Social care · Children's home inspection (SCCIF)

Children's Home run by Surrey County Council in Surrey

Inspected 14 Sept 2022 · published 11 Nov 2022 · URN SC040638

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Summary

Inadequate

Sara Stoker

What we read, and from where

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Group verified
Surrey County Council
Inspection date verified
14 Sept 2022
Inspectors verified
Sara Stoker
Helped and protected verified
Inadequate
Leadership and management verified
Inadequate
Overall effectiveness verified
Inadequate
Name on report verified
SC040638
URN verified
SC040638

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Grade profile

Hollow rings show the previous inspection, 2022.

OverallInadequate
Helped and protectedInadequate
Leadership and managementInadequate

5% of comparable inspections in the last three years were graded Inadequate (12,716 inspections).

Tone of the report

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−86Very criticalmore positive than 6% of reports of this type graded Inadequate

OutstandingGoodRIInadequate

Reads more critically than most reports of this type graded Inadequate.

Markers show where typical reports of each grade sit.

Praisesafeeffectivelyeffectivepositiveclearlytimelyindependentconsistent

Criticismseriousfailedinadequateat riskharmpoorinsufficientlack

How the report reads, start to finish

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FindingsAbout the inspectionWhat needs to improve positive critical

Findings1118w−92
What needs to improve972w−54

Strengths

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No standout praise found.

Concerns

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Next steps

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Anatomy of the report

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Pages: 12
Words of findings: 2,064; about usual (typical 2286)
Reading level: Hard; Flesch 48, typical 50
Average sentence: 17 words
Next steps: 8; typical 8
Hedged sentences: 2%; “some”, “not always”, “most”…

Where the words go

Findings 46%What needs to improve 40%About the inspection 15%

Full report text

Inspection report for children’s home: SC040638 1 SC040638 Registered provider: Surrey County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to six children with social, emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, one child has remained living at the home. Another three children were admitted to the home and have moved on.

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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 are 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 for children’s home: SC040638 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/03/2022 Full Good 11/12/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/10/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC040638 3

p.2

inadequate

This service is judged inadequate due to the serious and widespread shortfalls in safeguarding practice and poor management oversight of the quality of care provided. These shortfalls place children at risk of harm. As a result of this inspection, the provider has been issued with six compliance notices. A restriction notice has been issued which prevents the provider from admitting any more children to the home.

p.3

inadequate

Children have been admitted to the home in an emergency with insufficient risk strategies in place to keep all children safe. This has led to incidents between children, and staff being unable to keep children safe. Furthermore, there is insufficient planning when children move on from the home.

p.3

inadequate

Children receive inconsistent care from staff. In one example, a child’s plans clearly detail how to keep the child safe from risks of fire and from smoking in their bedroom. However, staff do not follow this plan, placing this child and adults in the home at risk. This shortfall has not been identified by the managers. This demonstrates a lack of management understanding of their roles and responsibilities with regards to keeping children safe.

p.3

inadequate

There are significant shortfalls in the care planning for children. One child, who has now moved on from the home, had no care plans in place while living at the home to guide staff on how to support him. Furthermore, staff demonstrated an inconsistent understanding to another child’s plans for spending time in the community.

p.3

inadequate

Children known to use drugs and alcohol are not provided with effective support to explore these risks and to look at ways to reduce their use. This is a missed opportunity to educate children about the dangers of such substances and support them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

p.3

inadequate

There are gaps and omissions in one child’s administration records for regular medication. Furthermore, some staff have not received appropriate training to administer medication. This means that children’s health needs are not consistently met.

p.3

inadequate

The child currently living at the home has not attended an educational provision for an extended period. However, following targeted work with staff, this child is now completing a phased return to education and is beginning to make progress.

p.3

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC040638 4 There are serious shortfalls in the management and reporting of allegations against staff. In one case, a child informed a member of staff that he had been assaulted by an adult working in the home. This was not reported to the local authority designated officer. No action was taken by staff or managers and the safeguarding policy was not followed. This failure to act on children’s concerns places children at risk of harm and demonstrates poor safeguarding practice.

p.4

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

The inspector identified significant shortfalls in the response and care provided to a child who sustained injuries. A child with bruising disclosed to staff that they had been injured during an assault in the community. Staff failed to ensure that this child received medical attention, or to report the assault to the police. The senior management team failed to identify these shortfalls, demonstrating further weaknesses in management oversight of safeguarding practice and a lack of appropriate care for children.

p.4

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

Leaders and managers have failed to taken action when serious incidents occur. In one example, a child disclosed to a member of staff that they had engaged in a sexual relationship with another resident of the home on several occasions while staff were sleeping. The managers failed to deem this a serious incident. This was not reported to the necessary professionals or to Ofsted. This demonstrates weaknesses in the safeguarding practice of management and the actions of the registered provider to keep children safe and to ensure that serious incidents are notified to the relevant professionals.

p.4

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

The inspector identified significant fire-safety risks. One child with known risks regarding fire-setting is known to smoke in her bedroom. Insufficient action has been taken to reduce this risk.

p.4

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

There are shortfalls in the recruitment of staff. For example, a member of staff who is commissioned to work in the home had not been vetted to the same standard as internal staff. The registered provider took action during the inspection to ensure this did not leave children exposed to staff who have not been suitably vetted.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The responses of leaders and managers to serious incidents are ineffective. The registered manager’s monitoring and oversight failed to identify and address shortfalls in safeguarding practice. As demonstrated above, there are significant concerns regarding the registered manager’s safeguarding practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Additionally, the registered manager has not submitted notifications to the regulator in a timely manner. Ofsted was notified of another allegation made by a child; however, this was following the independent visitor instructing the provider to undertake this notification. This demonstrates a lack of understanding by the management team regarding the threshold for notification to the regulator.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are shortfalls in practice and inconsistencies in records of physical intervention. In one record, a child was restrained without the threshold having been Inspection report for children’s home: SC040638 5 met. In another instance, there is no record of a physical intervention that is referred to in another document.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not receive regular supervision. In one example, there are no records of one staff member having had any supervision for 12 months. Some staff have yet to complete all mandatory training, including safeguarding training. Consequently, there are missed opportunities in staff members’ development and formal support and staff are not in receipt of the necessary training required to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to keep children safe.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not updated the statement of purpose to reflect the services operating from the children’s home. This means that the regulator has not had an accurate overview of the registered manager’s role.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to submit reports required under regulations regarding a review of the care provided. This inhibits the regulator’s oversight of the provider. Inspection report for children’s home: SC040638 6

p.5

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.

p.6

*Compliance notice served to registered provider

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

*Compliance notice served to registered provider

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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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

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

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*Compliance notice served to registered provider

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) 16 October 2022

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