Children's Home run by Accalia Care Services Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 1 Registered provider: Accalia Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in February 2020 to provide care and accommodation for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager started in post in January 2021 and has been registered with Ofsted since 12 May 2021.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home. No children have moved in or out of the home since the inspection in July 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff genuinely care about the child and take pride in their achievements. This positive affirmation encourages them to achieve their goals. As a result, the child is making good progress in all areas of their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff follow care plans to ensure that children receive consistent and well-planned care. The child’s health needs are promoted by the registered manager and staff. There is specialist support in place for the child, which is allowing them to explore early childhood experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to develop life skills and to pursue new interests. For example, the child has joined the local Scout group and attends a local youth club weekly. This proactive approach encourages the child’s self-esteem and is helping to develop their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to enable the child to stay in touch with people who are important to them. This involves travelling long distances to support this time with family. This has been instrumental in the child maintaining significant relationships during a difficult period of their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the environment of the home is homely and appropriately maintained. However, there are some aspects that require attention and redecoration. The registered manager took some action during the inspection to make improvements, however, further redecoration is required, including to the child’s bedroom, and painting of some of the internal doors.

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

Staff ensure that risk assessments are kept up to date. This helps staff to stay informed of the risks that affect the child and how to respond to these risks. Consequently, the child is safe and incidents are reducing.

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

Staff encourage the child to make positive choices and to understand the consequences of their behaviour. Direct work enables the child to reflect on what has gone well for them and what they would do differently. The child understands that it is alright to make mistakes. This change in approach has resulted in a reduction in significant incidents. Though there have been incidents of restraint since the last inspection, these are reducing and have been managed well.

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

Since the last inspection, the child has not gone missing from the home. Although the child continues to need high levels of supervision to keep them safe, Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 4 improvements in their behaviours mean that they are now able to attend a Scout group.

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

When the child has made allegations against staff at the home, safeguarding procedures have been followed, which have kept everyone safe. However, the outcomes of the investigations into allegations are not always explained to the child. This means the child is left uncertain about the outcome and how it has been reached.

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good

Since the last inspection, the management of the home has been shared between the registered manager and a trainee manager. At times, this has had a detrimental impact on the oversight of the home by the registered manager. The plan now is for the registered manager to revert to being in day-to-day charge of the home.

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good

The registered manager’s monitoring and review systems are not always effective. For example, they have not identified that the recording of consequences used by staff has been of inconsistent quality. This means that the registered manager has not been able to fully assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of the consequences used by staff.

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good

With the support of managers, staff are growing in knowledge and skills. Staff have completed relevant training, and this is an ongoing process to ensure that staff can continue to meet the child’s needs. Staff receive regular supervision. However, records of these meetings do not always fully reflect the discussions.

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good

The registered manager has created a child-focused version of the children’s guide. This shows that the registered manager has a good understanding of the child’s needs.

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good

The home’s recruitment process has not always been thorough enough to ensure that children are cared for by safe adults. In one instance, the registered manager had only requested one reference for a member of staff and had not requested a reference from an employer where the staff member had held a position of trust. Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 5

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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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the environment, including the child’s bedroom, paintwork on doors and holes from old locks in the kitchen. 5 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— 5 January 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 6 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(g)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to providing feedback to children after they have made an allegation, and not recording all measures of control.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person has taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about each of the matters in Schedule 2 in respect of the individual, but the enquiries in relation to any of the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete. (Regulation 32 (7) (a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to requesting references from relevant previous employers. 5 January 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that there is a record of any supervision carried out by the manager with staff. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: 2568363 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Accalia Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Radclyffe House, 66-68 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8PF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Leaford Williams

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Inspector

Mark Dickinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2568363 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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