Children's home run by I.M.P.A.C.T Children's Residential Care Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 1 Registered provider: I.M.P.A.C.T Children’s Residential Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, the registered manager and responsible individual have left the service.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in 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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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 are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 15 February 2022

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 3

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inadequate

Since the last inspection, the home has undergone significant management and staffing changes. The registered manager and responsible individual have resigned, 10 staff have left the home, and 12 new staff have been employed.

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inadequate

The director took over the responsible individual’s role and appointed a new manager. This manager was dismissed in May 2022. Another manager was appointed and they resigned in September 2022. The home has been without a manager since this time. The part-time operations manager and inexperienced acting deputy manager are in charge of the day-to-day running of the home.

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inadequate

The impact of these changes combined with leaders’ and managers’ poor oversight of the home have resulted in negative experiences for children living in the home. Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff have the necessary skills and experience to support, safeguard and promote the well-being of children living in the home.

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inadequate

The home is showing some signs of wear and tear. A child’s wardrobe shelf is waiting to be reinstalled, there is damage to a child’s bedroom wall, and an electric wall socket is broken and unsafe. In addition, the locks in the bathrooms are not suitable because they do not enable staff to have easy access to safeguard children in the event of an emergency.

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inadequate

The children’s guide does not help children to understand the home’s daily routines, boundaries and expectations when living in the home. The locking of the lounge door at night restricts children’s access to all areas of the home. This practice is not assessed or regularly reviewed to ensure that it is necessary.

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inadequate

The children currently living in the home are making some progress. They are re- engaging with their education and attending their health appointments. One child has increased their skills in arts and crafts.

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inadequate

Staff source mentors and coaches for the children to help and encourage them with their interests. Children regularly attend cadets, football and basketball clubs. Children and staff make plans during their house meetings for trips to theme parks, the cinema and go-karting. Children enjoy pampering and gaming nights with staff. Children spoken with said that they liked living in the home.

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inadequate

Staff support children to re-establish and maintain important family relationships. Staff help to facilitate travel and overnight arrangements for children whose families live a long way from the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 4

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

Staff do not have the skills to help and protect children consistently. This was reflected in a recent report that was prepared by the independent person, which stated that staff are not always able to safeguard children and promote their well- being. Neither the responsible individual nor the operations managers were able to explain what actions they had taken in response to the independent person’s concerns.

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

Staff lack the skills to manage children’s behaviours or situations that they find challenging. On numerous occasions, staff have called the police to help them manage incidents in the home. The responsible individual said that requests made to the police were due to fear and/or staff’s lack of confidence.

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

Leaders and managers have failed to report all serious incidents involving children living at the home to Ofsted as required.

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

Strategies to manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other are largely ineffective. Consequently, some children have experienced verbal and physical abuse from each other.

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

Staff do not understand the risks to children or their roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children. They do not proactively promote children’s welfare and safety. On one occasion, due to staff’s poor practice, a child, with a history of self-harm, was able to access the home’s medication cabinet and subsequently took an overdose of painkillers.

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

On another occasion, staff did not remove a dangerous item from the home that a child had used as a weapon. As a result, a different child used this item to threaten staff and cause criminal damage in the home.

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

Staff do not sufficiently monitor children at night. Children have been able to remove knives from the kitchen and access a drill in a locked cupboard. Staff have also failed to secure razors kept in the office. For example, a child managed to get hold of a razor from the office and injured themselves with it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management are inconsistent and ineffective. Ofsted has not been provided with information about the provider’s assessment of the suitability of the current responsible individual, as requested.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider has not appointed and retained a suitable registered manager to lead the home. There is currently no manager in post. The operations manager works two days a week in the home. The acting deputy manager has been in post for two months and has no previous experience of managing a children’s home. Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 5 None of the staff team have any prior experience of working in children’s residential care. Staff training records identify that they lack the necessary experience and skills to meet the needs of the children living at the home. For example, there are significant gaps in staff’s training in relation to positive behaviour support, self-harm awareness, and safeguarding children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home does not have a sufficient number of permanent staff and relies on agency staff, particularly during the night, to maintain sufficient supervision levels. The high use of agency staff does not provide continuity of care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to monitor the operation of the home effectively. The operations manager said that their systems have been improved. However, shortfalls were found in records, including medication charts, and children’s care plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s whistle-blowing policy is not fit for purpose and the employee handbook is not up to date. The director and responsible individual employs four family members and friends to work in the home. The home’s whistle-blowing policy and employee handbook do not set out the procedures necessary to avoid any conflict of interest, should the staff who are family and friends become subject to any allegations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following this inspection, Ofsted issued a notice to restrict accommodation to the home and five compliances notices in relation to regulations 12, 13, 27, 34 and 40. A monitoring visit will be undertaken to assess the provider’s compliance with these notices. Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 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— that staff—

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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

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

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)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)) 9 December 2022

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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

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 9 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 7 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d)(e)(h))

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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 is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 9 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

*The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and 9 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 8 the registered provider—

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Requirement Due date

is an organisation or a partnership. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and

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sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)) 9 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a home with another individual or other individuals, otherwise than in a partnership, if that individual and each other individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit to carry on the home; and

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Requirement Due date

the individual is financially fit to carry on the home.

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of the matters in paragraphs 1 and 3 to 6 of Schedule 2. 31 December Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 9 A responsible individual must—

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Requirement Due date

satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5)(a) to (c); and

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (1) (5)(a)(b)(c)(d) (6)(a)(b) (7)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider’s company secretary or other company directors must provide Ofsted with a report demonstrating that they have fulfilled their statutory obligations to ensure that the nominated person is fit to be the responsible individual.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff receive training to meet the needs of all of the children living in the home. 31 December

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home produces a children’s guide that helps children to understand the day-to-day routines of the home and the care that they can expect to receive while they are living there. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should assess and keep under review the practice of locking the lounge door at night. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 10  The registered person should improve or replace some of the home’s fixtures and fittings. This includes bathroom locks, a child’s wardrobe shelf, and the conservatory plug socket. They should also ensure that the damage to a bedroom wall is repaired. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2624855 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: I.M.P.A.C.T Children’s Residential Care Ltd

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Inspector

Victoria Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2624855 12 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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