Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 1 SC068664 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. The home provides care for up to five children who may have emotional and/or social difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There are two children currently living in the home. The inspectors spoke with both children during this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is experienced and holds a leadership and management qualification.

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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 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: SC068664 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Good 19/11/2019 Full Good 08/08/2018 Full Good 08/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from the established and positive connections they have with the staff who care for them. Children said, ‘I get on with all the staff,’ and ‘I could go to any staff member if I were worried about something, and they would help me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

These trusting relationships help to make children feel safer and secure in their home. As a result of these good-quality relationships, children make progress from their starting points. For example, children’s self-esteem and confidence are growing, they are able to better manage their emotions and articulate their feelings, all children have increased attendance and learning in education, and they are also learning self-care and independent living skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the children’s needs that reflect their individual care plans. There is a range of topics discussed with children relevant to their identified needs. This supports children’s well-being, safety and assists in children making progress in the areas identified in their care plans. However, shortfalls have been found that relate to a child’s night-time routines. The plans for this routine lack specific detail and the daily recordings do not fully describe the full extent of the child’s settling routine. This has the potential to lead to inconsistent practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work tirelessly with education professionals to ensure that the children receive the support that they require to attend education. Children benefit from having education placements that support their learning. This has supported most children to increase their attendance and meet their identified learning targets. Where children experience difficulties, the staff have work collaboratively with the virtual head, schools and colleges to resolve matters in the best interest of individual children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s physical and emotional health needs are being met. Children benefit from accessing routine health checks, assessments and, where identified, access therapeutic and emotional well-being services. This supports and improves the children’s short- and longer-term health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views and wishes are gained through everyday discussions with staff, and during the regularly held children’s meetings. Children are able to say what they think and make suggestions about the way that they are cared for. Children make suggestions about matters that affect their daily and longer-term care, for example the meals they would like, seeing their family and contributing to their care reviews.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children see their family. Children have regular visits and phone contact with family members. This maintains children’s connections with those who are important to them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 4 Children benefit from becoming more independent. Children are now able to maintain good personal hygiene routines, and keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. Older children have learned how to cook meals, do laundry and travel on public transport. This supports children well on the journey to be better able to care for themselves in adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a clean, well-furnished and decorated home. The home has an array of photographs of the children and staff, ornaments, pictures, throws, cushions, toys, books and games. Children have chosen wallpaper and personal touches for their own bedrooms. This helps to make this house a home that reflects the children who live there.

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

Staff are clear on the vulnerabilities and areas that pose a potential risk to each child in their care. Each child has clear, written risk assessments that set out how staff are to care and support them. This assists in keeping children safe from harm.

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

Children respond well to clear boundaries, rules and routines. There is a strong emphasis on acknowledging positive behaviour. Children receive frequent praise from staff and have incentives that further support and encourage children’s good behaviour.

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

Children are physically held by staff as a last resort to prevent them from hurting themselves or others. There have only been five such incidents in the last year, making these events a rare occurrence. Managers review the records kept after such incidents and the required information is documented. All relevant professionals are notified, and children’s views obtained after each incident. This ensures that these incidents only occur when really necessary and to keep children safe.

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

When children make allegations, safeguarding procedures are followed by the staff and manager. Outside professionals are also notified. Records are kept at the home of the action taken and the outcome of the investigation. Recommendations made to improve practice are implemented by the manager. This demonstrates that the protection of children and their safety is taken seriously.

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

When children go missing from care, staff follow the procedures to enable their safe return to the home. Where it is identified that children are at risk of harm, multi- agency safeguarding meetings are arranged. Decisions are made by professionals, and appropriate action is taken to protect and keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is aware of the home’s strengths and areas for development. There is a committed and established staff team that cares for the children well. Staff say that positive teamwork exists and they receive good support from the manager. This assists the continued efforts of staff to provide consistently good care to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 5 There are effective communication systems. These include a daily shift handover and regular staff meetings. All staff receive regular formal supervision. These systems make sure that staff are clear about the care and support to be provided to the children. Furthermore, supervision provides the manager with a good oversight of staff practice and development areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most staff hold the level 3 qualification in caring for children and young people. Staff have completed all mandatory training, including first aid, behaviour management and safeguarding. In addition, staff have undertaken more specialist training in self- harm, sexually harmful behaviour, abuse and neglect, child sexual exploitation, and county lines. However, there is a missed training opportunity to have a full understanding of the impact of trauma on sleep patterns for children. Not all staff have the knowledge and understanding of actions they can take to ensure children have improved and good sleep patterns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Action has been taken to implement the requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection, such as children having free access to communal areas at all times, particularly the kitchen at night. The rotas include all staff on duty, including the manager, and identify shift leaders. Changes and improvements have been made to the quality of records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home cares for children long term and can also admit children in emergency situations. This is set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Most children have a well-planned admission and discharge. However, there have been several emergency admissions in close succession. Without careful planning, this can have an unsettling effect on all children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff have established effective partnership and collaborative working with professionals. This is achieved through excellent communication, by frequent telephone calls, emails and written reports. A professional said, ‘The staff communicate with me very well. Their professional conduct is of a high standard. They know [name of child] well. They attend all meetings, come prepared and bring up-to-date reports.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The internal and external monitoring of the home offers good oversight of the care provided to children. These audits help to identify deficits in the care practices and record-keeping. The manager quickly addresses any shortfalls to maintain the delivery of good-quality care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there are sufficient suitably trained staff on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home. In particular, they should provide sleep hygiene training to ensure that staff appropriately understand and are able to support children to have good sleep routines. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 51, paragraph 10.1)  The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’. Care plans should specifically detail the child’s night-time settling routine. These should include the times, care and support given to assist the child to have a good night. Daily recordings should detail specifically the child’s night routine undertaken in line with the care plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 58, paragraph 11.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff in children’s homes play a key role in supporting these children in line with their personal education plan or EHC plan and recommendations from education and health professionals. In particular, the specific education targets set, that can be implemented by staff, should be undertaken, for example reading targets. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 26, paragraph 5.3)  The registered person should ensure that emergency admissions are not taken unless the home’s statement of purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that the home has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice, while continuing to offer high-quality care to children already living in the home. In particular, the registered person should keep under constant review the impact of having emergency admissions in close succession. (‘Guide to the

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Recommendations

Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.6)

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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: SC068664 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor, Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC068664 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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