Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 1 SC475723 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private home is registered to provide care for up to nine children. The home’s statement of purpose states that children living in this home may experience a range of social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2022. She is appropriately experienced and qualified to manage a children’s home.

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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: 12 October 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 children’s home: SC475723 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/10/2021 Full Good 22/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/08/2018 Full Good 31/10/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive relationships with staff. They feel listened to and well cared for. Children speak about the affection that they receive from staff, the fun they have and how they are made to feel like part of a family. Staff talk with pride about the progress that children make. They know the children well and understand their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children recognise the progress they have made since living at the home. Additionally, inspectors observed positive developments in children’s confidence and self-esteem since the last inspection. Children enjoy attending school and they make progress in terms of their academic levels and abilities. Older children are supported by the company’s employability coaches to find employment. In some cases, this has continued after children have moved on from the home and are living independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers and children’s families speak highly of the care and support the staff provide for their children. One social worker said, ‘I have never seen [name of child] as happy. It is a fantastic placement for her and has brought out the best of her. It has enhanced her life.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to sustain good physical and emotional health. Professionals from the in-house clinical team, such as speech and language and occupational therapists, provide guidance and training to the staff to help them to work with children’s particular health and sensory needs. In addition, the staff team has positive links with external health agencies to support children effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children’s in-house placement plans are not regularly reviewed. Consequently, they do not contain full information about children’s needs, the support they require and the progress they have made. This means that staff are not provided with clear guidance on how to support children and meet their placement objectives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Individual work sessions are used effectively to encourage children to make better choices and to offer praise and recognition. During house meetings, children are provided with the opportunity to say how they feel about living in the home and express their choices. One child attends the placing authority corporate parenting board and ‘Voice 4 You’ meetings where she shares her own experiences of being looked after and advocates on behalf of other children in care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspectors found that there is not always effective and regular monitoring of the environment to ensure that it is maintained to a good standard. Inspectors found that a fire door’s internal lock was not working properly, there was a small amount of broken glass outside the home, and some children’s bedroom furniture was damaged. That said, swift action was taken to repair and resolve the issues. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 4

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

Some children say that staff will do anything they can to make them feel safe. Social workers report that the staff team works effectively to help children to make positive changes to their behaviour, reduce risks and learn to use de-escalation strategies to manage their own behaviour.

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

There has been a recent increase in the use of restraint for some children. However, this is now reducing as children begin to settle. Records evidence that staff use their positive relationships and nurturing approach to try to help children to regulate their behaviour so that restraint is only used as a last resort. The manager’s oversight of restraint records is effective. She carries out a monthly analysis of trends and patterns relating to the levels of restraint. This enables her to identify triggers to children’s behaviour and agree the actions to be taken by staff to support the children during periods of crisis.

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

Staff swiftly respond to incidents of children going missing from the home. They are equally proactive in trying to locate children. The manager has established good communication with other agencies to ensure that children’s return home interviews are routinely carried out.

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

There have been some serious incidents that have required police involvement. However, this intervention has been used as a last resort when staff have been unable to keep children safe. The manager has ensured that children have not been criminalised as a result of the police being called to the home.

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

On one occasion, when a child said that they had sustained an injury by a member of staff, senior managers failed to consult with the out-of-hours placing authority duty team at the weekend. This means that there was a delay in the placing authority being notified about the allegation. While there is normally a robust approach to managing allegations by senior managers, the guidance given to staff by the designated safeguarding lead has evidenced a lapse of judgement that could have potentially compromised an investigation. That said, action was taken to immediately safeguard the child. This means that there was no impact on the child’s welfare at the time of the allegation being made.

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

The staff team takes a proactive approach to anti-bullying and children being supported to develop positive relationships with each other. A golden rewards challenge has encouraged children to come together and focus on the positive aspects of their relationships, such as how to be kind to each other, rather than focus on the negatives. The children have taken ownership of the challenge and they are proud of the work they have done.

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

Some behaviour management plans do not provide staff with clear guidance on how to reduce potential risks for children, such as the purpose of regular checks for children who have a history of self-injurious behaviour. Additionally, staff were unaware of the importance of limiting one child’s time on their games console as it could be a potential trigger to their behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 5 Complaints are managed appropriately and sensitively. Children’s voices are at the centre of all complaints. They are consulted about the outcomes and their response is obtained to confirm that they are happy with the process. An external complaint has been investigated thoroughly. A clear and transparent multi-agency approach has been evidenced in managing the complaint.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well, and she is passionate about children achieving positive outcomes during their time at the home. She understands their individual journeys, how they have progressed and where they require additional support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises the home’s strengths and weaknesses and is proactive in driving improvement in the home. She ensures that there is regular communication with all external professionals, which promotes positive multi-agency relationships with social workers and placing authorities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been several new staff brought into the team, to bring the staffing levels up to full capacity. However, the turnover of staff has been minimal. Since the last inspection, the manager has worked hard to retain the current staff team to ensure that there is continuity of care for the children. Changes to the senior team have brought additional stability to the staff team. Consequently, the staff team’s morale has improved. The staff enjoy their roles and feel well supported by the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place monthly, which provides staff with a regular forum to share their views, discuss and review practice. The manager uses the meetings to address areas of improvement and to ensure that staff have a clear overview of how they should be working with the children to meet their individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular and effective practice-related supervision. Supervision records evidence that managers challenge staff’s practice, promote reflective discussion and consider staff’s emotional well-being. The staff team is provided with effective mandatory training and additional training that is specific to the needs and risks of the children living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior managers do not always follow good practice in relation to safer recruitment. Some staff have worked shadow shifts before their references have been verified. Although these new staff are being closely supervised by existing staff, this still remains a potential risk to children as the full recruitment checks have not been carried out. This has been done as a routine approach to recruitment and not in exceptional circumstances. The regional manager is to take immediate action to improve this process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

On one occasion, in the manager’s absence, Ofsted has not been notified of a complaint made by the police to a placing authority. However, on her return to the office, the manager notified the inspector of the outcome of the complaint. A good Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 6 practice recommendation has been made to ensure that the full notification process is followed going forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s quality of care reports are evaluative and provide evidence of children’s progress and challenges. They highlight the strengths of the service and identify areas that require development. The reports provide feedback from children, staff, professionals and parents about their experiences, to ensure that there is a full evaluation of the quality of care provided to children. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 7

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi)) 25 August 2022

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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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, children’s in-house placement plans should contain up-to-date information about the child, their progress and their needs. 8 September 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. Children’s homes will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. The home must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however, in doing so, the home should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 8 the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that good employment practice is maintained. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that, in line with regulation 40 (4), they

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Recommendations

notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d) occurs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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 children’s home: SC475723 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Witherslack Group Limited, Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth LA6 2PR

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Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Kathryn Grindrod, Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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