Children's Home run by Infinity Care Home Ltd in Tameside

Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 1 Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is run by a small private provider. The home is registered to care for up to four children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered by Ofsted in November 2021. The registered manager is suitably experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the first inspection of the home. Four children were being cared for at the time of this inspection.

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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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are making progress since coming to live at the home. This is underpinned by the warm and nurturing relationships that children have with the adults who are caring for them. Stability and consistency in the staff team provides children with opportunities to build trusting relationships. Children develop a sense of acceptance and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is prioritised in the home. All children are in some form of education that meets their individual needs. Staff work hard to get children who are out of formal education back in to school. Children’s attendance and engagement with education have improved since coming to live at the home. This builds children’s sense of worth and gives them scope to improve their social and emotional well-being, as well as their educational and employment opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to pursue activities and hobbies and develop a healthy lifestyle. Children regularly attend the local gym and go on bike rides with staff in the local park. A caravan has recently been bought for the children, and plans are in place for all children to spend some time away on holiday over the summer. These activities and experiences open up children’s horizons and give them opportunities to have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to build their independence skills, within the home and in the community. With the support of staff, older children have learned how to use trains and buses to travel independently to school and to visit friends and family. One parent said: ‘I can’t believe how much he has come on and how much his confidence has improved. I never thought he would be able to do these things.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to maintain and, where appropriate, re-establish relationships with their families. Staff have a good understanding of the mixed emotions that spending time with family may bring for children, and they are sensitive to the impact this has on children’s emotional well-being. Staff support children and work with social workers to keep children physically and emotionally safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from staff’s use of the provider’s commissioned psychologist. She works with the team to explain the impact of previous life events on the children. She supports them to care for children in a way which supports their emotional health needs and builds resilience.

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

Children’s written records are of good quality. Risk management plans and positive behaviour support plans provide staff with the information they need to care for children in a way which reduces their vulnerabilities and safeguards them effectively. Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 4 For the most part, children’s care records contain the information that is needed from their placing authorities and other professionals. One child’s records have documents from the local authority which are not signed. As a result, staff do not have a legal mandate to undertake a range of delegated tasks for a child in their care.

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

There are clear links between children’s placement plans and planned one-to-one sessions between children and staff. When incidents or issues arise, staff complete additional, unplanned work with children to support them to understand and reflect on these incidents or issues. This regular, focused, individual time that staff spend with children helps them to make progress in line with their individual care plans.

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

Some internal care records and plans contain unnecessary professional and jargonistic language. This is not child-centred and does not help children to understand and contribute to their care records.

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

Physical intervention is rarely used to manage children’s behaviour. When such interventions have taken place, they are appropriate and proportionate. Incidents are recorded in detail and provide a good understanding of the events. However, the records in the home’s physical intervention book do not show evidence of children being given the opportunity to read, sign and comment on what staff have recorded. Additionally, it is not clear which of the staff members involved in the incident has completed the written account. As a result, there is a lack of accountability and transparency for some practice.

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

The registered person does not always ensure that safer recruitment practices are being followed. This relates specifically to new staff members who are known to her through previous employment. In these cases, she does not always ensure that documents confirming identity are seen. This has not had any impact on children to date, but different standards of recruitment practice for different staff could potentially place children at risk.

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

Serious incidents are notified to Ofsted in a timely manner. There is clear management oversight of events. Children receive a good quality of support to reflect on incidents and develop strategies to avoid situations reoccurring. A complaint was made against the responsible individual by children. This was investigated by an independent person who produced a detailed report that was shared with the designated officer for the local authority. All appropriate action was taken to make sure children’s voices were heard and they were safeguarded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since the home opened. This is her first registered manager role. She is supported by an experienced and knowledgeable deputy. The registered manager has demonstrated skills and knowledge in developing and managing the home to this point. She has good oversight of practice in the home and provides a positive role model for her staff team. Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 5 Leaders and managers make child-centred decisions about children coming to live at the home. Careful consideration is given to the needs of all the children. Well- thought-out pre-admission decisions about the individual needs of children mean that the home provides all children with a stable, consistent and safe home environment. The registered manager ensures that children have information about the home in a format that meets their needs and levels of understanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has not ensured that the statement of purpose for the home has been updated and shared with Ofsted following staffing changes. This impacts on the regulators ability to have an effective overview of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One quality of care review report has been completed by the registered manager since the home opened. This reports effectively on the progress the children have made since coming to live at the home. However, the report lacks input from children and their families. As a result, it is unclear how the views of children and their families have been considered when evaluating the quality of care that children experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and deputy manager have both completed training to enable them to provide supervision that supports staff to reflect on their practice. Staff receive regular supervision that is of good quality. However, the registered manager is not recording the additional meetings with staff that take place during their probationary period. This is a missed opportunity for staff to benefit from a written record of these events, which would support their practice development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with the training needed to undertake their roles effectively. They have the skills to meet the needs of the children in their care. Staff say they like working in the home and are enthusiastic about their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is taking responsibility for her own additional learning. She has joined national registered manager groups to build her knowledge and her professional network. Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 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 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. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 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.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 31 July 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 7 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 31 August 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.

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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; and

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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.

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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) (5)) 30 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are signed by the author of those records. Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to records of restraint. If they chose not to do so, this should be noted in the record. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that information about the child is always recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. Language used in children’s care records should be child-friendly and avoid the use of professional jargon. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that a record is kept of all supervision sessions and that staff have a copy of these supervision records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61,

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Recommendations

paragraph 13.4) Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 8

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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: 2642401 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 The Downs, Cheadle SK8 1JL

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2642401 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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