Children's home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 1 SC470413 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent registered manager, who is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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 outstanding

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 21 September 2021

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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: SC470413 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/09/2021 Full Good 26/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/06/2019 Full Good 16/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is one child currently living at the home and he has lived at the home for over a year. This has been a very positive experience for him, and he has made considerable progress from his starting point.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager is a strong advocate for the child. The manager escalated a complaint following the breakdown of his last school placement, which had resulted in a short time out of education. The outcome of this action by the manager is that he now has a very bespoke education provision. His attendance and engagement with his education provision are increasing every week.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An integral element of the care provided at this home is the involvement from the clinical team. This has enabled the child to have prompt and thorough assessments of his needs. This has led to diagnoses. As a direct result, his needs are fully understood. The clinical team also provide medication and access to therapy. The clinicians inform his care planning and support staff to develop their skills and knowledge. This means that staff know how to meet his complex and specialist needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is homely and welcoming. The child is comfortable in his surroundings. He values his bedroom as his own space, and his bedroom is decorated to reflect his interests and hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has a very clear voice in the home. Staff are creative and flexible in the methods they use to gather his views, wishes and feelings. For example, they use games and humour during his monthly house meetings. The manager provides a written response each month to his choices and requests. As a result, the child values this activity as meaningful, and this increases his willingness to share his views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are aware that the child has limited social opportunities. They are taking steps, at a pace he can manage, to increase his social network. For example, he has recently been bowling with a child from another home. This has led to a friendship developing. He accesses a range of activities, with his current favourite being go- karting. This provides a sense of achievement as he is particularly skilled at this sport.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has good communication with the child’s parents, providing them with regular updates. One parent told the inspector how much they value this communication. The manager has also shared information and resources with parents. This supports their understanding of the child’s needs. This also helps the time that the child spends with family members to be enjoyable. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 4

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

Staff understand the child’s risks and vulnerabilities. They provide high-quality care and take action to manage risks. On moving to the home, the child did have some pre-existing anxieties around safety. There are measures in place to reassure him about these. For example, at night-time, staff remain upstairs and there is an intruder alarm used. These measures and his relationships with staff help him to feel safe living at the home.

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

The child knows what is expected of him. Staff implement boundaries and guidance using approaches in line with his individual needs. Staff use planned strategies to prevent escalation of behaviours.

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

Behavioural incidents have reduced for the child in frequency, duration and intensity. Following any incident, there is a detailed review undertaken by the manager. This helps to identify learning opportunities for preventing and managing future incidents more effectively.

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

The child has a good relationship with the staff, and he enjoys their company. He has a particularly trusting relationship with the manager. There has been a lot of changes to staff over the last year. The manager has been a consistent person for the child. When he raised a complaint, this was thoroughly investigated. He received a written outcome and response from the manager.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures. The provider ensures that staff complete a wide range of training in safeguarding matters.

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

Staff are proactive in considering safeguarding risks and focus on prevention. For example, there are risk assessments in place around child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation. As a result, risks and vulnerabilities are known and measures are in place to safeguard the child from external risks.

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

The internet is identified as a particular risk for the child. There are now robust measures and monitoring in place. The manager has worked with the internet provider to ensure the most-effective safety filters and settings are in place. The staff support the child to develop his own understanding around online safety.

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

The child can maintain privacy in his bedroom, and he chooses to lock his own bedroom door when inside. This lock can also be opened from the outside by a key. Staff carry keys but may not be able to unlock the door quickly, potentially causing delay in an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is very experienced and has worked at the organisation for several years. The manager has high aspirations for the child, in keeping with his needs and experiences. Professional feedback highlights that the level of communication from the manager is exceptional. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 5 The manager benefits from being part of a management team across the organisation. She is proactive in gaining support from colleagues and contributing to organisational development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is ambitious to develop a staff team who have the right ethos and skills to provide high-quality care. The manager has caried out an in-depth analysis of turnover of staff. As a result, changes have been made to recruitment and induction processes. Early signs show that this has been advantageous in improving staff retention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff feel well supported by the manager. Staff have been embedded well into the home, as a newly formed staff group. They have benefitted from thorough inductions. As a result, they understand the child’s needs and their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is motivated to get to know the staff well and understand how they learn best. This enables her to target approaches to supervision and training to optimise staff development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager makes effective use of research to enhance care at the home. For example, they have done research to develop their knowledge of kinesthetic learning. This provides strategies and approaches to support the child’s learning needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager carries out in-depth oversight and monitoring of the home. External monitoring takes place, but always on a planned basis. This may result in missed opportunities to identify recommendations for development and the improvement of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is some use of agency staffing at the home. This usually involves regular agency staff who know the child. All staff receive supervision. This provides a space for reflection and development. Staff have an annual appraisal. The child contributes to this by providing feedback for each member of staff, and he enjoys participating.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have access to a wide range of training opportunities. The manager extends learning opportunities through holding staff development sessions, such as for autism and attachments styles. As a result, staff increase their knowledge and skills in meeting the child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is extremely knowledgeable. In turn, she inspires the staff team to develop by creating a learning environment for all. This is providing a skilled and knowledgeable staff team. This increases the quality of the care and supports the child to make progress and improve his outcomes. Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. This may include unannounced visits. (‘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: SC470413 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC470413 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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