Children's home run by Homes2Inspire Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a private company that is owned and operated by a national charity. It is registered to provide care for up to five children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager position has been vacant since May 2022.

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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: 8 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: 1256060 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/09/2021 Full Good 16/04/2019 Full Good 31/10/2018 Full Good 18/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they like the staff and the house. They have trusted adults with whom they are comfortable spending time. The managers and staff talk positively about each child. They say the children are lovely, and one staff member described a child as ‘a beautiful soul’. As a result, children like living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes and feelings are central to life at the home. Key-work sessions between staff and children are regular and cover a wide range of topics to support children. The manager recognised that formal children’s group meetings were not effective. A new approach now focuses on a ‘you said, we did’ method. This helps children to feel listened to and involved in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s achievements are celebrated. Photos on the walls around the house show children with awards and enjoying activities. These are also being saved to help children create memory books.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The importance of children engaging in education is recognised by staff. Considerable efforts have been made to ensure that children have places in education provisions. When this is not achievable, home tutoring and online education have been sourced. This improves children’s options for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s placement, care and pathway plans require improvement. It is difficult for staff to see what the current plans are. Some big life changes for children are not reflected in their most recent plans. Therefore, it is difficult for staff to see what they should be working towards for each child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met. They access local doctors, dentists and opticians. Staff help children to eat healthily. Activities often include exercise, such as swimming, gym workouts and walks. This helps children to lead a healthy lifestyle.

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

Positive behaviour support plans address the identified and potential risks for each child. The level of risk is assessed, and information is recorded about known triggers, presenting behaviour and how staff should work with the child. This ensures that staff support children in specific ways to help them manage and reduce risk.

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

Children’s behaviour is generally managed well. This is done through positive relationships, staff knowing the children well and staff using de-escalation when incidents occur. As a result, physical intervention is rarely required. Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 4 Children have gone missing from the home regularly. However, this has mainly been in relation to one child. The current practice of recording a child as either absent without consent or missing is confusing for staff. This approach is based on knowing where a child is, rather than an assessment of risk. Clearer guidance for staff is required as to how to respond to and record these incidents. This will improve safeguarding practice when a child is missing from care.

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

Bullying behaviour from one child to another in the home has been handled well by staff. Clear records were kept and shared with social workers. Ways of supporting the child and working with the aggressor were identified. A placement move was planned when it was felt that the victim was at continued risk.

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

Staff responded well to a child who was self-harming. The child was supported and helped to talk about their feelings. This approach has been effective, and children know that staff will help them through difficult situations. This has led to children not self-harming for many months.

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good

The home has been without a registered manager for the past eight months. Although an interim manager is in post, they have not yet applied to Ofsted to become registered.

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good

The manager is aware of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and is keen to make improvements. He has reflected on past incidents and how to develop the team. He is passionate about his role and improving outcomes for children.

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good

The manager acknowledges that the supervision of staff has not been up to the standard he requires. The recording of supervision sessions has been particularly weak. Additional training and guidance for supervisors are being arranged. This is required to support staff effectively.

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good

The manager has not always received the required support from senior management. Supervision sessions for the manager did not take place for many months. This has improved recently. The manager reports a good working relationship with a supportive, experienced operations manager.

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good

Workforce development plans are good. There is a comprehensive induction process. The manager ensures that staff receive appropriate training for their roles. Therefore, staff are helped to learn and develop their skills.

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good

The manager’s monitoring of the home is good. There are several quality assurance processes in place for daily, weekly and monthly checks. This ensures that the manager has good oversight of the quality of work at the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 5

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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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s 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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to improving the quality and relevance of detail within the children’s placement, care and pathway plans in order to guide staff. 10 March 2023

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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))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the quality and frequency of the supervision of staff and the manager implementing his improvement plan for this area. 10 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the missing child policy”) setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b)) 10 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 6 This particularly refers to clarifying when a child is missing or absent without consent. Staff must be provided with clear guidance to ensure the best possible safeguarding practice when a child is away from the home without permission, based on an assessment of risk.

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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: 1256060 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House Valiant Office Suites, Swift Valley, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Angela Muchatuta

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Inspector

Shaun Caplis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1256060 8 inspects 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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