Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 1 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who have a range of social and/or emotional difficulties. There are four children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has left and there is an acting manager in post, but they have not yet submitted an application to become registered.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 September 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/09/2021 Full Good 17/09/2019 Full Good 13/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress living at this home because of the trusting relationships they develop with the adults who care for them. One child said, ‘One of the best things about living here is the opportunities you get.’ Another child said, ‘I feel listened to and safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The encouragement and promotion of education helps children to benefit from high levels of school attendance. For some children this is significant progress. The established working relationships that staff have with schools means there is good communication. Staff ensure that the children’s educational achievements are celebrated at home. This helps to improve the children’s motivation to learn and reach important milestones, for example to complete their GCSE exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported to attend health appointments and have access to the health care services they need. Regular conversations with staff about the importance of having a balanced diet, exercise, healthy relationships and emotional well-being, help children to live a healthier life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are strong advocates for the children and ensure that they have the help and support they need. One social worker said about staff, ‘They will challenge where need be and ensure that [name of child]’s voice is heard. They have gone above and beyond to ensure that [name of child] has what he needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The complaints recording system shows that the children have a number of frustrations about living together at this home. The managers treat each complaint seriously and respond to the children’s frustrations in full, with a written outcome. When children’s wishes and feelings are not acted on, the managers provide a rationale for the reason why.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to travel independently, develop friendships and have new experiences in the community. They develop life skills due to their improved independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff support children to engage in leisure activities and hobbies that promote social engagement. For example, they go to watch football matches, car show extravaganzas, attend army cadets or go to the cinema with friends. These experiences also help to develop the children’s self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The speed and quality of the Wi-fi continue to raise children’s frustrations as does the home’s vehicle, which stigmatises children because of the obvious markings that identifies it as owned by a local authority. Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 4

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

Most children say they feel safe living at this home, and they benefit from the help that staff provide through reflective conversations about their behavioural experiences. This helps children to better regulate their behaviour and learn about sanctions. This also helps staff to better understand children’s individual vulnerabilities and develop strategies to keep them safe. For some children, there has been a reduction in the frequency and intensity of behavioural incidents.

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

Staff consult the children about their behaviour support plans and agree on the strategies needed to help keep them safe. The inclusive approach from staff ensures that the children’s voices influence the way they are helped and cared for.

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

The children are frustrated because they are not receiving the help they need from staff to resolve conflict with one another when it occurs. The use of restorative practice is not yet embedded as part of the team’s culture to help the children to live together harmoniously.

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

There have been some occasions when staff have required assistance from the police to help them to manage children’s behaviours. However, at times, there has been a disproportionate response from the police. Managers and leaders are working with the police at a senior level to challenge this and ensure children are not criminalised.

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

There is a well-coordinated response when children go missing from home. Staff follow the children’s individual protocols, which are updated regularly. The reasons for the children going missing are explored through the return home interviews with an independent person. This helps to reduce the level of risk and frequency of missing-from-home incidents.

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good

The registered manager left the home in May, and an acting manager took over the management of the home around the same time. This has provided the staff and children with management oversight following a period of instability with several staff leaving the home. The acting manager has focused on developing relationships at the home.

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good

Staff are positive about coming to work and feel well supported by managers. They have pulled together and shown commitment to their roles as there continue to be challenges from staffing shortages and the recruitment of the workforce.

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good

There are gaps in the manager’s monitoring of the home. Some staff wear lanyards and keys around their necks, which promotes an institutional feel in the home. Childrens records are not always scrutinised, and consequently, there are missed opportunities for the manager to ensure children develop a sense of belonging. This may impact on the quality of the children’s day-to-day care. Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 5 Training records are disorganised, making it unclear what training individual staff have completed. This limits the manager’s oversight of the team’s development needs and could lead to gaps in the staff’s knowledge and skills.

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good

Staff have access to clinical advice which allows them to reflect on the children’s needs. However, this practice is not yet being maximised to support children as the advice and strategies arising from these consultations are not being consistently transferred into how the staff care for the children. This is likely to limit the impact and delay the staff’s therapeutic approach.

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good

The home provides children with a welcoming environment with plenty of space to relax. However, the back garden appears unkempt because of the fallen debris from trees, old paint pots, broken bits of wood, and walkways that are covered in moss.

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good

Children do not have access to the back garden or laundry room, and they have to ask staff to open the electronically locked doors. This does not provide children with free access to some parts of the home that they require on a daily basis.

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good

Managers did not notify the regulator about a serious event, and other notifications have been submitted late. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of incidents and whether they keep children safe.

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good

The provider’s statement of purpose contains errors that have not been identified when managers have reviewed and revised the document. These errors fall short of the expectations set out in the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015. Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that children can access the laundry and garden without having to ask staff. 18 September

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. 18 September Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 7 (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(b))

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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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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

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—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received.

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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)(a)(b)(c)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

 that there is effective monitoring of the quality of care provided to children and staff practice.

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Requirement Due date

 the team’s clinical reflection sessions are used to develop the children’s plans, strategies identified to support children are integrated into staff’s day-to-day 18 September Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 8 practice and records from the sessions must provide a system for progressive reflection to help develop the whole team’s therapeutic practice.

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Requirement Due date

 the monitoring of the premises ensures that every area of the property is well maintained

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Requirement Due date

 there is an effective system to monitor the training needs of all staff.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)) 18 September

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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

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e)) 18 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are not stigmatised as a result of living at the home. The home’s vehicle should not have any symbols identifying children as staff transport them about in support of their daily care needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the Wi-Fi and internet access provided for children enhances their experience while living at their home. The registered person should ensure that children do not have less digital opportunity as a result of being looked after. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.21)

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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, Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 9 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: 1271666 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1271666 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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