Children's home run by East Sussex County Council in Lewes

Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 1 SC373958 Registered provider: East Sussex County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children with social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2020.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: outstanding

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit was carried out on 27 January 2022 which resulted in two compliance notices being issued in respect of regulation 12, the protection of children standard and regulation 14, the care planning standard. A further monitoring visit was carried out on 9 March 2022 which concluded that both compliance notices had been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/05/2021 Full Outstanding 14/05/2019 Full Outstanding 25/06/2018 Full Outstanding 06/09/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in relation to their starting point across aspects of their welfare.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers have ensured that a new child’s move into the home has been well supported. Managers provided staff with detailed assessments about how to care for and safeguard the child. This has included consultation with the positive behaviour support service to provide the staff with the necessary guidance to help them to understand the child’s communication needs and how they process information. As a result of this bespoke work, the child has settled in well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to understand their journey and give them praise for their accomplishments. For example, staff have created ‘positive activities and thrive’ folders for each child that capture the child’s journey.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff show concern for children’s welfare and recognise the external influences that can place children at risk. Individualised support means that children begin to make safer decisions and withdraw from negative influences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff effectively challenge barriers that block children from being able to fully participate in education. Consequently, one child is now attending school more regularly and talks positively about their time at school. Another child is pursuing an interest in music and is engaging with professionals to reduce their vulnerability to child exploitation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work with health professionals to ensure that children’s physical and emotional health needs are met. For example, staff have received training on how to administer emergency medication when a child has a seizure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop essential life skills. For example, one child is learning to cook.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although children’s bedrooms and some areas of the home are decorated to a good standard, this is not consistent across the whole of the home. For example, the bathroom and hallway require redecoration.

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

Staff understand well the children’s individual needs, behaviours and risks.

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

The registered manager takes a proactive approach to engaging other agencies when there are known concerns for a child’s welfare. He liaises with external safeguarding professionals, such as the youth offending team and the children’s substance misuse service, to provide the necessary support. Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 4 Risk management guidance is comprehensive and captures the concerns for individual children. As a result, staff are equipped with the essential control measures that help to keep children safe.

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

Physical interventions are now recorded to demonstrate the lead up to the incident and what measures were taken. The registered manager reviews all incidents and considers any trends or learning to inform his monitoring process. There was an occasion when the registered manager was involved in an incident. This was not reviewed by an appointed independent person.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff take prompt action. Staff follow children’s missing-from-care protocols and work closely with the police, social workers and other professionals. This coordinated approach helps to keep children safe.

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good

The home is led by an experienced registered manager and his leadership is valued by staff.

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good

Safeguarding issues are generally reported appropriately to external professionals. However, there was one occasion when a child made an allegation that was not immediately reported to the designated officer for the local authority. The registered manager acknowledged that staff had not followed the safeguarding policy and procedures on this occasion.

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good

Staff practice includes the locking of doors to prevent disruption and/or to safeguard children. The registered manager has not analysed and reviewed this practice to demonstrate that this is used only as a last resort, is appropriate and explained in the children’s home documents. For example, on one occasion, the decision was made to lock doors so that a child could not leave the premises while waiting to be moved to a new home.

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good

Children are given information and research to help to inform them of the impact of the risks of smoking, substance misuse and drinking alcohol.

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good

A previous recommendation on staff supervision has not been met. The home’s policy states that staff should be supervised on a monthly basis. This expectation is not being consistently achieved.

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good

The internal quality assurance processes have improved. The registered manager uses these monitoring processes to continually develop the service. However, external monitoring does not demonstrate constructive challenge to help drive improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 5

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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

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are clear guidance, policies and procedures in respect of the use of locking doors and that these procedures are reviewed when appropriate. 20 December

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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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 20 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. Children’s homes will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. This includes ensuring that the bathrooms and hallway are in an acceptable state of repair and decoration. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or concerns emerge. A person should be appointed to review incidents in which the registered manager is involved. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out

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Recommendations

visits to the home as an independent person can make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. The independent person should provide constructive challenge. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: SC373958 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: East Sussex County Council, County Hall St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1UE

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Inspector

Suzy Lemmy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC373958 8 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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