Children's home run by The Place Young People’s Company

Inspection report for children’s home: 2484055 1 Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private provider. It provides care for up to four children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 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 good

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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: 17 December 2019

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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: 2484055 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/12/2019 Full Good 17/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2484055 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is one child being cared for in this home. The overall experiences and progress for the child are good. Staff have supported the child to attend school after an extended period of absence. When the child is not in school, staff have taken the child on a variety of educational trips. This has helped the child progress with their educational development. The child has also been able to establish friendships because of being back in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and comfortable. The child’s bedroom is personalised and decorated to a good standard. This provides the child with a comfortable home they can be proud of. The child said, ‘I like living here, it’s peaceful.’ Staff provided the child with consistency of care during unplanned maintenance in the home. This minimised the disruption to the child and added further to a very comfortable home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have helped the child to develop their identity and self-esteem. There have been discussions between the child and a variety of staff in a planned and unplanned way. The child said staff have ‘helped me to be myself’. The child has a better understanding of their life and, as a result, has a deeper understanding of themselves and feels more confident and self-assured.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff recognise and celebrate the child’s progress. One member of staff commented that the child ‘is an inspiration’. The staff record the progress made by the child. This enables staff to track progress and identify areas of support to help the child to continue to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff do not always seek external professional advice when they suspect emotional health and well-being concerns. As a result, the child does not have access to more specialist medical input when this is needed.

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

Individual risk assessments and behaviour support plans are sufficiently detailed. These help the staff to understand how to keep the child safe. There is no action plan about what staff need to do if the child goes missing from care. This means that not all the risks for the child are understood by the adults who look after them.

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

Staff rarely need to use physical intervention if the child is struggling to manage their emotions. However, when this has been needed, staff do not record the full details of what has taken place. The details are important for staff learning and to support the child to understand what happened.

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

The child knows how to make a complaint. Staff respond to complaints promptly. The child is supported to talk openly about their complaint or any grievances they Inspection report for children’s home: 2484055 4 may have. Managers respond to the child’s complaint, meaning that the child feels listened to.

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

The child is safer because of the rigorous vetting and checking of prospective new staff. The pre-employment vetting of staff is thorough and likely to deter unsuitable adults from seeking employment working with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager understands the individual needs of the child. The manager and staff have developed good, collaborative professional relationships with those who support the child. An external professional said, ‘The manager is good at communicating with everyone and there is a good team.’ This supports partnership working to help keep the child safe and help them make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers are ambitious. They want to provide outstanding care to children. The manager has a good understanding about the staff’s strengths and weaknesses. The plan for development of the home is out of date. The plan lacks clarity about the continuing professional development of staff. This would strengthen the plan further.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professional supervision between the manager and staff has been inconsistent. As a result, staff are not always having the opportunity to reflect on their practice with a manager. The manager is aware of this being an area for improvement and has already begun to implement changes. However, these changes are not yet embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff have access to an induction programme to help develop their skills in caring for children. Staff have said this training has some weaknesses and said it was ‘back to front’. Staff say there needs to be more specific training relating to the child’s needs. This would help improve the care and understanding the staff provide to the child. Staff are positive about a new training programme, but this is not yet fully embedded into learning and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s oversight of the care provided to the child is good. The manager reviews staff recording and all incidents, and provides supportive feedback to staff to help their development. The manager has not always ensured that significant events about the welfare of children have been made to the appropriate authorities. The manager has sought refresher training for reporting and recording as part of ongoing practice improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are not yet fully effective. Staff comment that the frequency of meetings has improved over the last few months, and they are positive that this will continue. Staff say that the manager ensures they can identify areas for discussion and support. This supports staff development and is a positive factor in the care provided to the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2484055 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 registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to supervision of staff taking place in line with the home’s policy of a minimum of monthly supervision. 3 February 2023

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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

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to an incident that Ofsted should have been notified about. 3 February 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs19 and 20. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2484055 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Edison Education Ltd, Lyme Vale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke-on-trent ST4 6NW

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Inspector

Kathryn Hurley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2484055 7 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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