Children's home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 1 SC483692 Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of a number of homes operated by a private provider. It is registered to care for four children who may have social, emotional or learning needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 27 July 2020.

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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: 12 January 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/01/2022 Full Outstanding 11/02/2020 Full Outstanding 28/11/2018 Full Outstanding 04/10/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming. It provides a comfortable environment in which children can develop and make progress. One child said, ‘It’s safe here. It’s a nice place.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s understanding of equality and diversity. For example, children and staff make gifts and cards for their neighbours to celebrate cultural festivals. This strengthens community cohesion and raises children’s cultural awareness.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a broad range of activities in and around the home. This promotes adventure and new skills. One child is learning to play the piano, while other children volunteer in the local community every weekend. This means that children take part in regular positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build secure relationships with staff at the home. This promotes their emotional well-being and helps them to talk openly about their feelings. However, staff do not encourage children to access their case records. This limits the understanding that the child has about their experience and background.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children settle in when they first arrive at the home. One child said, ‘The staff helped me when I first came here. I got to meet the other children and we all liked each other.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to prepare for their futures. Children complete independence diaries to help them gain vital life skills. This also boosts children’s confidence and self-esteem. As a result, children successfully move into semi-independent accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide care that supports children’s individual needs. Staff fully consider children’s religious and cultural needs in relation to their health and education. This promotes children’s independence and their identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with education and seek to overcome barriers to education. One member of school staff said, ‘The staff attended every meeting with respect to [name of child], supporting attendance, attainment and regulation in school.’

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

Risk-management plans provide clear strategies for staff to follow. Staff review the plans them following incidents to ensure that the team provides a consistent level of care. This helps to safeguard children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 4 Staff raise children’s awareness of online harms through key-work sessions. This includes talking about safe and healthy relationships. This means that children become more resilient and learn how to keep themselves safe.

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

Staff activate door alarms on children’s bedrooms at night. In some cases, this unnecessarily limits children’s access and privacy. Furthermore, children sometimes access areas of the home that contain hazardous objects. This increases risk of harm to staff and children.

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

Staff respond well to incidents of children going missing from home. Staff follow individual missing-from-home plans as part of a multi-agency response. This helps to quickly find children and reduce any risk of harm.

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

On some occasions, it is necessary for staff to restrict children’s movements. This prevents children from hurting themselves and others. Children and staff reflect on each incident with a person who was not involved. This helps to promote learning and prevent future recurrences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed by an experienced and qualified manager. The manager chairs regular team meetings to promote consistent levels of care for children. One member of staff said, ‘[Name of manager] seems to have a good sense of people and uses this well to bring together a good, empathetic staff team and kids that work well together. [Name of manager] has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers attend regular monthly supervision. Staff focus on children’s needs and progress. Supervision also enables staff to discuss their training needs with their manager. This helps staff to improve their skills and personal development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers conduct appraisals with staff on an annual basis. Staff reflect on their work and set targets for the year ahead. However, appraisals do not include the views of children or key individuals. This limits their effectiveness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers promote multi-agency work. They have strong links with many local and regional providers. This promotes children’s education, health, social and emotional needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers follow-up and escalate concerns if responses from agencies are not satisfactory. This helps to ensure that managers promote children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a good understanding of the progress children make. Leaders and managers spend time with children on a regular basis, which helps them to measure progress. Additionally, the manager completes a regular review of care to highlight children’s progress and to evaluate children’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 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, the 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(f)) 13 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff appraisals include the views of other professionals who have worked with staff over the year, and the views of children who have been cared for at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that the premises are maintained to protect each child from avoidable hazards, and, wherever necessary, restrict children’s access to hazardous objects. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.62)  The registered person should ensure that any limits to children’s privacy and access in the home, such as the use of bedroom door alarms, are for safeguarding purposes only. Any limits should be subject to a rigorous assessment of each child’s needs and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: SC483692 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Colin Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC483692 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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