Vinney Green Secure Unit

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 1 SC035500

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Registered provider: South Gloucestershire Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this secure children’s home

This secure children’s home is managed by a local authority. It is approved by the Secretary of State to restrict children’s liberty. The home can accommodate up to 24 children aged between 10 and 18 years. There were 12 children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this secure children’s home

All places available at the home are commissioned on a contractual basis by the Youth Custody Service (YCS). The YCS may, under certain circumstances, permit local authority children’s services to spot-purchase a vacant bed at the home, to enable a local authority to place a child on welfare grounds under section 25 of the Children Act 1989. Admission of any young person under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 who are under 13 years of age requires the approval of the Secretary of State.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The commissioning of health services at this home is the statutory responsibility of NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Education is provided on site in dedicated facilities.

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Information about this secure children’s home

There has been no registered manager since May 2022. The manager in day-to-day charge of the home has an application in progress to be registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this secure children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this secure children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 2

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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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: SC035500 3

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

The quality of care provided to children continues to improve. Children told inspectors that the home is calm and they feel safe.

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The care of children

Children are treated with dignity and respect. They were observed to be comfortable and relaxed with each other and with staff. As a result, children are living in a positive environment, which supports them to make good progress.

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The care of children

Children benefit from well-planned care, and they have a say in the way they are looked after. The overall approach supports children to have a positive experience of learning how to develop the skills they need to improve their life chances. In one example, the severity and frequency of a child’s self-harming behaviour have reduced significantly because they have been involved in finding other ways of coping and expressing their feelings.

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The care of children

Children know how to make a complaint if they are unhappy about any aspect of their care. Complaints are taken seriously, investigated and acted on. Children receive feedback about their complaint in a timely way. They are offered the opportunity to escalate their concerns to external agencies if they are unhappy about the outcome of their complaint.

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The safety of children

Children’s priority needs and risks are regularly reviewed by the multi-disciplinary team. The approach to risk management has been adjusted. Managers ensure that children’s individual needs are carefully considered when decisions are made about their ability to safely access activities.

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The safety of children

The use of single separation, where children are locked in an area when they meet the legal criteria of being a significant risk to themselves or others, has reduced significantly. There have been just two uses of single separation since the last inspection. They were both appropriate and were applied for the minimum amount of time possible.

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The safety of children

Staff make appropriate use of sanctions s to help children learn from behavioural incidents. Staff ensure that sanctions consequences are relevant to the incident. Children are encouraged to participate in deciding what the outcome of their actions should be. This restorative approach ensures that the use of sanctions is fair and is more likely to be effective. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 4 Managers carefully review all incidents of physical restraint to ensure that the use of the measure was appropriate and proportionate. Closed-circuit television footage of restraints reviewed by inspectors during the inspection shows that staff are applying due diligence when they are restraining children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers continue to invest time and energy into changing the culture to ensure that children consistently receive genuine, nurturing care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Records of staff supervision demonstrate that managers use supervision effectively to ensure that staff know how to safely care for children in line with their care plans and risk assessments. Managers also discuss staff performance with them during supervision and address any shortfalls in the quality of care they are providing to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers have failed to ensure that the independent person is consistently submitting their monthly reports to the regulator. A requirement about the independent person arrangements was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Not all records of physical restraint demonstrate the actions managers have taken when their review of incidents has revealed that the use of physical restraint could potentially have been avoided. One recent incident of physical restraint occurred when a child was trying to access an unsafe area. A similar incident occurred a few weeks previously. Records do not demonstrate that managers have shared the learning from the first incident with staff with the intention of reducing the risk of a reoccurrence. In another example, managers have spoken to a staff member about the ways he could have tried to de-escalate an incident to avoid restraint. However, this discussion is not recorded on the restraint record. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/04/2022 Full Inadequate 08/06/2021 Full Good 20/04/2021 Full Inadequate Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that records of physical intervention demonstrate the actions managers have taken when their review of incidents has revealed that the use of physical restraint could potentially have been avoided. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced. 28 February 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 7 The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5) (7)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the ethos of the home supports each child to learn. In particular, managers should embed and secure the new monitoring and tracking tools into the work of the school so that the increased shared understanding that this provides informs the planning of the curriculum for each child. Also, the careers programme should be formalised so that it can be tailored to the needs of individual children based on their aspirations and plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 8

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Secure children’s home details

Registered provider: South Gloucestershire Council

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Secure children’s home details

Registered provider address: South Gloucestershire Children, Adults and Health, PO Box 1955, Bristol BS37 0DE

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Inspectors

Helen Simmons, Social Care Inspector Paul Taylor, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035500 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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Inspectors

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