Children's Home run by Vcare - 24 Limited in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2591499 1 Registered provider: Vcare - 24 Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children with a learning disability. There was one child living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2020 and is suitably qualified for the role.

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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

Date of last inspection: 17 January 2022

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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: 2591499 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living in the home currently is making good progress in all areas for their development. Staff work closely with local specialist services to support this progress and to ensure that the child has easy access to the services that they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is a priority. Staff ensure that they communicate effectively with the child’s school and consider the child’s learning needs, and strategies for a smooth transition plan between home and school. As a result, the child is now regularly attending school and making progress. One teacher said, ‘The plan in place is working, [child’s name] is doing amazing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s speech continues to develop. This is because the staff regularly spend time reading and writing with the child and turn these sessions into a fun activity. This helps to expand the child’s vocabulary and strengthens their writing ability. Consequently, this gives the child the opportunity to express themselves, and has developed their confidence and self-esteem when around new people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to attend their routine health appointments, eat a balanced diet and stay active. This promotes the child’s health and well-being and this encourages a healthy lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child enjoys a range of activities, including sensory play, trips to the seaside, and visits to the local park. They also now attend a local football club and youth club. These activities and interactions help the child to build positive and trusting relationship, and also to develop their social skills. Consequently, the child is learning to cope better in larger groups and is forming friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with the child forms the basis of the day-to-day routines in the home. Staff use key-work sessions to seek the child’s views and feelings about their care. Any incidents that occur are followed up with discussions between the child and staff. These sessions are planned so that the child can reflect on any issues of concern without feeling blamed. Consequently, the child is learning to cope better when they feel angry or sad.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are some areas of the home that are not clean. For example, blinds in the kitchen and bathroom were broken, windows were dirty and there were cobwebs around the house. This does not create a welcoming or homely environment for children.

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

Staff prioritise keeping the child safe in their home and within the community. Positive and stable relationships mean that the child responds well to boundaries. As a result, there is a reduction in incidents that place the child at risk of harm. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 4 Behaviour management plans provide staff with clear actions to follow to reduce the risk of harm to the child. However, there has been one occasion when staff did not follow the actions specified in the plan. They prevented the child from leaving the sensory room by holding the door closed when the child was distressed. This left the child confused regarding the purpose of the sensory room.

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

Staff only use physical restraint as a last resort. Physical restraint documents are well recorded. These give a good level of information about the incident and what staff did to de-escalate the situation and reduce the risk of harm to the child. The child and staff are debriefed following any incident. This helps the staff and the child to reflect on the incident and look at other strategies that may prevent the need to use physical restraint.

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

High levels of staffing help to keep the child safe. Although the child currently living in the home does not go missing from the home, the staff are aware of the potential safeguarding risks associated with these incidents. They understand the importance of working in partnership with other agencies to make sure that children are quickly located and safely returned home.

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

Safer recruitment checks for some new staff are incomplete. For example, for one member of staff, conflicting dates on the job application and references were not queried. Furthermore, the disclosure and barring service check for this member of staff was not available. This means that the manager did not know if this check contained any information of concern. These shortfalls potentially place the child at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced manager is supported by a competent deputy manager. They know the child well and have a positive relationship with them. They create a culture where there are high aspirations for the child to do well and this culture is instilled in the ethos of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is aware of the home’s strengths and areas for development. Monitoring systems help him to identify practice shortfalls. This means that managers can quickly take action to address these shortfalls. This information feeds into the home’s development plan and supports the continued growth of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular and reflective supervision. These sessions help them to review their practice and consider how their actions and practice influence the quality of care for the child. Staff also benefit from regular training that is tailored to meet the child’s needs, and other agencies recognise how this training supports children’s progress. The child’s social worker said, ‘It is amazing what staff have done, they really apply their training to inform their approach to how they work with [child’s name].’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 5 Other professionals and the child’s family praise the manager for his effective communication. They said that they receive regular and comprehensive updates regarding the child, and that the manager always responds to queries quickly. This cohesive approach is strengthened by sharing strategies that work better for the child. This means that all the people involved in the child’s care are working towards

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

the same plan. Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the home is clean and well maintained. 20 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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 20 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. 20 August 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 7 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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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: 2591499 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 10, Halifax Way, Pocklington Industrial Estate, Pocklington, York YO42 1NP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Victoria Simpson

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Inspector

Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2591499 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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