Children's Home run by The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited in West Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 1 SC066466 Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home is registered to accommodate up to six children. The home’s statement of purpose states that medium- to long-term placements are provided for vulnerable children with emotional, behavioural and psychological difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 7 December 2016.

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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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/08/2021 Full Good 24/04/2019 Full Outstanding 31/05/2018 Full Outstanding 25/07/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 3

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to engage with medical, therapeutic and educational services and to develop independence skills. However, this is met with varying degrees of success. As professionals and parents remarked, this is not due to a lack of effort from staff, but does mean that children’s progress is patchy.

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improvement to be good

Staff allow children to have increasing autonomy as they become older, and this helps them prepare for the responsibilities they will have when they leave care. The balance of decisions in this area is hard to strike. For example, some children’s bedrooms are in a poor state of decoration and/or are very untidy. This reflects their own preference to live in a space that is untouched by others. However, staff have not demonstrated to those children that they believe they deserve to live in a home that has higher aspirations for them.

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improvement to be good

The home looks worn and, in some places, is lacking care and attention. The overall impression of being less than homely is also impacted by the routine locking of communal rooms. The rationale for this is to safeguard children, for example to prevent them using the gas hob to light cigarettes. However, this is unsupported by individual risk assessments, records, or reviews of the practice. As a result, children live in an environment with institutional, restrictive aspects of care.

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improvement to be good

Staff are nurturing, empathetic and seek to understand children’s behaviours. They demonstrate this through their conversations, by helping children reflect on their actions, and encouraging positive attitudes and activities. Although children’s relationships with staff fluctuate, they do turn to the manager or staff they trust when needing emotional support and practical help.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to express their thoughts and emotions. Children have contributed ideas for colour schemes, and one young person has made an impressive information board about equality and diversity. Children’s views are taken into consideration. However, children hardly ever contribute their thoughts to plans, reviews of sanctions and the home’s quality of care review. This means that the home’s records do not reflect children’s opinions.

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improvement to be good

Staff are supportive of children who go missing from home, self-harm or are struggling to contain their emotions. However, there have been two exceptions when staff have not adequately managed or supported a child. The manager’s monitoring identified one of these shortfalls. However, the second one was only picked up when the independent visitor carried out their monthly visit. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 4 Risk assessments are of variable quality. Some have well-thought-out control measures that have the potential to mitigate hazards, while others are too broad to be helpful. This results in staff not having access to clear guidance about how to manage risks. This is a particular issue for new staff or agency workers.

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improvement to be good

The last inspection identified aspects of the local area that had not been addressed in the review of the suitability of the location of the premises. These remain unassessed. This means that staff may not be aware of potential risks to enable them to react appropriately if required.

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improvement to be good

The manager undertakes a weekly ‘health and safety walk’ round the premises, but does not record these events. The lack of a record means that there is no clear means to track any identified issues or show accountability for them.

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improvement to be good

Managers have improved safer recruitment practices and make every attempt to gather full information about new permanent or agency staff. This means that children are more likely to be cared for by suitable and safe staff.

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good

Leaders and managers are not able to provide any evidence of strategic planning or a drive for continuous improvement. For example, the quality-of-care review has no action plan, and a development plan could not be produced.

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good

The manager is aware of many of the strengths and weaknesses of the home, but has not implemented an action plan to address the weaknesses.

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good

During the inspection, various documents were hard to find, could not be produced or were out of date. For example, local authority paperwork, including care plans, pathway plans and children’s education, health and care plans were missing. Furthermore, managers have not ensured that consent is obtained for the independent visitor to review children’s records.

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good

Staff, including those new to their roles, comment positively about the support they get from each other and from managers. However, there is not the level of cohesion that would allow for practice to be examined without those involved feeling vulnerable. This means that opportunities for wider learning are not taken up.

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good

Professionals and family members spoken to were very complimentary about the quality of communication and cooperation with staff at the home. One senior member of staff in an education setting said, ‘Managers are great at letting us know things and what we request from them. [We] understand and trust each other, and the manager challenges in a professional manner.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 5

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe and have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)) 29 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must seek the agreement of the placing authority for the independent person to view children’s records. 29 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 29 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 6 receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s 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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to having all records, and relevant plans that are made available to staff to read, understand and follow.

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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;

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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

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; 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)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) 29 August 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the 29 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 7 purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (Regulation 46 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the review must address all known potential hazards in the locality, including nearby rail stations and recreation parks.

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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; 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

The system referred to in paragraph above must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 30 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.). However, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. In particular, the home should be decorated and maintained to a high standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation

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Recommendations

21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home, and any Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 8 modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: SC066466 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ashburnham, Cuckfield Road, Ansty, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 5AG

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Inspector

Chris Peel, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066466 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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