Children's Home run by SOLID GLOBAL LIMITED in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 1 Registered provider: Solid Global Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a privately owned limited company. It offers care for up to two children. The home specialises in providing therapeutic care for children who are at high risk of child sexual exploitation or self-harm or who have mental health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There has not been a registered manager in post since 24 January 2022. A new manager was appointed in August 2022. She submitted her application to register with Ofsted in October 2022 and this is being processed. The manager started her level 5 qualification in management in September 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The responsible individual is also the organisation’s consultant psychiatrist.

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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 inadequate

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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

Date of last inspection: 20 September 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At a monitoring visit carried out on 9 November 2022, it was found that three compliance notices issued at the full inspection in September 2022 had been met. In Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 2 addition, the notice restricting accommodation had been adhered to and was subsequently lifted. Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/09/2022 Full Inadequate 01/06/2021 Full Good 28/09/2018 Interim Not judged 05/06/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 4

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home. They moved in on 15 November 2022.

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improvement to be good

Some aspects of the child’s care require improvement. For example, important information relating to their needs is not included in their care plan. Therefore, staff are not provided with up-to-date guidance and all the required information to understand, plan for and meet the child’s needs effectively.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff do not work consistently well with partner agencies. For example, the child is not attending school. There has not been a review of the child’s education plan to consider the next steps for their learning. In addition, the manager has not shared information proactively with all relevant agencies about the child’s vulnerabilities and risks relating to going missing from home and self-injurious behaviour. This does not help professionals to implement a coordinated approach to care planning and risk management for the child.

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improvement to be good

The child’s voice is not always heard by the manager and staff. Despite the child saying that they want to speak to an independent person about their care plan, this has not been escalated to the child’s placing authority. The child remains unaware of what advocacy services are available to support them. In addition, when a child made a complaint, they were not informed of the outcome following the manager’s investigation.

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improvement to be good

Despite the shortfalls identified, the child is making some progress and is having some positive experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child with various leisure activities that improve their overall development and identity and create positive memories for the child. For example, the child enjoyed celebrating their birthday and visits to a trampoline park and is supported by staff to care for their pet rabbit and gerbils. This has helped them to develop positive relationships with the staff and manager.

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improvement to be good

The child is able to keep in touch with family members and staff support them to do so. This is something that the child values.

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improvement to be good

Staff place a strong emphasis on promoting the child’s positive self-image, confidence and self-esteem. This has been carried out through some good work and support and has helped the child’s emotional well-being. Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 5

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improvement to be good

The child sometimes needs to go to hospital for medical attention. Staff have not followed the advice of the child’s placing authority social worker and shared key information with nursing staff. This means that incidents have occurred when the child has hurt themselves while at the hospital, which could have been avoided.

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improvement to be good

However, on other occasions, staff have acted tenaciously to ensure that the child receives the support that they need. For example, staff challenged medical staff to ensure that the child received appropriate treatment during a hospital visit.

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improvement to be good

Managers do not always act on advice quickly. For example, they were advised to raise the height of the fencing in the garden before the child moved in to help to reduce the risk of the child going missing from home. They did not do this and the child subsequently went missing. It was only after this incident that they acted on the advice they had been given.

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improvement to be good

Staff sometimes have to restrain the child to keep them safe. Restraint records do not contain information to show what led to the incident and how staff tried to manage the situation without needing to use restraint. In addition, the manager does not review incidents or ensure that the child has been spoken to afterwards. This lack of effective monitoring means that managers cannot assure themselves that restraint is being used safely and proportionately and that they know how the child felt about what happened.

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improvement to be good

The child told the inspector that they feel safe at the home and are being supported to make better choices. Risks are reducing for the child and self-harm incidents and missing-from-home episodes have decreased. Staff provide support to keep the child safe in the community. For example, when the child was out with staff, they told them they had thoughts of wanting to go missing from care and asked for staff support. The child returned home safely and did not go missing. Staff celebrated this achievement with the child, because this was an improvement from previous incidents, when the child would go missing and not ask for staff support.

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improvement to be good

When the child does go missing from home, staff search the local area and when they cannot find the child, they report them missing to the police without delay. However, the manager does not challenge the placing authority when they do not arrange for return home interviews to take place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Oversight and monitoring of the service by the manager and responsible individual are weak.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all serious incidents have been notified to Ofsted as required by regulation. Information is not shared with Ofsted to enable the regulator to provide external scrutiny of practice. Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 6 Managers have not satisfied themselves that staff recruited via an agency have been safely recruited. In addition, they have not checked that all mental health nurses working in the home have the required qualifications, skills and experience to support the child. As a result, they did not realise that one member of staff was a learning disability nurse and not a mental health nurse.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not receive regular supervision. As a result, they are not provided with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and develop their skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider has not ensured that staff are enrolled on their level 3 qualification in a timely manner. More than half the staff who have two years employment in residential care do not have a level 3 qualification. A senior member of staff who has been employed for two years was enrolled on his level 3 qualification in September 2022. This means staff have failed to meet the required timescales in obtaining their qualifications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and responsible individual did not consider qualifications and the skill sets of staff when making a decision about the child coming to live at the home. The staff team is relatively inexperienced and struggles to meet some aspects of the child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s six-monthly quality of care report contains information copied from previous quality of care reports submitted to Ofsted. This failure to provide up-to- date information is a missed opportunity to reflect on and demonstrate the effectiveness of the quality of care provided to children. In addition, managers have failed to submit the report to Ofsted in a timely way. As a result, managers have failed to meet the requirement raised at the last inspection. Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 7

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that children have access to an independent advocate. 28 February 2023

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(h)) 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 8 This specifically relates to the registered person and responsible individual ensuring that they carry out regular monitoring and review of significant incidents, including physical intervention and complaints, and that they carry out supervision with staff. In addition, that they consider any learning to inform future practice.

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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

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers must ensure before new children move into the home that staff have the skills and experience to meet their needs. They must consult with the child’s placing authority to make plans for the child’s return to education. Also, they must ensure that staff meet the child’s health needs and that staff share key information with professionals involved with the child, to promote their safety and well-being. 28 February 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfied the requirements in paragraph (3)

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 9 For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that all agency staff, including mental health nursing staff, have undergone a safer recruitment check and all staff have been enrolled on the relevant qualification in a timely manner. In addition, ensuring that there is a system in place to monitor staff’s progress through the level 3 qualification to mitigate against the risk of further delay.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 14 March 2023

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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

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that a notification is submitted to Ofsted for all serious incidents of self-harm when a child has had to be admitted to hospital. 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 10 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 feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it

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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)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to obtaining feedback from children and stakeholders and using this to bring about improvement in the quality of care provided at the home.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 28 February 2023

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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: 1259178 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solid Global Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 8 Astor House, 282 Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 2UG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Octovus Muchemenye

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Inspector

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1259178 12 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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