Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 1 aa SC033502 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children with a range of social and emotional difficulties. The registered manager left her post on 1 April 2022. The deputy manager has been overseeing the management and care of the children.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 14 December 2021

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/12/2021 Interim Declined in effectiveness 20/04/2021 Full Good 12/03/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have left the home. One child returned home to live with their parent and another child was supported to a move to semi- independent living. Staff are currently providing care to one child on a solo basis. The child is making good progress from his starting point. Staff know and understand the child. The child enjoys the company of staff and enjoys spending time with them. Positive interactions were seen between the staff and the child while talking about the football world cup and putting new chairs together.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to take part in a wide range of activities. The child’s interest in music is promoted through weekly visits from a music teacher to help develop the child’s skills. The child is member of the local football club and plays in matches each week. This gives the child opportunities to make appropriate peer relationships.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is not in classroom-based education. A tutor comes to the home three times a week, and the child engages very well in his education. The child understands the importance of completing his core subjects and understands that he needs the qualifications for future employment opportunities. Staff advocated for the child to have regular work experience in his interest of joinery, and he has attended this regularly. This gives the child aspirations for his future.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child with his health needs. When specialist support has been needed, staff advocated for this to ensure that the child’s health needs could be met. Direct key-work sessions and meaningful conversations with the child reiterate that staff care for him.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is welcoming and has been decorated for the upcoming Christmas festivities. The child’s bedroom is spacious and has been decorated and furnished to his tastes. The condition of the unoccupied bedrooms varies. Some have been used for storage and others lack basic necessities, but there is no impact on the current child.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff office has now become the dining room. There are large electrical boxes that house the home’s fire panel and Wi-Fi systems. This detracts from the dining room being a homely environment.

p.3

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

Since the last inspection, and given that there is only one child living at the home currently, there has been a reduction in the number of safeguarding incidents at the home. The child had one isolated incident of going missing. Staff followed the procedures to return him home safely and an independent person spoke to him to explore the reasons why this happened. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 4 Staff have good relationships with partnership agencies, such as education, the youth justice service, and health professionals. This effective joint-working and regular information-sharing helps staff to better understand the child’s world, including his feelings and emotions. This allows staff to help the child to develop his own strategies to manage his feelings and make better-informed choices.

p.3

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

The child’s risks of child sexual exploitation and/or criminal exploitation have reduced. Staff have worked closely with professionals to implement plans that have led to the child’s exposure to harm being reduced, and he is now better protected.

p.4

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

Staff’s training in harmful sexual behaviours has given staff the knowledge and skills of how to meet the needs of the child’s presenting behaviours. This allows the staff to be informed on knowing what approach to take to support the child to make positive choices around his peers and relationships.

p.4

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

Staff have regular consultations with the child and direct work is meaningful. Numerous key-working sessions have been completed on the child’s well-being. The child is supported to keep themselves safe when using the internet and how to identify healthy, safe and age-appropriate relationships.

p.4

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

Staff do not use physical interventions with the child. They use their relationship and training in therapeutic behaviours to reduce the risk of the child’s behaviours from escalating. As a result, the child’s challenging behaviours have reduced.

p.4

good

The home has been operating without a registered manager since April 2022. The home’s deputy manager has been overseeing the management of the home since April 2022, but has not progressed to making an application to register. They know the child well and recognise the progress that they are making.

p.4

good

The staff team has a very good understanding of the child’s care needs. The acting manager has sourced training courses and conducted research-informed practice around the child’s presenting risks. These opportunities have further enhanced staff’s knowledge.

p.4

good

There are new staff working in this home who have moved from the local authority’s other children’s homes. Prior to working in this home, the acting manager has had a thorough handover of the safer recruitment procedures and completed an induction with staff. The staff’s ability to work with the child were assessed and matched by the manager. The child also completed an interview with the potential staff. This gave the child reassurances over the staff’s ability to meet his needs and to form a trusting relationship.

p.4

good

Staff’s supervisions are regular and of good quality. Issues around practice are addressed swiftly and there is good evidence of staff being supported to develop their practice. Through supervisions, staff members are informed of the manager’s Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 5 expectations and aspirations for the home. Staff comment positively of the support they receive from the management team. Staff are passionate about providing the best quality of care to the child.

p.4

good

The quality of care report has been completed by the acting manager but was not submitted to Ofsted. This has not allowed the regulator to be informed of the progression of the children in the last six months.

p.5

good

The home’s statement of purpose has not been updated and sent to Ofsted since April 2022. The information on this does not reflect the changes in the responsible individual and the manager. The acting manager had updated this but had failed to send this to Ofsted. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 6

p.5

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 16 January 2023

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every six months.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must— supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (4)(a)) 16 January 2023

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home provides a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children, and they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. Ensure that the large electrical boxes in the dining room do not detract from this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, Page 15 paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 7

p.6

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: SC033502 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1HY

p.8

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Picklu Roychoudhury

p.8

Inspector

Aasia Hussain, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033502 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9