Children's Home run by Gateshead Council in Gateshead

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 1 SC036773 Registered provider: Gateshead Local Authority Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by the local authority. It provides care for up to five children who experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspection was brought forward to consider a complaint that Ofsted received about the care planning arrangements for one child. There were no breaches in regulations identified in respect of this. The shortfalls with the child’s care planning have been raised with the child’s placing local authority.

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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 for children’s home: SC036773 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/06/2021 Full Good 28/05/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Good 09/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and settled. They say that they have positive relationships with their carers who they can trust. Children say they do not always like the rules of the home. However, they understand that these are in place to help them to keep safe and to support them to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well to move into and out of the home. Some children who have moved on maintain contact with those who have cared for them. This is because the staff develop safe and trusting relationships with the children. This ongoing support provides the children with extended support networks as they move into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school and are supported well with their education. Children who are no longer in school are supported well by staff to apply for jobs and to prepare for and attend interviews. The staff respond quickly to support children when new opportunities become available. This reduces the likelihood of children being out of training or employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have the opportunity to say how they would like the home to be furnished and decorated. Their ideas have contributed to how the ground floor of their home has been decorated and furnished. However, the children’s bedrooms and bathrooms require maintenance and refurbishment. While the manager escalates the requests for repairs and refurbishments to be carried out, the organisation does not complete the work in a timely manner. Consequently, some parts of the home do not provide the children with a warm, welcoming and safe environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has two bathrooms; one of which is routinely locked at night for the sole use of staff. The restriction on the children’s movement around their home was highlighted during the inspection. To ensure that the children can move freely around their home at all times, the manager addressed this immediately.

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

The staff have a good understanding of the risks that the children face. Clear risk management plans are reviewed regularly to reduce the risks for children. The staff provide a consistent approach to supporting the children as they create and work in line with the children’s clear intervention plans.

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

Children who misuse drugs or alcohol are supported well to understand the risks associated with these behaviours. The staff respond quickly to identify professionals who are specially trained to support the children to address these specific behaviours. Collaborative working has reduced these risks for the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 4 The staff provide clear and consistent boundaries for the children. However, when consequences are used to support children to modify their behaviour, these are rarely restorative in nature. Therefore, they are ineffective for some children. In addition, they do not consistently help the children to understand how their behaviours may impact on others.

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

Physical interventions are rarely used. When they are used, it is to keep the children and others safe. Staff are skilled in talking to the children to help them to manage their own feelings in a safe way. The children respond well to this approach because of the trusting and supportive relationships that they have developed with the staff.

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

The number of times that the children go missing from home has reduced. If a child does go missing, the staff respond quickly and follow the necessary processes to locate the child quickly. The staff have forged good relationships with the children’s family and friends. This sometimes helps to locate the children more quickly, which increases their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported well by a recently appointed deputy manager. Together, they understand the needs of the children in their care and are aspirational for them. The managers ensure that they and the staff provide a good level of care to the children, while being clear about the areas of the home that need to be developed. They have a visible presence in the home and the children know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are supported well through formal and informal supervision, which is reflective in nature. The consistent staff team is a testament to the manager’s leadership style.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When the manager has concerns about a child’s plan, he escalates his concerns with the local authority so that the children are helped to be safe. The manager also escalates any matters with other agencies, such as education, when he is concerned that a child’s needs are not being met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a children’s guide which sets out the details about the home for the children. However, some of the language used in this document could be frightening to children and stigmatising. It is also very lengthy, which means that children may not read or understand the full document. In addition, some of the names of important adults who the children may wish to contact are out of date. These shortfalls prevent the children from being able to access important information, such as how they can make a complaint independently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose does not contain all the information it should. This oversight may prevent families and professionals from understanding how the home functions and from being able to access important documents, such as the provider’s complaints policy. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 5 When children have been prevented from having access to one of the toilets, this has not been recorded as a form of restraint and has not been risk assessed or kept under review. This has prevented the manager from evaluating its purpose and the impact that this restriction may have on the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff do not have immediate access to important documents relating to children’s healthcare needs, education needs and their care planning. This is because not all staff are confident in accessing and locating the children’s documents on the organisation’s electronic storage system. Although the staff and the manager know the children and their needs well, this prevents the staff from being able to refer to important information about a child’s plan quickly. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 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

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)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the organisation responsible for maintaining the upkeep of the home completes all the necessary repairs and refurbishment identified by the registered manager and responsible individual, without delay, especially the work that is required in the children’s bedrooms. 15 November

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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. (Regulation 16 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the statement of purpose contains the details of how an individual can access: the home’s complaints policy; the child protection and behaviour management policy; the details of any therapy provided; the details of the qualifications and supervision of professionals involved in providing healthcare or therapy; the details of the home’s approach to restraint; and the experience and qualifications of all staff working in the home. 15 November

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected; 15 November Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 7 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the children’s bathroom is not locked so that only the staff can access it.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 15 November Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 8 a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that any restriction of access to the children’s bathroom is recorded as a measure of restraint.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the following items, which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner—

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Requirement Due date

Children’s case records (see regulation 36). (Regulation 38 (i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the organisation responsible for the storage of the children’s records on the electronic database allows the manager and staff to access the children’s relevant healthcare plans and records, education plans and records and care planning records. 15 November

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature and help the children to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure that they understand it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21) Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 9

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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: SC036773 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Gateshead Local Authority

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Adults, Children and Families, Gateshead Council, Group Secretariat, 1st Floor, Regent Street, Gateshead NE8 1HH

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Inspector

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 11 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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