Children's Home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 1 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

A private provider operates this home. It provides care for up to four children with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The previous registered manager voluntarily cancelled his registration with Ofsted in April 2022 and is no longer working for the company. There is an interim manager in post who has submitted their application to register.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 23 November 2021

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children live in the home. Children say that they have developed positive relationships with staff. Staff’s interactions with children demonstrate nurturing and caring relationships. Staff hold children in high regard and aspire for them to do well. This results in children feeling happy in their home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s attendance at school is good. Staff ensure that there is good communication with children’s individual schools to ensure that children continue to achieve good educational outcomes. The manager and staff have good systems in place to monitor children’s progress in their education, and that any gaps in their learning are identified and addressed in a timely manner. As a result, children are supported to achieve their aspirations.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are supported well. The manager and staff complete appropriate referrals when they have concerns about children’s mental health or emotional well-being. They also ensure that they escalate concerns when delays in referrals or interventions are having an adverse impact on children. The manager ensures that children who have experienced bereavement are adequately supported when necessary. This ensures that children’s needs are supported effectively.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a broad range of experiences in the home. They are supported to engage in activities that they enjoy, and their individual interests are encouraged and supported. Consequently, children have fun and their talents and interests are understood and nurtured.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and leaders ensure that the matching of children coming into the home considers the impact that the move will have on the existing group of children. The manager and leaders have made difficult decisions about children moving on from the home, but the transition has been well planned. The manager and staff have worked well with the local authority and the child’s new home to lessen the impact on children. This allows for a smoother transition for children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value children’s relationships with their loved ones. Families speak very highly of the support and communication from staff. Staff also ensure that family time is managed safely for children, and any emerging concerns are addressed swiftly and appropriately. As a result, children maintain close links with people who are important to them.

p.3

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

Staff understand and manage children’s risks well. The quality of risk assessments is good and this supports staff with strategies to manage risks to children effectively. In addition, children are supported to understand their risks through regular key- work sessions. Consequently, the children living in the home are settled. Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 4 Overall, incidents of self-harming behaviour are managed well. The manager and staff complete dynamic risk assessments which ensure that children are safeguarded and that risks are adequately managed. This ensures that children are kept safe.

p.3

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

Staff take appropriate action when children go missing from the home. They ensure that they complete a chronology of actions taken, and there is good oversight from the manager to help identify any shortfalls in practice. There is a coordinated approach with other agencies to develop a safety plan that reduces risks to children. The manager also ensures that an independent return interview is completed to help identify any other concerns. This promotes good safeguarding practice for children.

p.4

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

Serious incidents have taken place involving children who have now left the home. In such cases, debriefs are undertaken with staff and key-work sessions are carried out with children. There is good oversight from the manager to identify any areas for learning. However, the recording of incidents is not always clear and lacks sufficient detail. In addition, children’s records do not consistently reflect the trauma-informed approaches that staff use in their day-to-day care of children. This hinders the good practice in the home.

p.4

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

Some recordings of physical interventions do not demonstrate that staff have followed the child’s individual care plan, or that they have taken sufficient action to avoid the need to use the measure. These shortfalls have been identified by the manager and sufficient action has been taken to address the concerns.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is ambitious and committed to achieving positive outcomes for children. She is a child-focused practitioner who advocates for children’s views, wishes and feelings to be considered. The manager is supporting the staff to deliver good care to children and they demonstrate a good understanding of children’s care plans and how to support them to do well. As a result, children are making good progress.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that there are good internal monitoring and reviewing systems to review the quality of care provided to children. She ensures that there is good oversight of incidents that occur in the home, and there is a good culture of learning from incidents. Good oversight ensures that children are supported effectively and that practice in the home continues to improve.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are held in high regard by other professionals. The communication with partner agencies is described as good, and social workers say the children are supported to make good progress. The manager ensures that local authorities and other agencies are appropriately engaged with when necessary. This ensures that children are supported to achieve positive outcomes.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive support through regular team meetings, workshops and training. This ensures that staff continue to develop their skills, knowledge and experience. Staff Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 5 are positive about working in the home and about the support from the manager. Consequently, children are cared for by staff who feel well supported in their role.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that staff are supported effectively. Overall, supervisions are regular and the records are well detailed. There is evidence of high levels of support and challenge when areas of poor practice are identified. However, staff have not received an annual appraisal. This impacts on the manager’s ability to monitor staff’s development and progress effectively.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the manager ensures that the regulator is informed of serious incidents that occur in the home. The manager ensures that all relevant professionals, including the local authority designated officer, school staff and the social worker are notified of concerns. However, the regulator was not notified of one serious incident. As a result, the regulator was not able to assess that the home had taken sufficient action to safeguard the child on this occasion.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor’s report does not provide a sufficiently rigorous and detailed assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. Consequently, this is failing to provide an effective external monitoring tool. Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.6

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff receive an annual appraisal. 26 May 2023

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

p.6

Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

p.6

Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the independent person’s report is an effective monitoring tool. The actions from the report must support continuous improvement of the quality of care provided to children and help improve staff’s practice. 26 May 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 7

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of ensuring that children’s records are clear, accurate and objective. In particular, staff must ensure that records of physical restraints and incidents are sufficiently detailed and that they reflect the trauma-informed approaches used in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they notify the regulator if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.11)

p.7

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: 2562531 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unity Residential Care Services Limited, 2 Lymevale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6NW

p.8

Inspector

Mazviita Makiyi, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2562531 9 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9