Children's Home run by The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited in West Sussex

Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 1 SC066466

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Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home is registered to care for up to six children. The home’s statement of purpose states that medium- to long-term placements are provided for vulnerable children with emotional, behavioural and psychological difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 7 December 2016. She is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Inspection dates: 26 October and 17 November 2022

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection dates: 26 October and 17 November 2022

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

The registered manager and committed staff team work hard to maximise and enrich the children’s experiences at this home. The children enjoy trusted and secure relationships with the staff. However, the recent absence of the registered manager and senior staff impaired the quality of care provided to the children for a period of time.

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The care of children

Children have access to a range of recreational pursuits, inside and outside the home. Staff encourage children to follow their individual interests and extend their social experiences. This has helped to improve children’s social skills and increase their confidence.

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The care of children

Staff listen to children and take their views about matters that affect them into account. Staff are proactive and supportive in helping children to maintain and develop relationships with their families, friends and significant others. A family member spoke positively about the support she had received from the registered manager and staff following a recent family bereavement.

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The care of children

Staff are proactive in exploring appropriate education, training or work-based opportunities for the children. However, the staff are not consistent in ensuring that all the children have healthy day-to-day routines.

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The care of children

Overall, the home environment is warm and welcoming. However, some parts of the home are not maintained or finished to a reasonable standard. Leaders have not progressed with the home’s redevelopment plan at a quick enough pace. One child’s bedroom did not have a covering on the window to protect her privacy from the street outside. However, the registered manager addressed this during the inspection.

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The care of children

The staff practice of locking the kitchen door at night continues. There is no risk assessment or condition that sets out the risks or the rationale behind the decision to do this. Therefore, the recommendation raised at the last inspection remains unmet.

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The safety of children

Leaders, managers and the staff work effectively with other professionals to reduce risks for the children. Several external professionals, including police, commented positively on the communication and positive working relationships between themselves and the staff at the home. Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 3 Staff work in close partnership with children’s families and with their professional networks. Positive communication and collaborative relationships have built trust and positive engagement. This creates a strong team around each child and helps to reduce risks for them.

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The safety of children

Staff are proactive and respond quickly when children leave the home, particularly when there are concerns about the child’s safety. Responses include staff following the children, encouraging them to return, and going the extra mile to ensure children are safe and their whereabouts known. The registered manager introduced alternative risk-management planning and increased staffing for one child who was frequently going missing from the home. As a result, the number of incidents of children going missing from the home have reduced.

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The safety of children

Children’s risk assessments, care planning and matching documents have improved. However, a shortfall was found in a child’s missing-from-care plan, as it did not incorporate known information about the child’s acquaintances in the community. This has the potential to lead to a delay in the child being located, should they go missing from the home.

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The safety of children

The registered manager has not ensured that Ofsted is notified of all reportable safeguarding incidents. However, more recent incidents have been reported to Ofsted without delay, alongside prompt reporting to relevant safeguarding agencies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The home is led by a permanent, suitably experienced and qualified registered manager. Children benefit from living in a stable home. However, the home has experienced a turbulent period, with staff struggling to manage the dynamics between some of the children. This has hindered the registered manager’s progress in meeting all the requirements and recommendations made at the home’s last inspection. As a result, some of them are repeated following this visit.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and senior managers are aware of the home’s strengths and areas for development. An external consultant has been commissioned by the responsible individual to support the leadership team and to assist in staff’s practice development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

External monitoring, undertaken by an independent person, provides a good balance of impartial and strong support and challenge. This additional layer of scrutiny has contributed to the home’s improvement. The registered manager has ensured that all consents are in place from the children’s respective local authorities so that the independent person can view the children’s files.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have not ensured that all staff are suitably trained to respond to children’s complex needs and behaviours. Areas of concern are how staff respond to drug misuse and/or self-harm. Consequently, the registered manager cannot be confident that the staff team has the necessary skills to meet the specific needs of Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 4 the children living at the home. This is being addressed by leaders, and plans are in place to ensure that this training will be provided imminently for all staff.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/06/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/08/2021 Full Good 24/04/2019 Full Outstanding 31/05/2018 Full Outstanding Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 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 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

that staff 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe and have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; and

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 30 March 2023

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; and 30 March 2023 Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 6 that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to having all records and relevant plans made available for staff to read, understand and follow.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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;

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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

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 30 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. 30 March 2023 Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 7 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

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Requirement Due date

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

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

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home, and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that they lead and manage the home in a way that delivers a culture of high aspiration for children, which is demonstrated

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Recommendations

through supporting good sleep hygiene, routines and structures in the home that support the children’s educational attendance and engagement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, specifically, training to respond to complex behaviours such as drug misuse and self-harm. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 8  For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. This relates specifically to the provider making progress with the home’s development plan, to refurbish areas of the home that need improvement.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Cuckfield Care Consultancy Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Ashburnham, Cuckfield Road, Ansty, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 5AG

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Inspectors

Anne-Marie Davies, Social Care Inspector Paul Taylor, Social Care Inspector Chris Peel, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children's home: SC066466 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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