Children's home run by Social Care Services Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 1 SC021684 Registered provider: Social Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider and is registered to provide care for up to six children who may have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. At the time of this inspection, four children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since October 2022. A new manager has been appointed to this post and is applying for registration.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 15 September 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/09/2021 Full Good 10/03/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/10/2018 Full Good 18/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are four children currently living at the home. The children are settled, content and happy. They have positive relationships with staff and benefit from stability and consistency in their lives. Children benefit from highly personalised, well-planned care that meets their needs effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress across aspects of their welfare, physical, social, emotional and behavioural development. The care provided for children promotes change and improvement in their lives. A social worker said, ‘My child is happy and settled. It’s a lovely home environment.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend specialist educational provision and enjoy excellent attendance. Staff maintain highly effective partnerships with the providers of the children’s education to support their positive learning experiences and progress. One teacher said, ‘Communication between the home and school is effective and child-centred. [Name of the child] has made substantial progress in the time he has been there.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s inclusion in home- and community-based activities is actively promoted. This ensures that they benefit from exciting and stimulating activities. Children enjoy arts and crafts, playing in the home’s sensory room, football, swimming, bowling, messy play and visiting nature parks. Consequently, they develop their social skills and experience varied and positive activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with the health services they need to be healthy. Medical consent is obtained, and staff understand the health decisions and responsibilities that are delegated to them. Staff work closely with health professionals to ensure that the specific health needs of children are consistently met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are familiar with the preferred communication methods of children. They use social stories, sign language and visual supports. This ensures that staff understand and can communicate with children effectively. Staff promote family time to ensure that children have opportunities to sustain their familiar relationships with the people who are most important to them.

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

Staff consistently place the safety of children at the heart of their practice. Staff use risk-management plans to protect children and keep them safe from harm. Children are kept safe and experience a strong sense of personal safety.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the specific needs and emerging vulnerabilities of children. They recognise when children are unsettled and take appropriate action to prevent behaviours from escalating. The use of safe holds is rare and restraint is always a last resort, used only to protect children from harm. Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 4 Consequences for unwanted behaviour are not used by staff, while positive behaviour is consistently praised, acknowledged and reinforced. Children are always closely supervised by staff, both inside and outside the home, to ensure their safety and well-being.

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

Staff are responsive to and supportive of the children. They provide children with a supportive, caring and nurturing environment. Staff are very patient with the children and are responsive to their needs and requests. A social worker said, ‘They provide a loving and safe environment for some of our most vulnerable children.’

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

There have been no missing-from-home incidents, complaints or allegations since the last inspection. However, there was an isolated incident, which involved a staff member administering the wrong medication to a child. This did not result in any harm and medical advice was sought immediately. Appropriate action was also taken to address this practice issue with staff. However, the manager did not report this matter to Ofsted as being a significant incident. Consequently, a requirement is made in respect of this issue.

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good

The registered manager post has been vacant since 1 October 2022. A new manager has been appointed and they have applied for registration.

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good

The home is suitably staffed, and staffing levels are increased to support one child on a two-to-one basis. However, on occasions, these staffing levels are not sustained, which limits how frequently this child is able to go out into the community safely.

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good

Staff work collaboratively to provide stability and consistency for the children. The induction that staff receive is of good quality and focuses on ensuring that they can meet the specific needs of the children. New staff members receive good support from more experienced staff to help them develop their practice and understand the diverse needs of the children. The training matrix evidences that relevant training has been identified for staff. However, the completion of training is inconsistent.

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good

Staff are passionate about the children and understand how best to support them and meet their individual needs. However, staff’s practice could be further enhanced with more bespoke training, relating to the specific needs of children. Staff benefit from regular practice-related supervision.

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good

Effective action has not been taken to address all the requirements and recommendations from the last inspection. Those that are not met are repeated. There remain concerns about the quality of children’s accommodation, and significant renovation work and decoration are needed. A staff member reported that the home would be improved for children if leaders could ‘improve the decor and modernise the house’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 5 Leaders and managers do not gather feedback effectively from external professionals to allow them to monitor the service that they provide. As a result, leaders and managers are unable to identify areas for development and improvement.

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good

Leaders and managers have not taken appropriate action to challenge placing authorities that are not meeting the statutory requirements for safeguarding vulnerable children. For example, not all children have the required deprivation of liberty safeguards in place to support and protect them from harm. Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 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 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to the refurbishment and redecoration of the home and annex building. 24 July 2023

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that all staff who work in the home, on a permanent or temporary basis, receive training in relation to caring for children with learning disabilities and children with additional communication needs. 29 May 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 7 In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that deprivation of liberty safeguards are in place for each child at the home. 1 May 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 31 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the quality-of-care review includes the views of children, families and external professionals and takes into consideration trends and patterns within the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  The registered provider should ensure that the independent person’s report is sent to Ofsted each month and that the independent person consults with social workers to inform their opinion about the quality of the children’s care. (‘Guide to Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 8 the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.8)

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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: SC021684 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Social Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 31 Shaw Road, Stockport SK4 4AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Annabella Foulkes

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Inspectors

Anthony Kyem, Social Care Inspector Kayleigh Treanor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC021684 10 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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