Children's Home run by Inspire Care (UK) Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: SC487764 1 SC487764 Registered provider: Inspire Care (UK) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

A privately owned company runs this home. It is registered to provide residential care for up to two children who may have experienced adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children's home

The home has a manager who is registered with Ofsted. The manager has a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC487764 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC487764 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last Ofsted visit in March 2022, one child has moved out of the home and one child has moved in. At the time of this inspection, there were two children living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always provide children with a well-maintained and homely environment. Inspectors found that the home was bare, with damaged items that had not been repaired in a timely fashion. For example, rooms with broken items included the lounge, dining area and one child’s bedroom. This does not show a caring and proactive approach to meeting the children’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Children do not constantly receive care from a stable and consistent staff team. Between March and September 2022, the entirety of the staff team left the organisation. This has led to repeated changes having to be made to the team that cares for the children. This does not provide children with stability and continuity of care and affects their ability to build trusting relationships with staff.

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improvement to be good

Direct work with children linked to conflicts and behaviours is inconsistent. For example, children are provided with the opportunity to discuss incidents of physical interventions with an independent person. However, this opportunity is not provided following any other behavioural incident where restraint has not taken place, despite many of these incidents involving physical aggression or police involvement. This lack of work does not help children to learn from what has happened and rebuild relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff use bedroom door alarms to monitor children’s movements in the home during the day and night. There is no assessment or review as to whether the use of door alarms is proportionate or appropriate for the child.

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improvement to be good

Despite shortfalls found during this inspection, children do make some progress. Children have effective systems in place for rewards and incentives. Incentives have a positive impact giving children a sense of achievement.

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improvement to be good

Improvements are made in educational attendance. Children attend regularly and are supported to do so by staff. One child informed the inspectors of his aspirations to become a professional chef and has set himself high targets for his GCSE results.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide children with good support to help them to develop their independence skills. Staff teach children life skills that will prepare them for when they leave the home. This promotes their confidence and development. Inspection report children's home: SC487764 4 When children move into the home, staff and managers involve them planning their move. Children visit the home and enjoy meals with staff and children before moving in. This helps to reduce any anxieties for the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to maintain positive relationships with people who are most important to them. One child enjoys regular overnight stays at their family home. Children see staff and family members working together and this enables children to receive coordinated care

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are in place that provide staff with a basic understanding of children’s presenting behaviours. However, these documents do not contain up-to- date information. For example, useful information following significant incidents in July 2022 has not been included. It has been noted in a team meeting that one child’s behaviours may put staff at risk when lone working. This information is not reflected in any risk assessment or risk management paperwork. Because of this, staff lack the guidance to keep themselves and children effectively safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always support children in line with behaviour support plans. The home’s statement of purpose and support plans show that children are provided with therapeutic care and treatment and that staff follow the ‘secure base model’. However, during times of crisis, staff resort to threats of removing items from children or the use of police intervention. This does not reflect the approach that is set out in the statement of purpose and increases the risk of children being criminalised.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely take part in fire drills. For example, children have not taken part in a fire evacuation drill since May 2022, despite it taking place each month. One child who moved into the home in June, has yet to engage in a fire evacuation drill. Managers do not ensure that follow up work takes place to inform children of safety procedures. Because of this, it is not clear that staff are assured that children know how to evacuate the home in case of such an emergency.

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improvement to be good

Managers complete relevant checks during the recruitment of new staff. However, when concerns are highlighted through these checks, managers have not taken proper action to follow this up and assess the potential risk. This has the potential to result in staff working in the home who are not suitable to do so.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint. Staff and managers respond when children raise an issue. Staff are aware of whistle-blowing procedures and how to manage allegations effectively. Staff’s understanding of safeguarding processes means that they know how to respond to keep children safe and protected.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of what to do if children go missing from the home. There have been no instances of missing from the home since the last Ofsted inspection. Children inform the inspectors that they feel safe at the home. Inspection report children's home: SC487764 5

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Effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management arrangements at the home are not always effective. Not all requirements raised at the previous inspection have been met. For example, the registered manager’s monitoring systems have not identified that children do not engage in fire evacuation drills. A lack of focus by managers on important health and safety matters does not promote children’s safety. Furthermore, managers are not learning from inspection to bring about improvement.

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Effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not effectively monitor and review all incident and physical intervention reports. This lack of effective oversight prevents managers from being able to clearly identify and act on shortfalls in staff practice, identify patterns and trends and make improvements to the way staff manage children’s challenging behaviours.

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Effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not notify Ofsted of all serious incidents in line with regulation. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of practice in the home and to help ensure that children are sufficiently safeguarded. Furthermore, although the manager completes a six-monthly review of the quality of care in the home, this is not provided to Ofsted.

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Effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Supervisions are of good quality and provide staff with the opportunity to develop in their roles. Staff report that they enjoy working in the home and are positive about the support they receive.

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Effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Most staff hold the required level 3 diploma qualification. A small number are currently working to achieve this or are planned to be enrolled on a training programme. New staff are enrolled into a new induction programme that is threaded with the secure base model that the organisation aims to form their practice around. This allows staff to have a better insight into the role. Inspection report children's home: SC487764 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; and

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the home is a homely and welcoming environment. 21 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(b)) 21 October 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC487764 7 This specifically relates to direct work being completed with children following incidents and discussing the impact of behaviours on themselves and others. 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the high turnover of staff in the home in such a short period of time and how this impacts on children's daily lives. This relates to staff understanding the therapeutic model and using this approach to support children and also to ensure that managers have clear processes in place to effectively monitor the quality of care in the home 21 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children; 21 October 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC487764 8 so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to electronic door alarms being used in children's bedrooms with no risk assessment or justification as to why.

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children are encouraged to take part in fire evacuation drills. Where there are challenges or children decline, managers should seek alternative ways to ensure that children are aware of the evacuation procedure. This is a repeat requirement. 7 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff and managers having a clear understanding of the behaviour management policy in the home. 21 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, 21 October 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC487764 9 sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the provider notifies the regulator of serious incidents under this specific regulation.

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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

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. (Regulation 45 (1) (3) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the manager completes a quality of care review at least every 6 months and provides a copy to Ofsted within 28 days. 21 October 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice. The registered person should ensure that the recruitment procedures Inspection report children's home: SC487764 10 minimise the risk of unsafe adults working with children. ('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: SC487764 11

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Inspire Care (UK) Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 263 Nottingham Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG7 7DA

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Inspectors

Kev Brammer, Social Care Inspector Alison Snell. Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC487764 12 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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