Children's Home run by Platinum Services for Children (Residential Care) Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 1 Registered provider: Platinum Services For Children (Residential Care) Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of two homes owned by an independent provider. The home provides care for up to three children with emotional needs, who may have challenges with their behaviour and are likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since 28 January 2022.

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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 inadequate

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection that took place on 15 and 16 June 2022. Due to the concerns identified during the inspection, Ofsted issued a notice of restriction of accommodation and two compliance notices, under regulation 12 and regulation 13. Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 2 A monitoring visit was carried out on 25 July 2022 to review the compliance notices. At that visit, Ofsted found that the compliance notices had been met. The restriction notice remained in place until 9 September 2022. Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/06/2022 Full Inadequate 11/05/2021 Full Good 05/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 4

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improvement to be good

One child has remained in the home since the last inspection and no children have moved in. This means the home has abided by the restriction notice.

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improvement to be good

The new responsible individual for the home has changed the process of how managers will decide if they can meet any new child’s needs. This will assist the home in ensuring that only children whose needs can be met will move in. The responsible individual does not intend to consider any new children moving in until managers have further developed the skills of staff.

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improvement to be good

The home environment has been improved since the last inspection. New windows have been fitted and there have been improvements made to the home’s garden.

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improvement to be good

Following training, staff now use a much more supportive approach to help children with their behaviour. The one consequence applied since the previous inspection was restorative and done in a way that supported the child. The child is now receiving more incentives and rewards and was recently given a bicycle after working hard at school, which they are proud of.

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improvement to be good

Children are attending full-time education and professionals say that communication between the home’s staff and school staff is consistently good.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always meet the mental health needs of children. They do not help children to develop strategies to support their mental health, and they have not pursued further specialist support when this is needed. This negatively impacts on children’s emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff do not support children with important parts of their care plans. For example, the child has not had sufficient support to help them understand their family relationships, to develop independence skills, or to keep themselves safe. This was raised at the previous inspection and although the new responsible individual is aware of these issues, it remains an area where children’s needs are not yet being met.

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improvement to be good

Children have still not had any support to understand how to make a complaint There is nowhere in the home that the child can get complaints forms or where the procedure of complaining is explained to them. The requirement under regulation 39 is therefore restated. Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 5

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improvement to be good

Currently, there are no identified risks around children going missing or child exploitation.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always take effective action when a child may be hurting themselves. For example, staff offer children reassurance, but they do not remove known hazards in the environment when a child is in distress, to help reduce the risk of harm. Recording of incidents is poor, and guidance provided by managers is not clear on what staff should do to keep children safe. Managers do not always address this poor practice with staff, to help them learn better ways of keeping children safe.

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improvement to be good

Managers do not keep staff safe when there may be lone working risks. Staff do not help children learn about safe relationships or seek specialist support with any urgency. When there are known risks around safe boundaries in relationships for children, these have not been well considered or planned for. An incident occurred which left staff and the child vulnerable. The responsible individual recognised this shortfall during the inspection and has replanned the child’s care accordingly.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not follow plans to keep children safe online. Staff recording of how they supervise children online is poor and managers have not been addressing or monitoring this. This has led to a child accessing inappropriate material online. No work has been done to help them learn to keep themselves safe. When the child disengages from adults’ attempts to supervise them, nothing has been done to think about how to keep the child safe in other ways.

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improvement to be good

When children share information about past trauma, staff follow safeguarding procedures to inform other professionals and offer the child reassurance. There have not been any restraints since the last inspection. Staff provide support to children when they need it. Incidents are well recorded and show nurturing support of the child afterwards.

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improvement to be good

The location risk assessment has been reviewed by managers and this now appropriately considers some of the known risks in the area. Managers have consulted with professionals to help them understand the risks more clearly. This helps them more effectively consider whether they can meet the needs of any new children who may move in in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since January 2022. A new manager started in April 2022, and then left without registering at the start of July 2022. The responsible individual also stepped down in August 2022. A new responsible individual who is experienced in trauma-informed care has been overseeing the home since this time. Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 6 Since the previous manager left, there have been two managers overseeing the staff. However, the organisation has not taken reasonable steps to register any individual. This impacts on the consistency of staff supervisions and oversight after incidents, as staff do not have a specific individual leading the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not having regular supervision and the supervision they do have is not practice related. For example, safeguarding concerns for children are not discussed in supervision and when there are shortfalls in a staff member’s practice this is not being addressed by managers. This prevents staff practice from improving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight after incidents is poor. For example, managers were not properly overseeing records of daily care in the home, which led to staff missing signs that a child’s emotional well-being was deteriorating. This left the child without the support that they needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not always communicate effectively with other professionals. Managers have not shared all information about incidents with other professionals, and the child’s local authority have not been sent incident records, in line with the home’s procedures. When room searches take place, records are poor and no one with parental responsibility for the child has been made aware that these have taken place. This prevents people in the child’s network from helping to keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers’ monitoring is insufficient. Managers’ oversight has not identified the gaps in recording and in risk management planning and when other agencies have not been pursued to get specialist support for children. The managers have also not properly evaluated the care of children in their most recent quality of care review, and actions to improve things were poor. The responsible individual is now offering detailed quality assurance through monthly audits, which are holding managers accountable for their oversight. This is starting to show some improvements, however, this is not embedded at all levels of leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The responsible individual has ensured that staff are given better training in team meetings and through formal training attendance. However, some staff have still not gained their level 3 qualification within timescales. Also, staff were unable to demonstrate they understand areas of risk for children and how to manage these. Staff are therefore not yet using their learning to offer skilled care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

While the service has not taken on any new staff since the last inspection, the new responsible individual has enrolled managers on safer recruitment training to ensure the team is prepared to safely recruit staff in the future. Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that information about children’s risks is shared with professionals and that professionals are challenged if there are gaps in the progression of children’s plans.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the previous inspection and is restated. 13 October 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— that staff— 13 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 8 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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that there are clear plans to help staff effectively manage risks, that these are reviewed when there is new information, and that staff act effectively to keep children safe when there are incidents, and help children learn how to keep themselves safe.

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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; and

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that they have a clear system in place to understand and monitor the care of children, and that any areas where there may be shortfalls in staff practice or skills are addressed to improve care. 13 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 9 This requirement was raised at the previous inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to ensuring that the manager has the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child, through meeting requirements specified in regulation 28 relating to fitness of manager for registration as required by s11 CSA 2000.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children's home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider— is an organisation or a partnership; does not satisfy regulation 28; or is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of— the name of the person so appointed; and the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that reasonable steps are taken to register appointed managers within the service who are running the home. 13 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in 27 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 10 a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

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Requirement Due date

does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or

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Requirement Due date

works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part- time basis. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b) (6)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that staff obtain their level 3 qualifications within the required timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that all staff have regular supervision which reflects on safeguarding practice and the care of the children in the home. 13 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that no child is subject to any reprisal for making a complaint or representation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI, at HMCI’s request, a statement containing a summary of any complaints made during the preceding twelve months and the action that was taken in response to each complaint. (Regulation 39 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)) 27 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 11 This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that records of complaints, actions and investigations are all recorded and that children are supported to make a complaint whenever they wish to do so.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the previous inspection and is restated.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5)) 27 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 12 This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that they consult with children living in the home and relevant professionals and suitably evaluate and review the quality of care given to children over the past 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the previous inspection and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 13

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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: 2503915 14

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platinum Services For Children (Residential Care) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Union House, 111 New Union Street, Coventry, West Midlands CV1 2NT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Caroline Jackson

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Inspector

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2503915 15 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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