Children's Home run by Oakley House Kent in Kent

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 1 Registered provider: Oakley House (Kent) Limited

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably qualified registered manager. The registered manager is currently away from the home and not at work.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

p.1

Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

p.1

Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 2

p.1

Findings from the inspection

We identified the following serious concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection:

p.2

Findings from the inspection

 There are concerns relating to the leadership and management of the home and in the decision-making that has been undertaken by leaders.  Concerns were identified in relation to the quality of internal investigations that have taken place.  There are insufficient staffing arrangements in place, which has led to an incident in the home.  There is a lack of professional curiosity and concerns that staff do not have a sound understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. This led to a further incident in the home. Night-time procedures were not followed. Staff did not monitor children in line with their own processes.  The home has failed to notify Ofsted of serious events that have occurred.  Records were not available in the home to ensure that medication has been safely administered.  Rosters were not available to demonstrate which staff had worked over specific dates.

p.2

The care of children

Since the last inspection, a new child has moved into the home. This child was appropriately matched to the home and engaged well initially with their bespoke education plans. However, education attendance for all children has since declined. The staff encourage the children to attend education and provide opportunities in the home for learning, in conjunction with the child’s education provider.

p.2

The care of children

The registered provider decided to end one of the children’s placements as they felt they could no longer meet this child’s needs. However, this decision was retracted following a period of stability. More recently, due to an increase in the child’s risk- taking behaviours, the provider feels that they can no longer meet the child’s needs and has served notice on the placement again.

p.2

The care of children

Children engage well with staff and enjoy activities with them. The children enjoy positive relationships with the staff, which was demonstrated in the observations during the inspection.

p.2

The safety of children

Two serious incidents have occurred in the home which have meant that children have not been safeguarded effectively. Furthermore, one of these incidents was not notified to the local authority designated safeguarding team or to Ofsted. Another Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 3 serious incident was only notified on the instruction of the independent person. Consequently, the requirement raised at the last inspection relating to the need to notify Ofsted of serious incidents remains unmet and will be repeated.

p.2

The safety of children

There are shortfalls in the oversight of leaders and managers. They have not acted to ensure that effective action is taken to safeguard children. For example, on the first day a child moved into the home, there were insufficient staff on duty, despite this being a planned admission. This lack of adequate staffing led to children entering each other’s bedrooms and engaging in sexual activity. An internal fact- finding investigation was carried out but failed to recognise the seriousness of this incident.

p.3

The safety of children

Another incident occurred where the children were able to bring another child into the home undetected. Despite the staff’s suspicions, their lack of professional curiosity meant that this child remained in the home overnight. This demonstrates serious shortfalls in the registered provider’s ability to safeguard children at night.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There are currently sufficient management arrangements for the day-to-day oversight of the home in the current absence of the registered manager. There are sufficient staff to meet the needs of the children. However, rosters do not capture all the actual shifts worked by staff, so it is unknown who worked in the home on some days.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The responsible individual acknowledges that there are shortfalls in the records made by staff and in the recording systems at the home. For example, there are shortfalls in the records of a restraint for children. These records fail to identify who was involved in the restraint and fail to confirm whether any discussion with staff or children took place following the method of restraint being used.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There are concerns about the quality of medication practice, particularly children’s records of medication administered. The registered provider was unable to provide these records for a period requested.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The responsible individual has recognised shortfalls in the management practice prior to this inspection and has prepared an action plan to begin to address the shortfalls. This has included the employment of a new senior management team and a plan to address concerns about management oversight.

p.3

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/07/2022 Full Good 05/04/2022 Full Inadequate 19/10/2021 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 4

p.3

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.4

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.4

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;

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

p.4

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(b)) 30 December

p.4

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—

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.4

Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; 30 December Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 5 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(d)(h))

p.4

Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 (1))

p.5

Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated. 30 December

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there is a copy of all medication administered to children. 30 December

p.5

Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, there must be a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home and a record of the actual shifts worked. 30 December

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.5

Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

This requirement is repeated. 30 December Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 6

p.5

Recommendation

 The registered person should have clear arrangements in place for the management and oversight of allegations, including allegations against other young people. This recommendation is carried over. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.18) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Oakley House (Kent) Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3rd Floor, 86 to 90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE

p.7

Inspector

Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2625170 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.

p.7

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 .

p.8

Inspector

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.8

Inspector

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

p.8

Inspector

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

p.8