Children's home run by Timeout Children’s Homes Limited in Calderdale

Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 1 Registered provider: Time-Out Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is managed and run by a private provider. It provides a specialist residential therapeutic service for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since November 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2021 Full Good 14/08/2019 Full Outstanding 17/10/2018 Full Outstanding 02/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home are making progress. They receive supportive and nurturing care from staff who know them well and have a good understanding of their individual needs. Children say that they have good relationships with staff. This provides children with a sense of stability and security.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have benefited from improved health and well-being because they live at this home. Staff seek support from health professionals to enable them to help those children with additional health needs to have a better understanding of the health condition. This support means that children are increasingly likely to be able to manage their health needs when they live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in their education. The manager and staff have high expectations for the children. They are proud of the progress the children make and they celebrate their achievements. Staff support the children to prepare for their exams and they help them to find suitable work experience. This has helped children to achieve qualifications and to be aspirational about their education and future career plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living at this home have positive experiences. Through the support they receive from committed staff, they are helped to do activities and go to groups that they have an interest in. The children enjoy activities such as go-karting, camping trips and going to festivals. The children both travelled abroad this year for a summer holiday. Staff planned individual holidays for each child which were tailored to the child’s wishes about location. This was a new experience for both children. One staff member reflected on the experience and said, ‘To see the look on the child’s face when the plane took off was magical.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Serious incidents are rare at this home because the children are happy and settled. When incidents do happen, the consequences given to children are not always proportionate or restorative. Children have sometimes been given two different consequences relating to one incident and the duration for the consequence was not proportionate. This prevents children from learning and being able to make better choices in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making some progress in developing the skills needed to live independently. When children have been reluctant to take part, for example not completing household chores, a financial consequence has been imposed on the children’s pocket money. This negative approach means that children are likely to become more resistant to participating in their plan. This will hinder their learning and leave them less prepared for living independently. Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 4

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

Children become increasingly safe when they come to live at this home and remain so. Effective safeguarding practice contributes to children’s strong sense of safety and well-being. Staff talk openly to children about how to keep themselves safe, and they address any areas of concern through regular one-to-one discussions. This helps the children to understand risk and develop a concept of situations, places or people that could make them unsafe.

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

Staff respond to children in a calm, caring and consistent manner. Children respond well to this. Therefore, disruption at the home is rare. Both children share a positive relationship with each other and staff. Because of this, the home has a harmonious atmosphere and is a place where children feel protected.

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

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities for individual children. Staff are clear about their responsibilities, and they know how to respond to the risks to children. Nevertheless, the approach to managing risks to children can sometimes be restrictive. It is not clear how some risks to children have been assessed, which has led to the strategies to reduce the risks being disproportionate to the risk. This restrictive practice does not allow children to take balanced risks, which means that they are not being helped to learn about making the right choices to keep themselves increasingly safe.

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

Written risk assessment documents do not always provide clear steps for staff to follow to reduce the risks to children. While staff do respond to the children’s risks and follow the steps expected of them, this is because guidance is provided at staff handovers, team meetings and staff supervision sessions. Failing to include guidance in written documents places staff and children at risk of harm.

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

Children who live at this home rarely go missing. When a child does go missing, staff follow the steps in the child’s plan and search for them in the community. Staff have meaningful conversations with children when they return home. This helps to reduce the likelihood that children will go missing in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is experienced and suitably qualified. She is committed to being a good role model for staff, to equip them with the skills to provide the children with a high standard of nurturing care. This helps staff to understand children’s needs and enables them to respond to children in a way that makes them feel increasingly safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular, reflective and child-centred supervision. The manager addresses shortfalls in practice by providing guidance and support to help staff to improve practice. This positive approach means that staff have the skills and the motivation to provide children with the highest standard of care. Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 5 The manager has strong partnership working with other professionals. This provides a consistent approach when caring for the children. One social worker said, ‘The home is well managed, the communication is amazing, the child is happy so that makes us happy.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have access to the training and resources they need to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to meet the children’s needs. The systems in place have meant that there has sometimes been a delay in newly appointed staff accessing all training. However, the manager ensures that all staff have access to information and research material before they access formal training. This helps to bridge any gaps in knowledge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are audit and monitoring tools in place to track and review the quality of care for children and risks to children. The manager has good oversight of the progress the children are making. The manager ensures that there is independent scrutiny of the home. However, this is not always effective because it does not provide the manager with challenge or suggestions to improve the quality of the care that children receive. Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, risk assessments must provide up-to-date information for all identified risks to children, including a clear rationale of how the level of risk has been assessed. It must provide staff with clear steps to follow to help them to reduce the risks to children. 9 November 2022

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

The following measures may not be used to discipline any child—

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Requirement Due date

imposing a financial penalty, other than a requirement for the payment of a reasonable sum (which may be by instalments) by way of reparation. (Regulation 19 (1) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, children should not have a financial penalty imposed when they decline to complete household chores. 9 November 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home. In particular, the registered person should ensure that the independent visitor provides clear context to any incident that has been scrutinised, to enable the regulator to have a better understanding of the independent visitor’s evaluation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. The child should not receive multiple consequences for one incident.

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Recommendations

The duration for the consequence imposed should be clearly documented on the child’s records. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: 1233981 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Time-Out Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2, Ripponden Mill, Mill Fold, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire HX6 4DH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Dominic Macauley

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Inspector

Rachel Webster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1233981 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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