Children's home run by The Open Care Group

Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 1 Registered provider: The Open Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in January 2021. It is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides medium- to long-term care for up to three children with emotional and/or social difficulties. The suitably qualified manager registered at the same time.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection two children were living at the home. One child was spoken with during the 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

Date of last inspection: 15 December 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/12/2021 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff fully embrace each child’s individuality, and children’s needs are met through the personalised care they receive. Staff care about the children and make consistent efforts to get to know them well. The relationships that staff have with the children help them feel settled and safe. Children are supported to do activities they are interested in and this provides them with structured leisure time. They are also provided with opportunities to go on holiday, which opens doors to new, enriching experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Trusted relationships and effective communication between staff and children mean that there are relatively few behavioural incidents. Children rarely need holding for their own safety or that of others. When they do, trained staff implement plans to prevent injury or escalation of an incident.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in education. When children arrive at the home with a disrupted history of education, staff motivate them effectively to attend. This leads to children achieving qualifications, which expands their life chances. Staff support children to explore future education options and then advocate for them to access their preferred course choices. This keeps the children’s views central to their care and care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to move into adulthood by gradually increasing the number of things they do independently and helping them to take responsibility for themselves. Children learn to budget and do activities of daily life, which helps them become more confident and autonomous.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are not from the local area, staff support them to stay in touch with people who are important to them. This helps children to retain a sense of their identity and promotes continued relationships with their families and friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully assesses and considers which children live at the home. Children generally have positive relationships with each other, but there have been rare occasions where children have fallen out with each other. If these have a significant impact on the group living dynamics, then the manager takes decisive action to resolve escalating concerns. This has included moving one child on sooner than initially planned. Overall, children have positive experiences moving in and out of the home, but the recording of the register of admissions and discharges does not meet the regulatory standard.

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

Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities well. They identify risks in the wider community and keep children busy and occupied to minimise the pull of such external factors. Staff also undertake focused sessions with children to help them Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 4 understand risks and how to make good life choices. This helps children feel increasingly safe.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When they do, staff follow plans to return them safely as quickly as possible. Staff have established appropriate links with specialist professionals in reducing risks associated with exploitation or criminality. However, they have not needed to draw on these relationships recently due to the stability of the children living at the home.

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

There have been incidents related to unsafe internet and phone use, but these have been well managed. Strict measures have been quickly implemented and these have only been relaxed when staff are assured that children understand how to protect themselves better.

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

Children benefit from clear boundaries. The manager encourages a culture where staff consistently reinforce appropriate behaviours. This helps children to know what is expected of them and to act in a way which achieves better outcomes. This makes children feel secure and gives them skills which will benefit them as adults.

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

Boundaries are underpinned by an effective use of incentives and consequences. This is well understood and implemented by staff, and the manager relies on staff to use their expertise. However, the manager does not have sufficient oversight to ensure that these measures remain proportionate and appropriate.

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

The staff team has remained stable over recent months, with some expansion to take account of developments in the wider organisation. When new staff join, they have a comprehensive induction before working directly with children. Recruitment practice is coordinated centrally for the company. While this is generally in line with regulations, one person had commenced working with children without the organisation being in receipt of both of their work references.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are determined to achieve stability for the children in their care. This solid foundation supports children to engage with staff and maximises their chances of moving into adulthood with the right skills, knowledge and attitude. Managers and staff speak fondly of the children and clearly care for them a great deal. This means time spent together is enjoyable for everyone.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have high aspirations for the children and work collaboratively with social care and education professionals to progress the children’s care plans. The manager challenges when there is drift in any aspect of this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has good oversight of most records and staff practice. She has mechanisms in place to ensure staff are kept up to date about changes in the children’s plans, and emerging concerns and issues. A shortfall in relation to staff being appropriately debriefed after an incident was identified. The manager took Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 5 steps during the course of the inspection to introduce new systems so that this is not overlooked again.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Tolerance and equality are actively promoted by the manager. Children are challenged if they display negative attitudes, and the home’s documentation has been amended to make it as inclusive as possible. Children’s cultural backgrounds are considered before they move in. Staff encourage children to understand their heritage and celebrate this if they wish to. This helps children retain a sense of their identity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has arrangements in place to seek feedback from stakeholders, which informs her quality of care review. Professionals and staff are satisfied with the quality of care in the home. However, the recent regulator’s survey was not circulated to all relevant people. This was a missed opportunity to seek feedback and thereby identify shortfalls which could have influenced an improvement in the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a workforce development plan which considers appropriate training for her team. This is not reviewed often enough to take account of changes in personnel and emerging needs for children. However, there are training opportunities for staff. Reflective supervision sessions for staff also provide opportunities for managers to check staff’s understanding and competence. Staff meetings help to promote consistency throughout the team. The children’s needs are reviewed in this group forum on a regular basis. Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 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

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 18 September 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 18 September 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce- related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20) The plan should detail the necessary management and staffing structure and any further Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 7 training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the homes Statement of Purpose. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the

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Recommendations

home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks

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Recommendations

to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2605108 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Open Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 17 Dunston House, Livingston Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire HU13 0EG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Philippa Grantham

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Marlie-Rae Willerton

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Inspector

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2605108 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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