Children's Home run by Building Bridges Care Homes Ltd in St Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: SC063284 1 SC063284 Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private company and provides care for up to five children. The provider specialises in caring for children who may have social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 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 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

Date of last inspection: 30 November 2021

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/11/2021 Full Good 15/01/2020 Full Good 12/12/2018 Full Outstanding 20/09/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 3

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improvement to be good

Children feel welcomed when they first arrive at the home. They receive a welcome pack from staff and often get to meet other children before moving in. This helps them to settle into the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences and views of their home are varied. Some children are happy and content. They develop positive relationships with staff and enjoy living at the home. However, not all children share this positive view, and they want to move nearer to their family.

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improvement to be good

Children feel that communal areas are not homely. Some of the children’s bedrooms are poorly maintained and in need of decorating and cleaning. Further work is needed to improve the standard of communal areas and the perimeter fencing.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint and the staff they can talk to if they have a concern. Staff give children opportunities to share their views about their care and daily routines. This helps managers to make improvements in the home.

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improvement to be good

The staff team is aware of children’s health needs and helps them to access local health services as required. This means that children’s health needs are generally well managed.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete regular key-work sessions with children. This helps children to talk openly to staff and explore their own behaviours. It also helps children to understand their emotions and improve their well-being.

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improvement to be good

The staff team helps children to maintain family time with the people who are important to them. There is a focus on establishing children’s support networks and independent living skills. This enables children to move successfully into semi- independent accommodation as they approach adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Children are not consistently accessing education packages. However, there has been clear communication between staff, schools and the local authorities. Staff act as good advocates for children to help them to re-engage with learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff generally respond well to incidents to safeguard children from harm. However, staff sometimes contact the police to manage minor incidents of behaviour. This can lead to children being unnecessarily criminalised. Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 4 Staff work closely with partner agencies to communicate information about children. However, some children do not have a local authority care plan on their file. This means that staff may not be fully aware of children’s needs and risks.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection, it was evident that children tamper with smoke detectors in their bedrooms. Staff use financial consequences to discourage children; however, the effect of this is limited. This means that children do not have the skills or knowledge to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond proactively when children are missing from home. The robust actions taken represent genuine care and concern for children. Staff are clear about the expectations of them if children are missing and the actions they need to take.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete detailed assessments of children’s risks and behaviours. Staff update these monthly to show whether concerns are increasing or reducing. This enables staff to focus on children’s key areas of need to help and protect them.

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improvement to be good

Physical interventions with children are extremely rare. Staff use de-escalation techniques to help children to manage their own behaviour. However, not all staff are trained in restraint, and therefore this may jeopardise children’s safety.

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good

The manager of the home is newly registered. She is committed to improving the experiences and care of children in the home. She recognises the strengths and weaknesses of the team and the areas for development.

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good

Staff feel supported by the registered manager. One member of staff said, ‘I’ve been given lots of support by the team and managers, it’s a supportive team.’ Staff attend monthly supervision and an annual appraisal. This helps to maintain consistency across the team while developing staff’s skills.

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good

Effective monitoring and management oversight needs to be embedded into the home. Managers do not consistently ensure that staff sign children’s records or evaluate the content of documents. This means that leaders and managers may not identify safeguarding issues through the child’s daily records.

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good

Incidents are generally well managed. However, children do not always provide comments on incident feedback forms. This is a missed opportunity to improve practice and learning.

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good

Leaders and managers operate closed-circuit surveillance equipment in the home. This captures images at the front, side and rear of the home. However, there is no information in children’s plans justifying the use of such equipment. Additionally, the company’s surveillance policy was not available for the inspector to view. Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 5 The registered person does not keep the regulator informed with revised versions of the home’s statement of purpose. Additionally, the statement of purpose and the workforce plan do not include all the required information. This affects the manager’s ability to identify staff’s training needs and to promote the development of the staff team.

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good

Staff changes in recent months have affected the continuity of care provided to children. This prevents children from developing long-lasting relationships with all staff. As a result, some children do not fully engage with staff and this affects children’s well-being.

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good

The registered manager completes a review of the quality of care. This includes an evaluation of comments provided by stakeholders to improve practice. However, the manager does not complete the report every six months. This means that the registered person is unable to fully review the quality of care. Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 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, the 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that all children’s bedrooms are maintained to a good standard that promotes their health and well-being. Also, that staff support children in recognising the dangers of tampering with smoke detectors and to ensure that appropriate remedial action is swiftly taken if this occurs. 14 October 2022

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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 14 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 7 promotes their welfare.

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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 staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1)(3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, this relates to details being provided of whom to contact if a person wishes to make a complaint, and how they can access the complaints policy, child protection policy and behaviour management policy. It also relates to how the effectiveness of any therapy is measured and how this evidence can be accessed. Details, including the work address of the responsible individual, registered manager and registered person, should also be provided. Additionally, details in relation to the workforce plan should also be up to date. 28 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;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the 28 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 8 monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

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)(b)(c)(d))

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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

In particular, each child’s care plan prepared by the placing authority should be maintained in the child’s file. 14 October 2022

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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. (Regulation 45 (1)) 31 January 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the police are not unnecessarily involved in low-level incidents to manage children’s behaviour. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40)

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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: SC063284 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Building Bridges Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mill Farm, Bull Bridge Lane, Liverpool L10 6LZ

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Inspector

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063284 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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