Children's home run by Hampshire County Council

Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 1 Registered provider: Hampshire 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 owned and operated by a local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to five children. According to the home’s statement of purpose, it offers residential care with a therapeutic emphasis and multi-agency involvement to help children to recover from experiences which have left them vulnerable and disrupted their primary relationships.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 22 June 2017.

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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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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/05/2021 Full Outstanding 28/01/2020 Full Outstanding 16/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All four children currently living in this home are making good progress. There is a stable and consistent team of staff, which has enabled children to build trusting relationships with them. Staff encourage children to explore and express their feelings in safe ways. As a result, children feel supported to embrace their own identity and creativity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take part in meetings which affect them and are good advocates for the children. This means that children have their views and wishes heard and acted on. However, the children’s guide does not provide information to enable children to raise a concern or complaint independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children attend education. Supportive staff encourage children to participate in outdoor activities and courses. This increases the children’s confidence and social skills. It also gives them opportunities to develop their interests and gain skills that will benefit them in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and personalised. Children have chosen colours and themes and say that they like their own individualised bedrooms. Children enjoy spending time with staff and each other in the garden, which they helped to design. They tend the vegetable patches with staff and the produce is used for meals. This engages children fully in all aspects of the home.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the individual vulnerabilities for each child. They have effective strategies in place to help keep children safe. However, children’s risk assessments are repetitive and lack clarity. Some identified risks are not fully explored, and details that are no longer current remain on the children’s file. As a result, one child has not received a timely intervention to help manage risk outside of the home.

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

The procedure for the management of children who go missing is followed well by staff, who work closely with the police to ensure their safe return. However, there is limited opportunity for children to talk to an independent person. Therefore, children may not talk openly about their experiences and reasons for going missing.

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

Behaviour that can present as challenging from children is managed well by staff, who are confident in their approach. De-escalation techniques are successful. Therefore, physical restraint is rarely used.

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

Not all staff have the relevant skills to implement appropriate measures and boundaries to help children to understand and make good choices, for example Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 4 regarding healthy eating. Staff have not considered the impact that restriction of food for one child has on others.

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

Health and safety in the home are managed effectively. Children and staff take part in regular fire drills, which means that children will know what to do to keep themselves and others safe in the event of an emergency.

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good

The registered manager fails to have day-to-day oversight of the home. The inspection was supported by an enthusiastic and committed deputy manager, who has a good understanding of the children and their experiences. However, presence and oversight by the registered manager and senior leaders are not evident. As a result, newly appointed staff are undertaking roles that are not yet familiar to them.

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good

Monitoring systems are not effective. The systems in place have not identified the shortfalls during this inspection. They lack comprehensive and evaluative oversight by the registered manager. For example, some risk assessments hold out-of-date information, and known details are omitted. Nonetheless, these have been signed without amendment.

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good

Staff receive regular practice-related supervision and training. However, the management action plan has failed to capture some staff who have yet to complete necessary refresher training.

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good

Recording about the children is not always documented in a way that is helpful to them. Management oversight of record-keeping has failed to address when staff use jargon rather than language that is easy to understand.

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good

Allegations against staff and incidents are dealt with quickly and efficiently by senior leaders. Learning is reflective and discussed with the staff team. Staff therefore feel supported, and children know that allegations are taken seriously and acted on. Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

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

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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)(a)(i) (2)(b)) 31 January 2023

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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

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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(a)(h)) 31 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 14 (2)(a)(ii)) 31 January 2023 Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 6 The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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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. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)) 31 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide helps children to understand how to make a complaint in line with the home’s complaints procedure and how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 4.22)  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. The home should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s

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Recommendations

policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1257573 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hampshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3rd Floor, Elizabeth II Court North, The Castle, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 8UG

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Maria Calway-Kennedy

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Inspector

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1257573 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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