Children's Home run by Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Ltd in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 1 Registered provider: Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children with social and/or emotional difficulties. A private provider runs the home. Three children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in February 2022.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive and secure relationships with children. They build these relationships by getting to know the children and their individual needs well. Staff are kind and warm and provide consistent care to children. Children told the inspectors that they can talk to staff or the manager about their feelings and any problems.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to build a sense of belonging and celebrate their achievements. Staff encourage children to work towards their goals, and they give positive rewards. Children set their own goals for things that are important to them and to help them with building their independence. For example, they attend education, tidy their bedrooms and look after a small pet. Children can personalise their bedrooms with photos and personal possessions to express their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children maintain relationships outside of the home with their families and friends. The manager and staff work positively with families and social workers to enable children to see and stay connected with their families. Children go out in the community for recreational activities after school and on weekends. This helps children to build meaningful relationships where they live and with those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Following their move into the home, children are making progress in their education. Staff and the manager work with virtual schools and local authorities to make sure that children are in suitable education. For one child, staff are advocating appropriately for their full-time education away from home. This will help the child to have opportunities and experiences like their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to attend physical and mental health appointments. When required, staff make sure that referrals are made to mental health, sexual health and substance misuse services. Staff help children to manage their daily routines and sleep as well as possible. They make sure that children take their required medication. This meets children’s physical and mental health needs.

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

Children told the inspectors that they feel safe at the home. When children go missing from home, staff act quickly to follow them, keep in contact with them and find them. Staff notify the police, social workers and families. They support the child to return home, and they plan independent return home interviews. This approach by staff has reduced incidents of some children going missing. This helps to better protect children from the potential risks when missing from home.

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

Staff follow clear risk assessments when responding to high-risk situations involving children. Although the manager and staff have improved the quality of children’s individual risk assessments, the risk assessments did not contain all the measures that Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 4 staff should take in response to concerns about cannabis, for example room searching. This means that staff are not doing all they can to better protect children from the risks of substance misuse.

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

Staff manage conflict and use de-escalation well. The number of physical interventions is low, and it is only used when it is proportionate and justified to prevent more-serious harm. Staff record incidents of physical intervention clearly, which means that managers can maintain clear oversight of its use. Children are receiving appropriate support, and staff can defuse incidents.

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

The home has clear policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding children. Staff understand their responsibilities. They told the inspectors that they are confident to raise concerns to the manager and use the organisation’s whistle-blowing policy.

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

Staff talk to children about things that may affect their safety or impact on their feelings. These conversations help children to learn about risks to their safety from their own behaviour and in the outside world.

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good

An experienced and suitably qualified manager leads the home. The manager is dedicated, visible and approachable to children, staff and professionals. The home has enough regular staff to consistently meet the needs of children. Staff told the inspectors that they feel well supported by the manager and their colleagues.

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good

For one child, the manager had not ensured that there was a thorough exploration of the referral. This meant that things that could become an area of need for the child were not fully considered, including the suitability of the home. The child left the home after a short time, resulting in an additional move for the child and potentially a feeling of rejection.

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good

The manager does not ensure that children’s records fully reflect the care that staff provide. For example, the manager and staff told the inspectors that they followed a child when their emotions were high to prevent them from going missing from home. Staff had not recorded this in the child’s records. Staff also do not always record the action they take in response when they suspect the use of cannabis. The manager does not require staff to report some occurrences as incidents, including substance misuse. For one child, records were not kept by the manager after they moved out. This means that there are no complete and accurate records of children’s care.

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good

Not all staff have completed the mandatory training required. For example, some staff have not completed training in fire safety and food hygiene. The manager does not make sure that all the appropriate action is taken in relation to a staff’s Disclosure and Barring Service check and a gap in their employment. Therefore, staff may not have all the knowledge and skills necessary to meet children’s needs, and the manager is not Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 5 ensuring that all staff are suitably checked to make sure that children are better protected from the risk of harm.

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good

The manager does not ensure that the home environment is always maintained to a high standard. There are areas of the home that are damaged and in need of repair, both inside and outside of the home. The location risk assessment does not reflect all the known risks in the local area. This means that staff may not be aware of the action needed to manage local risks to children.

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good

The manager works with external organisations well. They have built relationships with parents, social workers and placing authorities to help to achieve more-positive outcomes for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 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, the 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 registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child’s death;

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Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth;

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they keep case records for children who have moved out of the home in a secure place.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must also ensure that records fully reflect the care provided to children. 27 January 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. 27 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 7 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must complete effective planning and preparation for children moving into the home. This includes thorough assessments of referrals to ensure that the registered person can meet the needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff complete appropriate training so that they can perform their responsibilities. 10 March 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the risk assessment for the premises identifies all the risks presented by the home’s location and contains strategies for managing risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should ensure that the home is suitably maintained to be a nurturing, supportive and homely environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. In particular, this relates to the appropriate investigation of recruitment checks for staff before they commence employment with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2571759 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northern Community Pathways Children’s Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Office 3, 321 Red Bank Road, Blackpool FY2 0HJ

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Inspectors

Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2571759 9 regulates and inspects 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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