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

Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home opened in 2016 and is owned by a large private company. It provides care for up to four children, who may have specific emotional needs and may have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since April 2020. Managers have been appointed since then but have not registered with Ofsted. A new manager has recently been appointed and has submitted an application to register however they withdrew their application on 28 September 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 and 31 August 2022 and 29 September 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 2 February 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/02/2022 Full Good 20/10/2021 Full Inadequate 26/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/05/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 3

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improvement to be good

Four children have moved in since the last inspection and two children have moved out. These two children moved on more quickly than anticipated and not in line with their care plans.

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improvement to be good

Managers have not always ensured staff have the skills to meet the needs of children moving into the home. For example, staff were not skilled enough to meet one child’s needs and the child was moved on two months after moving in. In addition, staff did not receive self-harm training despite managers identifying this as a skill staff required to meet the needs of two children.

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improvement to be good

Some parts of the home are not homely and personalised. There was damage to parts of the home and one child’s bedroom door had the name plaque of a previous child still on it. Other children had been asking for their rooms to be personalised for some time and this has not been promptly acted upon by the manager. During the visit on 29 September 2022 these concerns had been addressed.

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improvement to be good

Managers do not always listen to children’s views and act on them. Three complaints have been received from two children about the care that they receive. Managers did not sufficiently address all areas of the complaints or identify shortfalls in relation to the child’s care. In contrast to this, during the inspection, children were observed to have positive relationships with staff and to be receiving supportive care.

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improvement to be good

All children were prepared to attend education full time from September. This is a positive step for several children who have had time out of education. External professionals have spoken positively of the staff team’s attempts to engage children in tutoring and to work with other professionals to get children enrolled in formal education as soon as possible.

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improvement to be good

Staff promptly register children with a GP and optician. When one child recently needed an urgent medication review with health professionals, the manager acted to ensure this happened.

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improvement to be good

Children are all engaging in therapeutic work with the home’s psychologist. Children speak positively of their relationship with her. The psychologist completes regular reviews of the therapy to ensure it is at the child’s pace.

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improvement to be good

There have not been many serious incidents since the last inspection. None of the children have gone missing from home and the number of restraints are low. Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 4 Children are not able to access all parts of their home. At times, staff have locked internal doors and restricted areas of the home. They also did not allow one child access to a phone to communicate with their social worker or other agencies when the child requested to speak to somebody. This caused the child distress and they complained about this. Managers failed to take sufficient action to address this.

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improvement to be good

In one particular incident, staff were unable to support one child to help them with their anxieties and emotions. A significant incident occurred, resulting in both the child and staff receiving injuries. The recording of the restraint measures used in this incident was poor. Managers failed to evaluate staff practice during this restraint.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children well when they harm themselves and are nurturing and caring in meeting their needs sensitively. They share concerns appropriately with other professionals. However, in one incident, when new information emerged, it was not used to inform future risk planning.

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improvement to be good

Written guidance provided to staff about how to manage risk is of varied quality. For example, some risk assessments have been updated more recently to include new information. However, two risk assessments did not contain relevant information about known concerns, although some discussion took place in staff meetings about these.

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improvement to be good

When children make allegations, managers investigate and follow safeguarding procedures. However, following one incident, managers did not consult with the child’s local authority to ensure the child’s views were represented and understood.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage risks effectively between children to reduce incidents of bullying. When children have reported issues with one another, staff respond to children promptly and increase support when needed. This has helped children to resolve conflict, and children have more positive relationships with one another.

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improvement to be good

There are few negative consequences given to children, and children engage with staff to help them set targets they would like to achieve, with incentives for this. Children spoke positively about these rewards giving them a sense of pride, such as with the ‘tidiest bedroom award’.

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improvement to be good

Managers did not consult with children or other professionals to help them inform their review of the location of the premises. Some risks in the local area were not considered. Managers took some action to review this in September 2022 and have now consulted some agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 5 There has been no registered manager since April 2020. The responsible individual resigned in December 2021 to take on the manager role. They started to apply to register with Ofsted, however, the application was not completed and they withdrew their application in July 2022 to become the responsible individual again. A new manager took over the role. They submitted their application to register in August 2022, however they withdrew their application in September 2022.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff receive regular and practice-related supervision. Some staff told inspectors that supervisions are not frequent or long enough and are not carried out by consistent people, to help them develop. Records show that one staff member did not have supervision for nearly two months when they first started, and their induction was not promptly reviewed by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers’ monitoring and oversight are not effective in identifying shortfalls. For example, managers failed to identify poor responses to children and poor recording, despite reviewing the documentation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not received all the training needed to help them meet the needs of the children. This includes training in mental health. Leaders have employed a full-time psychologist to support staff in embedding the service’s therapeutic approach as described in the statement of purpose. The psychologist spends a lot of time with the children and has quickly become a key adult whom they seek out. However, staff uptake of training with the psychologist is not yet being used to its full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not safely recruit staff. Managers have not assured themselves that full information is obtained by agencies providing staff, and there are gaps in other areas of safer recruitment checks for other new staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External professionals have provided positive feedback regarding the communication of managers. For example, one professional commented that prompt communication has contributed to securing full-time education for children and information has been shared when children are struggling emotionally. Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 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

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child; enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that repairs required to the home are completed promptly and that children can personalise their bedrooms. 28 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ensure that staff— 28 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 7 ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review; and

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii);

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children’s views and feedback are listened to and considered and that children are supported, and action is promptly taken by managers if children share things they are unhappy with. Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 8 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that risk management plans are updated when new information about risk emerges. 28 October 2022

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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

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

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that the manager has the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child, by meeting requirements specified in regulation 28 relating to fitness of manager for registration as required by s11 Care Standards Act 2000.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to the registered person ensuring that staff are prepared with the skills needed to meet the needs of the children in the home, and that the manager uses their oversight to properly develop and quality assure staff practice. 28 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 9 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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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 intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children’s access to areas of the home is not restricted. 28 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (5) of regulation 22, the registered person must ensure that children are provided at all reasonable times with access to the following facilities which they may use without reference to persons working in the home—

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Requirement Due date

a telephone on which to make and receive telephone calls in private; and

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Requirement Due date

facilities to send and receive post and, if the necessary facilities are provided for the use of children, electronic mail, in private.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children have access to a phone or communication device and are supported to make contact with their local authority and other people who are important to them should they wish to do so. 28 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 28 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 10 The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 28 October 2022

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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; 28 October 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 11 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;

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that they consult with local professionals and children when reviewing the home’s location, and that risks associated with crime rates in the local area are considered. 28 October 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they only plan for children to move into the home when they have assessed effectively that they can meet children’s needs as recorded in their relevant plans and where they have fully considered Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 12 the impact on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. 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

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Recommendations

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: 1226397 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Fiona Roche, Social Care Inspector Marianne Grandfield, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1226397 14 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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