Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 1 SC486606 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority home is registered to provide care for one child who may have social and/or emotional difficulties. This home provides emergency, short-term or medium-term care. One child with complex emotional health needs currently lives at the home and has lived here for an extensive period due to their complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not have a registered manager. The previous manager resigned in November 2022 following the last full inspection. A new manager has been appointed and they have applied to register with Ofsted.

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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 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

Date of last inspection: 27 October 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 the full inpsection on 27 and 28 October 2022, Ofsted judged the home to be inadequate. The findings from this inspection confirmed that leaders and managers had not been effective in managing this home. Serious shortfalls were identified relating to safeguarding practice and management oversight. This led to Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 2 enforcement action through a compliance notice under section 22 of the Care Standards Act 2000. This was in relation to regulations 13. At the monitoring visit on 19 December 2022, Ofsted found that the provider had met the steps in the compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/10/2022 Full Inadequate 17/11/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/08/2021 Full Inadequate 09/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 4

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improvement to be good

The child’s health and care needs are complex. The placing local authority has not been able to find a suitable home that can meet the child’s needs, so the child has remained in this home with a bespoke care package. A team of agency mental health nurses and the provider’s own staff continue to work in partnership to care for the child. They have developed trusting relationships with the child, which has enabled them to feel more at ease in their presence. The more-established members of the team have maintained consistency for the child when some staffing changes occurred in the team. This minimised the impact of staff changes on the child.

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improvement to be good

The committed staff team provides the child with a place of safety. However, the team have yet to find a balanced approach that affords the child the appropriate level of enjoyment and stimulation to reduce the effect of the child’s court-imposed restrictions. Activities lack imagination and are the same week after week.

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improvement to be good

Staff have yet to find the strategies to help the child to have meaningful engagement with their home tutoring programme. They offer help to the tutor to support them to engage with the child, but this has not led to progress being made. Some objectives of the child’s education care plan are not aligned to their current needs. For example, one objective is to develop positive relationships with peers despite the child being educated alone. This means that targets are not achievable.

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improvement to be good

The child’s health needs are kept under review. Medication reviews by the child and adolescent mental health service are aided by staff, who share information about how the child’s medication affects their emotional well-being. This reduces the risk of the child being unnecessarily medicated.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage the child to eat nourishing food and provide them with a balanced diet. However, they struggle to help the child to consistently eat the fulfilling meals available to them. Fruit is readily available to offer the child a variety of healthy snacks. Monitoring of the child’s food and liquid intake helps staff to keep track of the child’s health needs.

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improvement to be good

Daily encouragement helps the child to maintain their morning routine. The predictable routine provides the child with a sense of safety and has helped to improve their personal hygiene. Staff involve the child with some food preparation tasks to help them to improve their basic cooking skills.

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improvement to be good

Social stories have proven to be an effective method of communication when having important conversations with the child. Staff use them to talk with the child about emotions and feelings. However, social stories are not common practice in the home as a tool for day-to-day communication. This limits the influence that staff can have when educating the child about the matters that are most relevant to them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 5 Staff have captured some of the child’s experiences at the home through photos. However, this practice of providing the child with a clear understanding of their journey at this home is significantly lacking, and the timeline of when photos were taken is unclear. In view of the child’s learning needs, this limits their ability to reflect on their time living at this home.

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

The child’s comprehensive safety plan is supported by high levels of staff supervision in line with the court-imposed restrictions. This has led to a reduction in the risk posed to the child. Previous concerns relating to child exploitation, substance misuse, and other associated risks have significantly reduced. This is helping to keep the child safe.

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

The constant risk of absconding is well managed by staff. High levels of staff supervision and the swift action that they take significantly reduce the risk of a missing incident. When an incident has occurred, the child has been quickly located and returned to the home safely.

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

Detailed consideration is given to risk management when staff plan for the child to have time in the community. The child’s comprehensive safety plan covers all eventualities and provides direction to staff about the action that they must take to keep the child safe.

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

The need for restraint to keep the child safe is no longer common practice. Staff have a better understanding of the child’s needs and recognise when they need to intervene to support the child. This has led to better de-escalation of incidents before they become unsafe. When concerns about the child’s relationships with staff have arisen, the managers have made difficult decisions in the best interests of the child. This has meant that staff have moved on from the home.

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

Managers have improved recruitment practice for agency workers. The system they follow enables managers to take the necessary steps to evaluate that workers are suitable to work with children.

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

The system for the storage and administration of medication is well organised and reduces the risk of a medication error occurring. The mental health nurses lead on the administration and recording of medication. Managers provide stringent oversight to ensure that safe practice is maintained.

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good

The acting manager works closely with the deputy manager and, together, they provide stability for the child and staff team. Staff value their support and reflect on the progress that they have made in the short period that they have been managing the home. The progress made is in its early stages and has not yet been embedded. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 6 Structured monitoring systems enable managers to analyse their findings and identify actions to improve consistent practice. This is helping to improve the quality of recording and the quality of care that the child receives. However, the changes made are new and are not fully embedded, following the serious shortfalls identified at the last inspection.

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good

The core staff work well with the commissioned agency staff. Open lines of communication support a shared awareness of the child’s needs. A staff member said, ‘We now have a good balance of staff that understand [Name of child]. We are more consistent and have a strong management team to help us.’

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good

Practice-related supervision and team meetings provide staff with supportive forums to reflect on the child’s needs. Improvements in the templates for these meetings strengthen the process of managers evaluating the team’s effectiveness.

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good

Staff have not had their performance formally appraised for over a year. This means the development objectives identified for each staff member have not been reviewed. As a result, managers are unaware of whether staff have achieved their targets or if additional help is needed.

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good

Additional training for the nursing staff has enabled them to align their practice with core staff. Topics covered include health and fire safety, food hygiene, equality, and missing from home. However, managers have not ensured that all of their core staff have refreshed their restraint training. This weakens the quality of the team’s behaviour management practice.

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good

The environment does not provide a homely feel throughout. There are several repairs outstanding. Some areas look tired and would benefit from redecoration to help to create a more homely atmosphere.

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good

Managers have been proactive in capturing feedback by consulting with the child, their family, and relevant professionals as part of the quality of care review. However, they have not analysed and evaluated what the feedback means for children or the service that they deliver. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should ensure that the child’s education targets are aligned to their current educational arrangements. 16 April 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 promotes their welfare.

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all of the staff team have up-to-date restraint practice training. They must also ensure that a system is in place for staff to have their performance reviewed at least annually. 16 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they prioritise the upkeep of the home, improve the quality of décor, and ensure that minor repairs are rectified, so that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the children’s needs. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they make regular and effective use of social stories to communicate with the child about important conversations. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.10)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should seek to establish a diverse staff team with a range of interests, skills and experiences. They should lead staff to share those interests, skills and experiences with children to enrich children’s lives and help them achieve their potential. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that photos taken of the child’s experiences have the dates of the events to help the child to understand at what point in their time at the home the events occurred. Photos should be kept in a way that helps the child and their family to reflect on their time living at this home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when they complete the quality of care review, they analyse the feedback from children and key stake holders in order to evaluate what this means for children and identify actions to help to improve the service. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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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: SC486606 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford BD1 1HY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Picklu Roychoudhury

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC486606 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 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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