Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 1 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire 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 one child. The home and manager both registered with Ofsted on 24 March 2022.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have strong relationships with the child and ensure that the child’s needs are met. The child trusts the staff and shares their thoughts and feelings with them. When staff talk about the child, they express appropriate affection for the child. The staff often tell the child how much they care for them and this helps the child to feel settled and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is making good progress. They have greater emotional stability, have reintegrated into school and freely access community resources. Although there are occasional incidents where behaviour needs to be managed by staff, the staff are now skilled in responding to these. As a result, incidents are less frequent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is a small team of health, education and social care professionals who work together closely to support the child’s progress. Regular multi-agency meetings mean that the staff have a shared understanding of the child and what needs to be achieved. If new issues arise, the staff from the home work with this wider team to agree the most appropriate and effective response. The child is also involved in these decision-making forums.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child influences the choice of decorating, furnishings and equipment in the home and their personality is reflected in many ways, both indoors and outdoors. A memorial to a family member of the child promotes a sense of identity and ensures the child stays emotionally connected to all of their family. Alongside this, the child refers to the staff team as their ‘[Name of home] family’. This clearly demonstrates the sense of belonging and attachment that the child feels.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child says they love the staff, and love living in the home. The child’s interactions with staff were seen during the visit to be relaxed and confident. The child has been supported to have new experiences including holidays and social groups, as well as regularly dining out, and they are forming peer friendships. These developments are promoting a more ‘typical teen’ experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to learn independence skills, so that eventually the child will have more autonomy over their own life. The child helps with food preparation, laundry, cleaning and tidying. All these skills are introduced in a gradual and safe way. Staff take account of the child’s learning difficulties when planning activities and act consistently to promote steady progress.

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

Staff know the risks to the child and have plans in place to respond to help keep the child safe. They are aware of the child’s vulnerability in the wider community and risk assess activities which are outside normal routines. Staffing numbers are increased when the child goes to unfamiliar surroundings. This means there are Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 4 sufficient staff should the child struggle to cope in the situation. The child is becoming increasingly safe through focused conversations with staff to help to develop a sense of risk awareness.

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

Although there have been no incidents of the child going missing or needing to be restrained, plans are in place should they need to be implemented. Staff are able to accurately describe the steps in these plans. When there have been incidents of the child’s emotional state affecting their behaviour, the records have been reviewed to learn lessons. However, occasionally the staff have not completed the resulting actions. This dilutes the effectiveness of reflecting on incidents.

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

Staff are trained to dispense and administer medication. Records are checked for accuracy by leaders and managers. One member of staff was involved in helping with medication before completing the required training. This does not promote safe practice and does not align with care plans or the provider’s policy.

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

As a new service, regular checks to keep the premises safe were put in place when the home opened. However, water testing did not start in a timely fashion, and is being undertaken by staff not yet trained to do it. Despite this lack of oversight, there has been no impact on the child, and other health and safety systems are effectively embedded in day-to-day practice.

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

Serious events are well managed in line with plans and have appropriate management oversight. These incidents have usually been notified to the regulator, but on two occasions they were not. This limits the regulator’s opportunity to have oversight of serious incidents, and to review if staff actions were effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management of the home is provided by the suitably qualified registered manager and on a day-to-day basis by a supporting manager. Leaders and managers promote a culture of aspiration for the child. Staff speak consistently about a whole-team ethos. Care is individualised, and managers promote this in team meetings and supervisions and have clearly established expectations of their staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have a good working knowledge of the child’s plans. Leaders and managers escalate any new concerns about the child to appropriate professionals. Staff from the wider multi-agency network hold leaders and managers in high regard, citing effective communication as a strength, and describing a team who go ‘over and above’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Because the staff team is recently appointed, not all of the staff have yet had the opportunity to gain a qualification specific to working in a children’s home. However, staff attend appropriate training, and additional learning related to attachment and trauma has been provided to help staff support the child more effectively. Regular input from the home’s psychologist also helps staff to reflect on how they could work better. Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 5 Supervision sessions are well recorded and staff say they find them useful. However, some staff have occasional gaps in their supervisions which limits managers’ opportunity to check on staff’s well-being and competence. Staff advise they have comprehensive inductions, but the paper records do not evidence this. One staff member expressed a lot of responsibility had been given to them soon after commencing employment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are regularly held and well recorded, although they were disrupted for a short time over the summer period. This reduced the ability to reflect on roles and responsibilities and promote consistency. This has already been identified as a gap by the manager and measures have been put in place to stop this happening again. Through reviewing practice and seeking to address gaps, the managers are driving up the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reports written by the independent visitor are regularly received by the regulator. However, there is no evidence the responsible individual has oversight of these documents, or that broad stakeholder feedback is obtained. In some reports, there is no recording of feedback from professionals, and this limits the managers’ ability to take account of those views when identifying future actions for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The views of the child resonate throughout management decisions. Staff often advocate for the child to enable the child’s voice to be heard. While there have been a number of shortfalls identified from this inspection, these do not detract from how effectively staff have supported the overall progress for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

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)) 30 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 30 November

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires;

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (2)(a) (7)(e)) 30 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s homes comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene, etc., including water temperature safety). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that medicines are administered in line with a medically approved protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. These are fundamentally the same sorts of arrangements as a good parent would make, but are subject to additional safeguards such as the requirement for staff to complete training before being involved in medication. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. Team meetings provide an opportunity to do this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  The registered manager should ensure that any staff member in a deputy or supervisory role such as ‘shift leader’ should have substantial relevant experience of working in a children’s home, and have successfully completed their induction for the home in which they are employed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.21)

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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: 2676828 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Cross Street, Beverley HU17 9BA

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Inspector

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2676828 9 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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