Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in Calderdale

Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private organisation runs this home. Ofsted registered the home to provide care for up to six children who may present with emotional or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a suitably qualified registered manager in place. At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected. Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team of carers have provided the children with a sense of belonging at this home. This has enabled children to feel loved, trust their carers, and feel settled. As a result, children can focus on school and other endeavours in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are two therapists linked to the home who support children and carers. The therapists’ interventions bolster the emotional resilience of the children, while raising the carers’ awareness of the children’s needs. However, the home’s statement of purpose recorded that the therapists were programme psychologists. This is inaccurate and may mislead professionals in their understanding of the therapists’ professional title. The organisation immediately corrected this during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager consistently pursues children’s access to education. Carers support children to attend school, despite the distance from the home. When processes, such as education, health and care plan consultations, create barriers for children to access school, the manager swiftly addresses and pursues the local authority to implement a plan. This prevents delay and ensures that children have a named school promptly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers record important conversations through naturally occurring key-work sessions, such as Black History Month, littering, and other topical subjects. Additionally, carers are skilled at transforming some of the children’s natural daily experiences into formal AQA qualifications. However, there was an isolated entry that duplicated recordings from another child’s file. This undermined the authenticity of the recorded conversation on that child’s file.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from having a familiar daily routine. Daily ‘get together’ meetings form part of children’s routines, and they have purpose and structure. Carers are skilled at drawing out meaningful conversations using ‘ice breakers’. This inspires children to contribute to planning their day and planning future activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although carers talk with children about the children’s care planning, carers do not encourage children to read their placement plans that carers compile. The children’s placement plans are also not written or presented in a way that would encourage this. This reduces the likelihood of children making a meaningful contribution to their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Carers support children to access their scheduled health appointments. However, in one instance, the care team had not acted on specific recommendations following a child’s annual health assessment. This undermines the role of the designated nurse and has implications for the child’s health.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 4 Children’s risk assessments clearly highlight the measures that carers need to take to keep children safe. However, the use of alarms on children’s bedroom doors is disproportionate against the manager’s assessment of perceived risk. The manager has adopted a punitive measure that does not reflect the level of assessed risk.

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

Carers make a good effort to learn about the children’s friendship groups. This has enabled carers to set up good contacts in the community. In doing so, carers have rarely needed to report children as missing people to the police. Although there are systems in place for carers to implement in response to a child becoming a missing person, the process does not follow the local police protocol. This has the potential to lead to inconsistent practice.

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

Carers write incident reports that provide clarity. The manager makes good use of this by encouraging the team to reflect and learn following significant incidents that involve children. The therapist takes part in this process, which bolsters the carers’ understanding of the child’s behaviour. This practice empowers children to learn healthier methods to channel difficult emotions.

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

Carers rarely need to restrain children to keep children safe. When this level of intervention has been necessary, carers have applied restraint sensitively, proportionately and for the least amount of time necessary. However, when carers have found that a particular restraint technique has been effective, the manager has not reviewed the child’s risk assessment to include this. This may undermine the carers’ ability to support a child in distress.

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

Carers are confident about what their safeguarding obligations to the child are. Additionally, carers have a good understanding and appreciation of whistle-blowing and what this would entail. This keeps children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to the development of her carers’ practice. The manager has created time in the carers’ daily routine to encourage them to talk among their colleagues about their reflections from their day at the home. A carer commented to the inspector that this is therapeutic for them and promotes better practice across the team, as carers learn from each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Impact risk assessments are thorough. The manager captures the essence of the child from the referral information sent by the social worker. The manager records her analysis within the referral process, which creates transparency and accountability. This provides a strong foundation for children and their carers to start from, which is more likely to contribute to children experiencing stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager pursues and receives statutory documents from the children’s respective local authorities. However, the absence of the manager’s signature on the children’s statutory placement plans diminishes accountability. This oversight was also a feature throughout the children’s placement plans that were compiled by the Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 5 carers. This reduces accountability around the manager’s oversight of the child’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager delegates to the deputy manager and the senior care worker to complete the carers’ supervisions, which vary in quality. The manager’s input and expertise in the supervision process is therefore limited. There is a risk of the manager missing opportunities to reinforce her values and standards within individual supervision sessions. This could stifle carers’ personal development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The internal auditing systems enable the manager to appraise the function of the home. Senior management audits bolster this process as there is a tiered level of scrutiny concerning the care of the children. However, the inspector noted instances that revealed a lack of monitoring to assess the quality of work, such as carers’ supervisions. This restricts the team’s ability to strengthen its performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Carers have access to a comprehensive training programme. The training coordinator applies the training programme in stages, according to the carers’ pace of progression. The training coordinator also offers bespoke training for the team at the manager’s request. Carers value the flexible approach to training. Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 6

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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

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (c)(ii)(iii)(iv) ) 15 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have sufficient understanding of relevant health services, including the function of the designated nurse for children looked after in their area. When the designated nurse makes specific health recommendations within the child’s health assessment, the registered person needs to act on them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should take into account the views of appropriate local services, and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing persons incidents in the area where the home is located. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.29)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should record which restraint technique the team has deemed suitable for the needs of the individual child. The context in which restraint is used should also recognise that, as a result of past experiences, children will have a unique understanding of their circumstances, which will affect their response to restraint by adults responsible for their care. (‘Guide to the Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 7 Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 48, paragraph 9.54)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they and their staff engage proactively with the placing authority to contribute fully to the relevant plans for the child’s care on an ongoing basis. The registered manager needs to ensure that they record their accountability for the child by signing relevant plans and documents. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’, supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children that is accurate and pertinent to them. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2646001 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 Rayns Way, Syston, Leicester LE7 1PF

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jessica Middleton

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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2646001 9 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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