Children's Home run by North Yorkshire Council in North Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 1 SC034189 Registered provider: North Yorkshire County Council 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 six children between the ages of 11 and 18 years who experience social, emotional or mental health difficulties. The home can also care for a further two children in separate accommodation for up to 28 days.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority under the ‘No Wrong Door’ model of care. Some children stay in the home for a short time, while others are there for several months.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager voluntarily cancelled her registration with Ofsted on 22 July 2022. A new manager has been appointed and is in day-to-day charge of the home. This manager has submitted her application to be registered with Ofsted. This application is under review.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 2 This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 17 and 18 August 2022. There were significant shortfalls in the assessment and safety for children and in the leadership and management of the home. These shortfalls placed children at serious risk of harm. As a result of that inspection, Ofsted issued a notice restricting accommodation and four compliance notices under regulation 11, 12, 13 and 21.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Ofsted monitored these compliance notices and the notice restricting accommodation on 27 September 2022. The inspectors concluded that steps set in the compliance notices with regard to regulation 11, 12 and 13 were not fully met and these were reissued. The notice restricting accommodation remained in place.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

As a result of this inspection, leaders and managers have taken sufficient action to meet the remaining compliance notices, and the notice restricting accommodation has been lifted. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/08/2022 Full Inadequate 04/01/2022 Full Good 01/05/2019 Full Good 05/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 4

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improvement to be good

Relationships between staff and children continue to develop. Although some children said that they do not feel that the staff are always available to support them, other children said that they enjoy spending time with staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to understand the importance of education and encourage them to attend their school and college placements. When children refuse to attend school, staff seek to establish some structure to help children to re-engage. However, incentives for children to break the cycle of non-attendance are limited.

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improvement to be good

Children participate in one-to-one sessions with staff. These cover a range of topics that are relevant to each child’s individual circumstances. However, these sessions are not always recorded. This does not help children to reflect on or remember what has been discussed.

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improvement to be good

Regular children’s meetings mean that children have the opportunity to raise concerns and influence the development of the home. However, feedback from managers to children’s requests and suggestions is sometimes unclear, leaving children unsure of the outcome.

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improvement to be good

Children take part in activities, but some of these are repetitive and do not provide children with new opportunities to explore or extend their talents and interests. The activities that children do take part in are not captured in photographs. This is a missed opportunity to help children to create lasting memories of their time in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children are able to see their families, and staff work hard to help children to repair these relationships. This helps to build children’s social network as well as teaching them valuable life skills.

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improvement to be good

The overall appearance of the home is much improved since the last inspection and further work is planned. This provides children with a more comfortable home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are now more consistent in their approach to following the plans in place to safeguard children. However, some of these plans are not up to date and do not contain all known risks that may impact on children’s safety. This prevents staff from always responding appropriately to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

Room searches do not always take place in line with the children’s plans. As a result, children have been able to have access to items that they have used to hurt Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 5 themselves. However, the manager is addressing this shortfall and has implemented clearer, more child-focused plans that better protect children and are more reflective of their needs.

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improvement to be good

Children continue to go missing from the home. In these circumstances, staff know that they are responsible for looking for the children and liaising with other agencies, including specialist police teams. This helps to ensure that children are located quickly. However, plans for some children are not always clear and do not support children to abide by other restrictions, such as bail conditions, that they may be subject to.

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improvement to be good

Consequences for poor or unacceptable behaviours are not always clearly recorded. This means that it is difficult to always understand the rationale for these. This is a missed opportunity to capture the positive restorative work that takes place with the children. Furthermore, children’s views on these consequences are not always recorded.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not follow a clear routine when recording medication, including when children refuse to take this. Medication checks do not take place and this means that shortfalls in staff practice are not identified. On occasion, children have missed their medication as a result of staff’s actions.

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good

The manager’s oversight of the home has improved since the last inspection. However, there remain areas for improvement. Leaders and managers have focused on meeting the compliance notices and have not widened their oversight to take account of all aspects of the quality of children’s care and support. This means that the manager is not yet able to identify and address all areas for development.

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good

The manager delegates tasks to others senior staff, but does not follow up on the quality of their work. As a result, she is often unaware that shortfalls in practice have not been addressed and that tasks are incomplete, such as risk assessments being amended in full. Those reviewing the documents have not received additional training and guidance, which means this poor practice continues.

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good

Not all incidents are recorded and daily logs do not always capture all of the events in the home. This makes it difficult for the manager to understand the children’s experiences, and to put plans in place to better help and support them.

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good

Some managers and senior staff are not clear on the plans in place to safeguard children. This shortfall means that they cannot be assured that staff consistently follow these plans. Senior managers are addressing this shortfall.

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good

The manager does not have sufficient oversight of the training of the staff team. This means that she cannot be assured that staff have the necessary skills to meet the complex needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 6 Staff said that there has been a ‘culture shift’ in the home and that they now feel more involved in the day-to-day running of the home. They said that supervision sessions have improved and that they now receive more guidance on how best to support the children.

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good

There are delays in the independent visitor’s report being sent to Ofsted. This prevents Ofsted from having effective oversight of the home and the experiences for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments contain all known risks, give clear strategies for staff to follow, are regularly reviewed and are kept up to date. 30 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

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and 30 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 8 understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the manager has complete oversight of the home, reviews incidents and follows up on all actions identified, and addresses any shortfalls in recording or staff practice.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)(b)) 30 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 30 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all repairs to the home are actioned and addressed quickly to ensure that the environment is nurturing and welcoming, and that items available are age appropriate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities, both inside and outside of the home (where appropriate), and are encouraged to participate in those activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should ensure that children’s experiences are captured to help them understand their time in the home, particularly regarding collecting Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 9 photos. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that visits by an independent person are rigorous, impartial and that reports are sent to Ofsted within timescales. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: SC034189 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North Yorkshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Inspectors

Debra Boldy, Social Care Inspector Deb Duffy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034189 11 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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