Children's Home run by McRae Residential Care Services Limited in Croydon

Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 1 Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to six boys who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in July 2022. The manager is a qualified social worker and is working towards obtaining the relevant management qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, five children were living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 2

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improvement to be good

All children have positive relationships with the staff. Simple daily tasks, such as preparing food and sitting down and talking together, help the children and staff to bond.

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improvement to be good

Children’s educational progress and attainment are inconsistent. Some children in the home do not attend any form of education or training. Staff advocate for children who are not enrolled in school to receive home tuition. Additionally, they encourage children to engage in educational activities and informal learning. However, staff are not always successful at getting children to participate in these learning opportunities.

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improvement to be good

Staff know the children well and understand their needs and interests. Staff provide personalised support and care to children. Children’s records do not fully reflect their daily lives and experiences. This makes it difficult to measure and monitor children’s progress and experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate good knowledge of children’s backgrounds. They work hard to support the children to maintain important relationships with their family. At times, staff have made exceptional efforts to reunite children with their wider extended family.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently take children’s complaints seriously. Children who make a complaint or raise concerns about their care do not receive a swift response. The registered manager does not keep a record of all complaints or learn from what children are saying about their care. This weakens children’s voice and opportunities to influence changes in the home.

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improvement to be good

The assessment of risk is an area that requires improvement. When new children move into the home, leaders and managers do not give due consideration to known risks and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, they do not thoroughly assess if all children can live together safely. This compromises children’s safety and stability. A child was moved out of the home in an unplanned way because staff could not meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

The home’s day-to-day care is not arranged or delivered to promote children’s safety consistently. Leaders and managers do not always ensure sufficient staff levels. Leaders and managers acknowledged the shortfalls in staffing levels and addressed them during the inspection. Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 3 Not all staff are skilled at managing unsafe behaviour. On occasion, behaviour incidents have not been responded to swiftly or effectively. Not all staff have received training in behaviour management or restraint. Furthermore, behaviour support plans do not provide staff with clear and effective strategies to promote positive behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Room searches are conducted sensitively when there is a cause for concern. Staff remove items that pose a risk to children and talk to them about what they are worried about. This helps staff to build trusting relationships with children, which increases their safety.

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improvement to be good

Safe recruitment practice helps to ensure that new members of staff are safely employed and that their fitness to work with children is confirmed.

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good

The home is led by a suitably experienced registered manager. Leaders and managers know the children well and support them to understand how to keep themselves safe.

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good

The registered manager’s monitoring and oversight of the home are areas for improvement. Shortfalls found in children’s case files undermine the manager’s monitoring of children’s progress and experiences.

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good

Staff training is not being monitored effectively. Staff are not provided with all mandatory training, such as first aid and restraint. This undermines staff’s knowledge, skills and ability to keep children safe.

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good

Staff feel supported by the leaders and managers. New staff benefit from a thorough induction, which involves shadowing shifts at a sister home. The registered manager said the company’s policy is to provide all staff with monthly professional supervision. Inconsistencies were found in the frequency of some staff’s supervision.

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good

Leaders and managers do not have adequate monitoring and review systems in place. Independent monitoring reports lack detail and analysis. As a result, leaders and managers are not making continuous improvements in the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 4

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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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(b) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage children’s behaviour. 27 February 2023

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from 27 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 5 harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all risks to children are assessed and effective strategies are in place to manage and reduce risk.

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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

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; 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)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must improve their oversight of all activities at the home, including children’s records, staff training and staff supervision. 27 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (2)(a)) 27 February 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

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)(3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that all complaints are taken seriously, responded to swiftly and recorded. 27 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children’s written records evidence the progress that they have made since living at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.4)

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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: 2671000 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: McRae Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 57 Lodge Road, Croydon CR0 2PH

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Inspector

Maud Pipim-Addo, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2671000 8 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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