Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in New Forest

Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 1 SC480502 Registered provider: New Forest Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children aged up to 18 years. The home is operated by a private organisation. According to the statement of purpose, the home caters for children with complex emotional, behavioural and educational difficulties (social and emotional difficulties).

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Information about this children’s home

There has not been a registered manager in post since December 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2022

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/02/2020 Full Outstanding 12/03/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 3

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inadequate

Children’s experiences have been adversely affected by shortfalls in safeguarding practice at this home. Generally, the children have positive relationships with the staff, however, not all staff have the skills and experience to keep them safe.

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inadequate

Staff do not work in line with the children’s plans to ensure that children maintain healthy routines. As a result of this, one child’s school attendance dropped significantly due to him staying up very late and not getting enough sleep.

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inadequate

The children make use of a variety of opportunities for social and leisure activities, including holidays. However, the staff failed to adequately plan for one child’s needs when they took him on holiday. As a result, he did not engage in the planned activities and so did not fully benefit from the holiday experience. The photos taken during this holiday did not include staff, which limited their value in terms of providing a positive memory for the child.

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inadequate

Some records for children have improved. Mostly they are written in the style of writing to the child and this makes information more accessible and relevant to them. However, some records are not signed by staff, so it is difficult to know who wrote them.

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inadequate

Some staff continue to write negatively about the children. This undermines the quality of these records for the children. It does not demonstrate good insight into the presenting behaviours of children in the context of their experiences of living in the home or their journey into care.

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inadequate

Since the last inspection, some improvements have been made to the home. Furniture has been rearranged to create a more homely environment and some areas have been redecorated. A large table in the kitchen creates a hub for the home and family-style photo canvases of the children around the home give them a sense of belonging. The home has two cats, which provide the children with comfort and the opportunity to learn to be responsible for pets.

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

The safeguarding culture is weak. When children have raised concerns, the staff have failed to follow the home’s safeguarding policy to report them. Not all concerns have been reported to external safeguarding agencies or the regulator. This prevents immediate action being taken to keep children safe. A compliance notice has been issued to address these concerns. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 4 Children are not provided with safe levels of supervision at night. There have been instances when children have stayed up all night playing games and been in each other’s rooms without staff noticing. An allegation that a night staff member was sleeping on duty was not managed effectively. This places children at risk of harm. Several concerns relating to the practice of a staff member were not investigated or challenged effectively by managers in the home.

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

Although staff have had safeguarding training, they do not demonstrate that they have the skills and knowledge to recognise safeguarding concerns. The insular culture around safeguarding practice has not improved since the full inspection in 2021, when similar themes of not acting on or sharing concerns with relevant safeguarding agencies were identified.

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

The use of physical restraint has increased since the last inspection. One physical restraint record was seen where the measure was not justified. A child who found it difficult to settle at night was restrained by the staff when he would not go to bed. This is not consistent with the behaviour management strategy outlined in the home’s statement of purpose, which indicates that staff should support children with patience and empathy.

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

The home’s location assessment has been updated. However, the staff have failed to use key information from incidents to inform and update the assessment. For example, risks relating to a neighbouring farm and a motorway bridge which children have been known to access have not been properly assessed in terms of potential risks to children.

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

Children living at the home have known risks around fire setting. Despite this being detailed in their plans, the provider has not taken measures to reduce fire risk. For example, damaged furniture had not been removed and remedial action had not been carried out following adaptations to the home. These are preventable hazards in relation to fire safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has been in post since November 2021. The staff team is positive about his leadership. However, the supervision of staff is inconsistent. Gaps in the frequency and quality of supervision undermine the support and development of the staff. Furthermore, the progress and safeguarding of the children does not consistently feature on the supervision agenda. This is a missed opportunity to reflect and to review practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managerial oversight is weak. The serious and widespread concerns highlighted in this inspection have not been identified by leaders and managers’ own monitoring. Additionally, the independent visitor reports continue to be poor. Children are seen infrequently by the visitor and although shortfalls in care practice are occasionally referred to, they do not result in clear actions being identified to improve practice. The reports fail to provide the manager with meaningful feedback or guidance that he can use to make improvements. Although a previous requirement was made Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 5 regarding this, no improvements are evident. This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When concerns have arisen regarding staff conduct, the manager has failed to address this in line with the organisation’s disciplinary policy. He does not identify or act on serious safeguarding concerns and has not held the staff accountable for the roles and responsibilities assigned to them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 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

*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;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and 11 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 7 that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, remove any damaged furniture and ensure that when adaptations are made to the home, fire safety is revisited. 11 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must operate a disciplinary procedure which, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provides for the suspension from work of an employee if necessary in the interests of the safety or welfare of children; and

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Requirement Due date

provides that the failure on the part of an employee to report an incident of abuse, or suspected abuse, whether past or present, in relation to a child to the appropriate person is a ground on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted. (Regulation 33 (2)(a)(b)) 11 December

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Requirement Due date

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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the independent person must regularly speak to the staff and children living at the home. 11 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (Regulation 46 (1)) 11 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 8 *These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC480502 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Forest Care Ltd, West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 6AA

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Inspectors

Sarah Olliver, Social Care Inspector Mike Simmonds, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC480502 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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