Children's Home run by Cornerstone Children’s Homes Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 1 SC394478 Registered provider: Cornerstone Children’s Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties. The home is managed and run by a private company.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since June 2022. A new manager is in post and has applied 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/03/2022 Full Outstanding 28/01/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/04/2018 Full Good 06/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there were three children living at the home. Two of them have lived at the home for nearly three years. The third child moved into the home in March 2022. The children are settled and making good progress in relation to their starting points. One child said, ‘Staff are caring and respectful. It’s the best care home I’ve been in by far. Staff are brilliant. I love them to bits.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from well-planned care that promotes their specific needs effectively. However, some children do not have up-to-date plans from the placing authority, and one child requires a pathway plan and education, health and care plan to meet their specific needs. However, children’s needs are met consistently and there is evidence of improved and positive outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy exceptionally good relationships with staff, and they sustain their positive attachments. Staff provide children with high-quality support that contributes to change and improvement in their lives. A child said, ‘My key worker treats me like she’s my mum. She cares about me a lot. She can be overprotective, but I really like her.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school regularly and their educational progress is positive. One child has become a school ambassador and another child has completed his school exams and has started part-time work. One social worker said, ‘[Name of child] has come a long way. He’s doing an apprenticeship and part-time work, which is a great achievement.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are consistently met. Children are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians and staff encourage them to attend their routine health appointments. Children have access to specialist support to promote their emotional well-being. One social worker said, ‘They provide [name of child] with lots of emotional support.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see their friends and families. As a result, they sustain their close relationships with the people who are most important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive activities with staff, such as going to the gym and cinema, cooking, football, ice skating and bowling. Children have also enjoyed dog walking and hiking.

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

Children are kept safe and feel safe living at the home. The children’s safety is at the forefront of staff’s practice and staff go to great lengths to keep children safe. Children’s risk-taking behaviours have reduced considerably in relation to missing- Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 4 from-care episodes, offending and substance misuse. When children have gone missing, there is an effective response from staff to promote their safe return.

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

Staff consistently have high expectations of behaviour and children respond to the rules and boundaries that staff implement to keep them safe from harm. Staff address negative behaviours and work through incidents with the children to help them understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others.

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

The frequency of restraints has reduced and holds are used rarely, and only when necessary to protect children from harm. Staff support children to manage their feelings and emotions safely and take prompt action to defuse incidents and prevent behaviours from escalating. One child said, ‘Living here has been life changing. I used to be a want to be gangster, but they’ve changed me, and I didn’t think that was possible.’

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

Children know how to make a complaint and their complaints are investigated and treated seriously. However, a minor shortfall with a complaint record was identified as insufficient details were held about the nature of the complaint and its resolution.

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

The home provides children with a comfortable, homely, warm and welcoming environment. The home is consistently maintained to a high standard for children.

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

Health and safety matters are generally managed effectively. However, children’s bedrooms did not have any window restrictors fitted for the children’s safety. The provider did not feel that restrictors were needed. The provider has put a risk assessment in place that covers the use of window restrictors and will need to keep this under review.

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good

The registered manager post has been vacant since 13 June 2022. A new manager has been appointed and they are in the process of applying for registration. The manager is extremely enthusiastic and is keen to learn and develop in her new management role.

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good

The manager ensures that she has plans in place to support each child. However, these do not consider the plans of placing authorities, as the home does not have up-to-date care plans or pathway plans for all the children. One child said that they did not understand their pathway plan.

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good

Following a period of recruitment, the home is now adequately staffed, and all staff are suitably checked and vetted prior to them working in the home. However, the induction process could be strengthened, as two new members of staff said they had not completed their induction paperwork until a few weeks into employment.

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good

Additionally, new staff are not being supported with regular supervision, with one member of staff only receiving one supervision in a three-month period. Experienced Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 5 staff do not receive supervision on a regular basis. This means that staff do not have the opportunity to reflect on the quality of their work.

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good

Staff are passionate about children and understand how best to support them and meet their individual needs. Staff benefit from specific training that is bespoke to the needs of the children. Managers are responsive to the changing needs of children and update the training that is available to the staff team as required.

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good

The manager has not ensured that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare and protection of children are made to the appropriate authorities, in accordance with the home’s statutory responsibilities. Appropriate actions are, however, taken by staff to ensure that children are safeguarded and protected.

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good

The manager has completed a six-monthly quality of care review. However, they have failed to consider the views of children, social workers and other relevant stakeholders. Additionally, the completed report had not been sent to Ofsted in line with regulation. Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to ensuring that children have up-to- date pathway plans, care plans and education, health and care plans provided by the placing authority. 31 May 2023

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. 3 April 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 7 The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (1) (2))

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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 — is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

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)) 1 March 2023

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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 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report"). 31 May 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 8 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

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; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff receive regular professional supervision, in line with regulation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually assess and review the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. This relates specifically to the use of window restrictors, if needed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC394478 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cornerstone Children’s Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Centenary House, Centenary Way, Manchester M50 1RF

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Inspectors

Anthony Kyem, Social Care Inspector Kayleigh Treanor, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC394478 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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