Children's Home run by Oak Childcare Plus Limited in Wolverhampton

Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 1 Registered provider: Oak Childcare Plus Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A privately owned company runs this home. It is registered to provide residential care for up to three children who may have had adverse childhood experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has no registered manager. The provider has appointed a new manager who will apply to be registered with Ofsted.

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the last full inspection on 20 and 21 April 2022. Ofsted issued 13 requirements and two compliance notices. A notice of suspension of the registration was also issued.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit was undertaken on 7 June 2022. The provider had complied with the suspension notice. The provider had met regulations 11, 12, 23, 26 and 40. The remaining requirements were reissued. The compliance notice under regulation 12 had been met. The compliance notice under regulation 13 was reissued and the suspension notice remained in place. Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 2 A monitoring visit was undertaken on 4 July 2022. The compliance notice relating to regulation 13 had been met, along with regulation 33. Requirements under regulations 6 and 28 were raised again, having not been met in full. Requirements under regulations 8, 10, 14 and 35 had not been reviewed during this monitoring visit. Following this visit, the suspension notice remained in place. This was because ongoing work to the environment meant that the home was not in a position to admit children. A further notice of suspension was served on 15 July 2022.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 19 July 2022 to review the home environment and suspension notice. The provider had made improvements to all aspects of the home. As a result, the suspension notice was removed on 22 July 2022. Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/04/2022 Full Inadequate 16/09/2021 Interim Declined in effectiveness 28/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/02/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the monitoring visit on 19 July 2022, one child has moved in to the home and remains living there at the time of this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard throughout. The child enjoys a newly refurbished kitchen along with a newly fitted bathroom suite. The child informed the inspector that she likes her bedroom as this is her ‘safe space’. This child is taking a sense of pride in her home and is being supported to do so.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is positive about the care that she receives and is building trusting relationships with staff. She informed the inspector that she feels confident to talk to any member of staff about anything. The child is supported and encouraged by the staff to engage in leisure activities, and this enables her to improve her self-esteem while having fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child with her educational targets. The child receives some tutoring at home in line with her needs. Her progress is such that she is now able to attend sports classes with other pupils, allowing for social inclusion and reintegration with other pupils. The child aspires to return to a school setting and is being supported to achieve this at a time that is right for her.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported to be healthy. Staff demonstrate an ability to seek specialist help when this has been necessary. The multi-team approach means that the child’s needs are responded to effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the child to stay in touch with people who are most important to her. A social worker informed the inspector that, ‘[Staff] are really proactive with arranging family visits and are very flexible to meet the needs of the family.’ This good work enables the child to continue to have positive experiences with family and friends.

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

Staff keep the child safe and the child says that she feels safe. Risk assessments provide staff with clear guidance on how to manage known risks. Staff update individual risk management plans regularly to include any new information that can reduce risks. These plans are completed with the individual child in mind. Staff follow the guidance in the child’s plans and assessments well. Consequently, the child is well supported and protected from harm.

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

Incident reports and physical intervention records are not always clear. For example, records do not always include the time of the incident and how long it lasted. However, staff de-escalate incidents well, which means the need to physically intervene to keep the child and others safe is low. The manager reviews the staff’s handling of challenging incidents to continually improve practice. Reflective debriefs Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 5 are completed with the staff members involved. This helps staff to reflect on incidents to continually improve their practice.

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

Staff ensure that the home environment is safe to live in. A range of health and safety checks are completed to assess whether there are any hazards that could pose risks to children. The child takes part in regular fire drills to ensure that she knows how to safely evacuate the home in case of such an emergency.

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

Managers ensure that adults who work in the home are vetted thoroughly before they work with children. This helps to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and the responsible individual have implemented plans to improve the home. This is fed through to the team via staff meetings and supervision. The quality of records and general organisation of the home is better as a result. The home is well managed and, because of this, staff can focus on things that matter most to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and staff have a good knowledge of the child’s starting points and what she has accomplished since living at the home. Management oversight and monitoring processes are effective. As a result, the manager has a good insight into the home’s strengths and areas of development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision sessions are regular and of good quality. These help staff to generate ideas and to reflect on their practice. New staff are well supported through a clear induction process. Despite not all records of supervision being available in the home, managers are able to show evidence of them taking place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The majority of staff hold the required level 3 diploma. A small number of staff are currently working to achieve this and plans are in place to ensure that they complete this within the required timescales. Staff are also provided with a wide range of training that informs their practice and meets children’s individual and diverse needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff develop positive relationships with children’s families and professionals to ensure that children’s needs are met. This embedded partnership working results in the child receiving good-quality care to meet her individual needs. Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when records are kept electronically, (regulation 38) this information can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. Electronic records should be held at the individual home in accordance with data protection principles. This specifically relates to ensuring that electronic records of staff supervisions are accessible. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. This specifically relates to ensuring that timings are clear on incident reports, including restraint records. (‘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: 1273769 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oak Childcare Plus Ltd

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Inspector

Kev Brammer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1273769 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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