Children's Home run by London Borough of Southwark in Southwark

Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 1 SC031479 Registered provider: London Borough of Southwark Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides short breaks for up to five children who have learning and/or physical disabilities. The home is also caring for two children on a longer-term arrangement.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2021 and he is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

This home shares the premises with a short-break service for adults. The registered manager and staff work across both provisions. The Care Quality Commission regulates and inspects the adult service.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children is poor.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/07/2021 Full Good 09/03/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 10/06/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 31/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 3

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inadequate

Children living at the home and those receiving short-break care are exposed to poor living conditions. Boarded-up and partially boarded-up bedroom windows limit children’s access to fresh air and daylight. This inadequate living environment poses a risk to the children’s emotional health and well-being. The provider has not taken any proactive measures to improve the children’s living environment. The inspector was told that the replacement windows required specialist glass. However, the registered manager was unable to confirm when replacement windows were ordered, or the expected delivery or installation dates.

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inadequate

Other outstanding maintenance issues undermine a homely and welcoming living environment. These include a damaged lounge door and a broken bathroom radiator.

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inadequate

The short-break care arrangements are having a negative impact on one child’s experiences of living at the home. For example, staff report that a child on longer term care arrangements becomes upset when children go home after their short breaks. The registered manager acknowledged this and said, ‘Seeing other children come and go was not in [child’s name] best interests.’

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inadequate

Staff develop strategies to minimise the emotional impact of children using the short break service on children living at the home. For example, staff avoid using the word, ‘going home’, which upsets a child who lives at the home. Additionally, to reduce destress to this child, staff keep them separate from their school peers who attend for short breaks. This limits the child’s interactions with all children who stay at the home.

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inadequate

Children’s community activities include walks to the local park, visits to cafes and trips to local city landmarks. However, these opportunities are often limited due to insufficient staff to supervise these activities safely. During their time at the home, children take part in activities such as sand and water play, music making, computer time or relaxing in the sensory room.

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inadequate

Staff talk to parents and carers to ensure that they have up-to-date information about the children so that they can plan for their short breaks. Children are supported to develop life skills, such as learning to make a sandwich, preparing their laundry and attending to their own personal care.

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

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that the home’s safeguarding procedures are followed. For example, when staff observed bruises on a child, they failed to Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 4 escalate their concerns swiftly to the home’s safeguarding lead and other relevant professionals. Leaders and managers subsequently failed to prioritise this safeguarding concern, which led to a further delay in getting the concerns investigated.

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

Poor communication between staff in relation to potential hazards at the home has placed children at risk of harm. For example, some staff were not made aware that a bedroom window restrictor had been removed. A child was subsequently placed in this bedroom and accessed the roof via the unrestricted window. While on the roof, the child sustained an injury to their foot from broken glass from a previous incident.

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

Staff do not consistently implement the required supervision levels for children, as identified in the children’s risk assessments. For example, a child who is supposed to be on one-to-one staff supervision and support was left alone in the home’s lounge. They smashed the lounge window and went missing from the home.

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

Staff do not always follow the strategies identified to reduce risk and increase children’s safety. For example, they did not support two children to carry out separate activities to prevent them from causing any harm to each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is also the manager for the local authority’s adult short- break home, which is located on the same site as the children’s home. His management oversight is split between the two homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff morale is low. Staff are concerned about the lack of leadership and management visibility at the home. They do not feel that they receive sufficient support or that they are listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff work across the children’s home and the adult short-break service. The home relies on a large percentage of agency staff to supplement the understaffed permanent staff team. The manager explained that there is an active ongoing recruitment campaign to reduce staff vacancies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff shortages and a high dependency on agency staff to cover shifts are undermining the quality and continuity of care provided to children. A member of staff described the staff rota as a ‘visual mess’. The manager was unable to demonstrate that there are sufficient qualified staff on each shift to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s statement of purpose is not kept updated to reflect all changes at the home, such as staff changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Practice leads are being developed in specialisms such as positive behaviour support and autism spectrum disorder. However, the manager’s monitoring of staff’s training is not adequate because it does not include agency staff’s qualifications or their training. Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 5 The manager has set out a future strategic plan for the home and the staff team. This takes account of annual surveys and feedback from children, parents and professionals. A social worker said, ‘Staff work well with the professional network, and staff have positive relationships with the children.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following this inspection, two compliance notices were issued under regulation 6, the quality and purpose of care standard, and under regulation 12, the help and protection standard. Ofsted will undertake a monitoring visit to assess the progress made in meeting the compliance notices. Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 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;

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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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)(b)(vii)(c)(i)(ii)) 30 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—

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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; 30 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 7 understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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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

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 has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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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; Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 8 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all staff who work in the home have suitable experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must be able to access and review all records at the home that relate to the children and the day- to-day running of the home.

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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. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the review of the quality of care report must include feedback from parents, stakeholders and staff. 30 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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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 (3)(a)(b)) 30 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; 30 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 9 ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must keep a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC031479 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: London Borough of Southwark

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Southwark Council, 2nd Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH

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Inspector

Victoria Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC031479 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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