the setting.

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good

The regulation 44 report completed by the independent person does not meet the required standard. Consultation with children, families and professionals has been minimal. Furthermore, routine health and safety checks such as fire evacuations are not routinely reviewed. This lack of scrutiny does not help the provider to identify shortfalls, nor does it provide Ofsted with the information required to monitor the home.

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good

The manager has extensively promoted the setting within the community. This has attracted widespread awareness and support for the setting, which has created opportunities for the children that access the service. Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 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

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the need for fire evacuations to take place and that children’s personal emergency evacuation plans contain clear guidance and are kept under review. 1 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)) 1 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 7 The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether— children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b)) 1 July 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should assist staff to understand factors that affect children’s motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way. Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies, in line with the child’s relevant plans. This means that children’s behaviour support plans need to reflect the child’s behaviour and provide clear guidance for staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.13).  The registered person should provide staff supervision that enables staff to reflect and act on how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for, particularly following serious incidents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15).  The registered person should complete a quality care review. This process and

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Recommendations

the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4).

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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: 2608630 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City of York Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Offices, Station Rise, York YO1 6GD

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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Aasia Hussain, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2608630 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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