Children's Home run by Hennessy Living Group Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 1 Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who may have emotional or social needs, a learning disability and/or mental disorders.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager were registered with Ofsted on 3 August 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspectors spoke to the two children who were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 3

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failings in how well children are helped and protected. As a result, children’s overall experiences were judged to be inadequate.

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inadequate

Before children move in to the home, the manager does not consider the child’s individual needs and vulnerabilities, and if the staff can meet these needs. The manager does not consider the affect that a child moving in to the home may have on those who are already living there. This poor care planning has resulted in children experiencing abrupt and unplanned endings, which can cause feelings of rejection and additional trauma.

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inadequate

Children are not supported to live together as a group or to develop positive relationships with each other. Staff do not respond effectively to conflict between the children, and they are unable to influence the children to behave better. Therefore, children’s relationships remain strained.

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inadequate

Children’s written records are not meaningful, as they are inaccurate and incomplete. Children’s day-to-day experiences are not well documented, and chronologies of events are not evaluated. These shortfalls mean that there is a lack of focus on ensuring that the children’s needs are met.

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inadequate

Children are supported to have better relationships with their family. The staff provide the children with practical support so that they can visit their family and friends. Staff provide the children’s family members with updates, which relatives say are helpful.

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inadequate

Children are supported to make progress in school. For some children, this means that their attendance and attainment have improved. The manager communicates well with education professionals, and she attends the children’s parents’ evenings. This, alongside the staff liaising with the relevant education professionals, means that any barriers that may affect the children’s access to school and learning are addressed.

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inadequate

Children are encouraged to follow their interests and religious beliefs. The staff support the children to attend places of worship and enjoy a variety of community activities. This helps children to develop their identity.

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

Children’s individual risk assessments are poor quality and they do not identify significant risks. In addition, they fail to provide the staff with clear strategies to manage the children’s risks. Consequently, the staff are not equipped with the information that they need to help them to protect the children from harm. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 4 Incidents of bullying and physical aggression between the children are not addressed. In some examples viewed, written records do not show that the staff have intervened to protect the children from harm. Children have been frightened by these incidents, and say that, at times, they have felt unsafe.

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

The manager does not ensure that the children’s missing-from-care plans are accurate and up to date. This means that the staff do not consistently respond to the children in accordance with local protocols when they go missing from the home. In addition, the children do not consistently receive a return-home interview. This oversight prevents the manager from gaining intelligence about the missing period so that they can evaluate it and share this with other agencies. This means that information that may help to locate the child sooner is not readily available.

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

The manager has failed to ensure that physical interventions that involve the children are documented in accordance with the regulations. Additionally, when a child complained about being held by a member of staff, their views were not taken seriously. Consequently, no action was taken as the complaint was not investigated.

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

The manager has failed to ensure that the staff understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding the children. There has been a high number of serious incidents and concerns that indicate that the children may be exposed to risk. However, the staff have failed to consistently recognise the seriousness or act appropriately to safeguard the children.

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

The manager does not review incidents or evaluate the effect that these incidents have on the children. Therefore, serious failings are not identified and addressed. This means that the children continue to be exposed to a potential risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are serious and widespread issues relating to the management of the home. The manager does not provide the newly formed staff team with direction or guidance to help them to operate the home in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Therefore, the children’s needs are often not met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not scrutinise the care that the children receive. As issues are not identified, they are not addressed. Consequently, the children are not effectively protected, and some children have suffered harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not have an effective system to monitor the children’s progress. This means that emerging themes relating to the children’s care are not quickly identified and opportunities to address the shortfalls are missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to ensure that the children’s plans are accurate and current. Consequently, the staff do not have clear plans to help them to understand the children’s bespoke needs. This leaves the staff ill-equipped to provide the children with good-quality care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 5 Staffing has been a challenge. Agency staff are rarely used and, instead, the manager and staff have worked additional hours to provide sufficient cover to care for the children. Despite there being a lack of good staff sleeping provision, when the children are settled, some staff have slept during the night, when they should have been awake.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The failures identified during this inspection were immediately brought to the attention of the manager, responsible individual, and the placing local authorities. Due to the seriousness of the inspection findings, Ofsted has issued a notice to restrict accommodation, in order to prevent children from moving in to the home. Ofsted also issued compliance notices under regulations 12 and 13. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 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’ 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 7 help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(vii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 8 understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d)(f)(h)) 22 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 9 receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 10 within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

Paragraph (3) does not apply in relation to restraint that is planned or provided for as a matter of routine in the child’s EHC plan or statement of special educational needs. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c) (4))

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 22 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI, at HMCI’s request, a statement containing a summary of any complaints made during the preceding twelve months and the action that was taken in response to each complaint. (Regulation 39 (3) (5)) 22 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 11

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Recommendation

 The registered provider should ensure that the home provides staff who sleep in the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, 3.26)

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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: 2661071 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rickleton 1B, Bowes Offices, Lambton Park, Chester Le Street DH3 4AN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Goundry

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Inspectors

Catherine Heron, Social Care Inspector Claire Webster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2661071 13 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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