Children's home run by Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 1 Registered provider: Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private organisation runs the home. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the home’s first inspection since it registered in December 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

There is an interim manager overseeing the day-to-day running of the home. Three children lived at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop meaningful and substantive relationships with staff in this home. Staff act as good role models for children and have a parent-like approach to care. This has enabled children to build trusting relationships with staff by establishing a sense of connection with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that the home environment promotes a sense of belonging for the children. Framed photos of children in communal areas of the home show children sharing happy moments with staff. This has created a family-orientated environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work closely with the children’s respective social workers to support children to strengthen their relationships with key family members. However, in one instance, there was a significant lack of planning around a child visiting their parents. This meant that the manager had overlooked the need to acknowledge various vulnerabilities associated with these visits. This increases the risk of children’s relationships with key people in their lives breaking down.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has established good links with the children’s respective places of education. However, the manager does not have a thorough understanding of the virtual school’s role. Additionally, the manager has limited knowledge of the content of children’s personal education plans and their education, health and care plans. These shortfalls affect the manager’s ability to support children effectively to make better progress with their learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are attentive when children are struggling with their mental health. Staff access services in the community to acquire support around children’s emotional well-being. The home’s statement of purpose highlights a bespoke therapeutic service that is available for the children. Notably, children have never used this service since Ofsted registered the home. The manager and responsible individual agreed that, in this instance, the statement of purpose risks misleading professionals and parents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the value of creating special experiences for children. However, the children’s memory books lack content. Consequently, children will leave the home with minimal tangible evidence of happy times or key events from their time living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff record key conversations that they hold with children. The manager applies a system that focuses staff on key themes to discuss with children. This gives staff direction and enables them to plan sensitive discussions throughout the day. This ensures that staff provide children with valuable advice and guidance. Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 4

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

Impact risk assessments are thorough. The manager records good analysis around his rationale in committing his team to care for a child. Despite this, the manager has not consistently created a coherent risk assessment for each child. This shortfall creates ambiguity around risk management, which has the potential of increasing the risk of harm to the child.

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

Staff clearly record incidents involving children. However, children’s placement plans do not consistently highlight the child’s support needs. Consequently, staff do not collectively focus on addressing children’s worrying behaviours in team meetings. This management oversight limits the capacity for staff to reflect and agree on how best to protect the children.

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

Staff are confident and use their relationship with children to good effect. They expertly support children through acute periods of distress. There has only been one occasion when staff have deemed it necessary to restrain a child. In this instance, the restraint was proportionate and safeguarded the child and others effectively. Following an incident involving restraint, the use of debrief for staff and children enables reflection, learning and contributes to maintaining positive relationships in the home.

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

The manager has established good links with safeguarding partners in the locality of the home. This has enabled a collaborative approach when staff need to report children as missing to the police. Staff actively learn about children’s networks in the community and share accurate information with the child’s local authority. This enables clear risk management and keeps children safer.

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

Medication recordings are not clear enough. When staff record medication events, staff switch between using the 12-hour and the 24-hour clock. This means that it is unclear when staff have administered medication to children, particularly as the timings are variable. Additionally, there are no other records to cross-reference. This undermines the legitimacy of the home’s recording systems.

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

The manager keeps a central register which contains a checklist of staff references, reference verification and any staff employment gaps. This provides an easy reference point for the manager. It also offers reassurance for the manager that his organisation has fully vetted staff prior to them commencing their work at the home.

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good

Although the manager has been in post since March 2022, his application to register with Ofsted is incomplete. Additionally, the manager has not completed the necessary management qualification within the stipulated time frame. The inspector acknowledged that mitigating factors have contributed to these delays. That said, this shortfall, alongside gaps in the manager’s monitoring of some key areas, has contributed to the judgement of requires improvement to be good in this area. Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 5 The manager leads a dedicated team of staff who value their manager’s support and guidance. The manager has been innovative in creating opportunities to establish a cohesive staff team. These efforts have formed a vibrant staff team whose positive outlook bolsters the children’s sense of belonging.

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good

The manager and his staff frequently consult children concerning the running of the home. However, the manager has missed opportunities to invite objective scrutiny from the regulator. The manager has not actively sought the views of children for the regulator’s survey or for the home’s review of care report. Encouraging children’s participation in these events enhances the manager’s oversight on the children’s care.

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good

There is a system in place to track training that staff have completed. However, the records are not clear. This means that the manager risks overseeing the need to book specific training for staff. Consequently, this will limit staff having the opportunity to develop their skills.

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good

The manager understands the necessity to acquire children’s statutory documentation. When there is delay in receiving statutory documentation, the manager applies respectful challenge. This forges effective working relationships with the child’s social worker. Despite these efforts, the manager does not always filter information into the children’s placement plans or risk assessments. Therefore, staff risk overlooking key areas of the child’s care planning. Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 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

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

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (2)(a)(b)(ii)(iv)(vi)) 15 November

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 15 November Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 7 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

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)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the information set out in the statement of purpose is an essential part of the process of agreement between the registered person and placing authority that a placement in that home is the right one for that child, and that the home will be able to respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs. In particular, the accuracy around the intervention of the counselling psychologist. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)  The registered person should understand the importance of undertaking life-story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. In particular, children should be provided with photos and memories of their time at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should consult children regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. In particular, children should be encouraged to participate in Ofsted surveys and the manager’s auditing exercises. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should have an understanding of how schools function, including the processes for admission to schools, the role of designated teachers for children looked after and the role of the headteacher of the virtual school. If a child looked after from a different local authority area is placed in the home, the headteacher of the virtual school of that local authority remains responsible for promoting the child’s educational achievement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.10) Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 8  The registered person should ensure that staff administer medicines 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. In particular, when staff administer medication, this should be clearly and accurately recorded. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, a system should be established to monitor and track staff training. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 2664326 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office 3, 321 Red Bank Road, Blackpool FY2 0HJ

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Inspector

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2664326 10 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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