Children's Home run by Step-A-Side Company Limited in Gloucestershire

Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 1 SC030650 Registered provider: Step-a-Side Company Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider and offers long-term care and short breaks for a maximum of five children who have complex behaviours and/or learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, three children lived in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since August 2017.

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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 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: 16 February 2022

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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: SC030650 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/02/2022 Full Good 04/09/2019 Full Good 31/07/2018 Full Good 10/08/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living in this home; they feel listened to and are helped to do the things they enjoy. When children express their views and wishes, the registered manager and staff team act on them. Children were supported to select their summer holiday destination and day trips. They contribute to the decoration and furniture in the home, and they agree on their own personal targets and goals. As a result, children are supported to feel involved in their care and work alongside the staff team to achieve their aims.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made progress in this home from their starting points. Children are in full-time education, have their health needs met and are provided with positive experiences. When barriers to progress are encountered, staff work with other professionals to overcome difficulties and achieve positive outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built positive relationships with children. All children said that staff are ‘kind’, ‘nice’ and ‘lovely’. The interactions between staff and children are warm, friendly and light-hearted. As a result, children feel happy in the home, are well looked after and have trusting relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move into the home, they are provided with a children’s guide and a photo album. The photo album includes photos of the home, external grounds and staff, as well as information about staff’s interests and local activities. When children leave the home, the photo album serves as a nice keepsake, alongside updated photos of the children’s time in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from parents and professionals is positive. Parents can identify the progress made by their children and refer to the care provided by the staff team as ‘brilliant’. Professionals share these views. However, at times, communication between staff and parents can be vague, although the registered manager is taking steps to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have comprehensive care and therapeutic plans, which provide staff with most of the strategies they need to support children. However, when additional needs are identified, plans are not always updated. For example, one child’s plans do not include details of how to support his expression of his identity. As a result, some staff are unclear of the support being provided to the child and their role in it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is warm and homely. Children have been supported to personalise their bedrooms, which are full of toys, photos and decorations. There are plans to refurbish some of the paintwork and woodwork in communal areas, as they have become tired and worn. Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 4

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

Children feel safe in this home. Care plans provide staff with the information they require to keep children safe. Regular reviews of care plans are held, which demonstrate how risk becomes better understood and reduces over time. However, there are some inconsistencies in the reporting of risk across different plans. The registered manager is considering how to limit opportunities for inconsistent reporting.

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

Staff respond appropriately when they are challenged by children. Staff use a range of strategies to support children and help them to express themselves in a safe manner. However, not all strategies used by staff are evaluated for effectiveness. Consequently, staff are not always able to identify the strategies that have been effective to inform future practice.

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

Restraint has been used by staff to prevent harm to others. Restraint has been used as a last resort and has been proportional to the harm likely to occur. Following incidents involving restraint, debriefs with children and staff have taken place. However, records do not always reflect that children have been asked whether they feel safe and well after restraints have happened.

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

Managers have implemented robust medication procedures, which prevent errors from occurring. Additional training has been sourced for staff to develop their understanding of how to prevent and respond to errors, should they occur. There have been no medication errors in the reporting period.

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

The registered manager and staff have responded to safeguarding concerns. When concerns have been reported, the registered manager has notified the relevant professionals, including the placing authority and the local authority designated officer. The registered manager has also implemented additional measures, when necessary, to keep children and staff safe. However, when one allegation was made about a member of staff, records confirming the actions taken did not include sufficient evidence of reflective discussions with children or staff.

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

The registered manager has used safer recruitment checks to help determine the suitability of staff working with children.

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

The home has adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including weekly fire checks and regular fire drills. Children have been supported to respond quickly and safely on hearing the fire alarm.

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

The location assessment identifies the risks and services in the local area. The registered manager was able to expand on this and discuss how risks and protective factors affect the children in the home. As a result, children are protected from harm and supported to engage positively in the local community.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 5 The registered manager has a good understanding of the needs of the children and the strengths of the home. The registered manager has taken appropriate action to address the requirements and the recommendation from the previous inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider offers a comprehensive training programme to staff that seeks to meet the needs of children. When additional needs are identified, complementary staff training are sourced. As a result, staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to respond to and support the children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has used exit interviews to inform future recruitment. For example, exit interviews support the registered manager to identify the valued characteristics that are being lost by the member of staff’s departure. Consequently, these characteristics can be considered during the recruitment process. This helps the registered manager provide support to children from a staff team that has a range of qualities, interests and skill sets.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions and team meetings provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on the needs of children and their care practices. Additional reflection is achieved through regular psychology meetings, which are facilitated by the home’s external psychology service. Supervisions and team meetings also allow for important information to be shared with the team. However, when actions are identified, there is a lack of clarity about how they will be achieved or who is responsible. In addition, the progress of actions and their completion are not reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the registered manager and feel that senior leaders are approachable. Staff enjoy supporting the children in the home and working with their colleagues. As a result, staff turnover has been minimal. Subsequently, children have benefited from continuity of care from a staff team that knows them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of care review provides concise but clear information about individual children, along with some helpful analysis. The registered manager is passionate about the progress of children and the therapeutic approach of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is in the process of updating the home’s statement of purpose. Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b) (2)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that safeguarding concerns are always thoroughly investigated and that all outcomes are recorded.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that the strategies used by staff to support children are identified and evaluated for their effectiveness following incidents that challenge staff. This should be used to inform future care planning and what can be done differently. The registered person should also ensure that children are asked whether they feel safe and well following incidents involving restraint. 20 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that clear actions that contribute to the development of the home and the care of the children are identified and reviewed during team meetings and staff supervisions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand and can meet each child’s needs. In particular, the registered person should ensure care plans provide staff with the information they require to support each child’s individual needs. In addition, where multiple plans are used, the registered person should ensure consistency between plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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: SC030650 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Step-a-Side Company Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Step-a-Side, 29 Market Place, Coleford, Gloucestershire GL16 8AA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Rachel Carwardine

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Inspector

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC030650 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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