Children's Home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 1 SC066428 Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered to care for up to five children who can no longer live at home. The children may have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or associated conditions and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager 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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 1 February 2022

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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: SC066428 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/02/2022 Full Good 18/11/2019 Full Good 26/06/2018 Full Good 19/09/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive their care from a staff team who knows them well and understands their needs. This promotes positive and nurturing relationships that support children’s progress and general well-being. A child said, ‘I really like living here, the staff are great, they listen and are kind.’ Another child said, ‘I know I can go to anyone if I need something, staff are always there to help.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large, warm and welcoming. Children have access to a wide range of toys and play equipment. Bedroom furnishings and decoration are carefully planned around children’s individual needs. As a result, the home environment is nurturing and safe. This helps children to feel comfortable in their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff spend quality time with children. They use many creative approaches to help children to show how they are feeling. Staff also seek children’s views on developments in the home. For example, the manager regularly consults with children, gaining their views around the staff who support them. This helps the manager and staff with developmental progression.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff keep children’s individual goals under regular review and celebrate their achievements with parents and social workers. A member of staff said, ‘This way of working helps children transfer the skills to a different setting and promotes their self-esteem and independence.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home have emerging health needs and different levels of communication. Staff work closely with the children’s health professionals to ensure that they understand their care and communication needs. For example, one child has a life-long condition that must be monitored daily. Staff work closely with the allocated nurse and have completed a range of training in this area. Through consistent one-to-one sessions, the child also has a better understanding of their condition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive the support that they need to actively engage in activities inside and outside the home. These activities enrich children’s experiences and serve to strengthen their relationships with staff. Additionally, this helps children to make developmental progress and promotes positive self-esteem. For example, one child has recently completed a welding course. The pride for this child in their achievement was immense.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are very well supported in meeting the people who matter to them. These meetings are carefully assessed and constantly reviewed. For some children, the quality of the time spent with their families has improved. A social worker spoken to was very complimentary about the support provided by staff to enable successful family time. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 4

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

Children feel safe and supported living in the home. Staff have a strong response to safeguarding children and work closely with agencies. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘The joint working and communication from the staff team are brilliant.’

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

Children are supported to take safe and appropriate risks in line with their care plans and developmental needs. Staff complete risk management plans for each child. This enables staff to identify and understand children’s risks. Staff review plans regularly and discuss them in team meetings. This helps staff to maintain consistency when protecting children from harm.

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

There has been a single missing-from-home incident. The home’s staff provided a coordinated response that minimised risks to the child involved. Staff followed the individual missing-from-home plan as part of a multi-agency response. This helped them to quickly find the child and reduced any risk of harm.

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

Children are supported by staff who listen to them. Staff spend quality time with children in key-work sessions. Discussions take place to help children to understand how to stay safe, the importance of good personal hygiene, and managing their emotions. As a result, children say that they feel safe and supported.

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

Incidents of physically holding children are minimal, proportionate and only used to prevent children from hurting themselves or others. Children and staff review incidents, which helps them to reflect, learn and prevent future recurrences. This means that staff maintain positive and healthy relationships with children.

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

Safe recruitment processes for all staff are thorough. There is a robust checklist system in place to ensure that all recruitment checks are completed. This includes keeping records of any agency staff used. Consequently, only suitable adults can work in the home.

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

Staff undertake a broad range of good-quality training in safeguarding matters. Safeguarding themes are further explored with staff through supervision and team meetings. As a result, staff know how to recognise, report and act on any safeguarding concerns that they may have.

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

Staff support children to stay safe online. Children attend key-work sessions to talk about safe and healthy relationships. This raises children’s awareness of online harm and helps them to stay safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed by an experienced manager. The manager chairs regular team meetings to promote consistent levels of care for children. One member of staff said, ‘[Name of manager] seems to have a good sense of people and uses this well to bring together a good, empathetic staff team and kids that work well Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 5 together. [Name of manager] has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s internal reviewing and monitoring systems are effective. The manager has oversight of all documents and ensures that staff have read and understood children’s plans. The manager benefits from the external monitoring provided by the independent person. As a result, he has made improvements in engaging the views of children, which are starting to help to inform staff’s appraisals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When the staff experience challenging times, they are highly resilient. The management team recognises the importance of staff support. Further support mechanisms were put in place following an increase in challenging behaviour from one child. Managers listen to staff and make sure that communication across the team is good so that all staff can raise any issues in the knowledge that they will be taken seriously.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers attend regular monthly supervision. Staff focus on children’s needs and progress. Supervision also enables staff to discuss their training needs with their manager. This helps staff to improve their skills and personal development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have explored the language that is used in day-to-day care practice and within reports. Key documents are recorded in a child-friendly manner and directed to children. One child has been supported to create his own daily care plan. This has helped the child to understand the support that is in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers conduct appraisals with staff on an annual basis. Staff reflect on their work and set targets for the year ahead. The manager has also started to engage children in seeking their views on the entire staff team. This will increase the effectiveness of the appraisals and help to support staff progression.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers follow-up and escalate concerns if responses from agencies are not satisfactory. This helps to ensure that managers promote children’s best interests. However, the manager needs to strengthen the relationships with those external providers, including local authorities. This will further promote children’s education and social care needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a good understanding of the progress that children make. They spend time with children on a regular basis, which helps them to measure progress. Additionally, the manager completes a regular review of care to highlight children’s progress and to evaluate children’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should seek to re-engage and develop effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority to include regulation 5 – engaging with the wider system, to ensure that children’s needs are met. These working relationships will also be key to success in delivering the care planning standard (regulation 14). This will support the local authority to share the relevant placement plans, placement minutes, and annual reviews in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: SC066428 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Jennifer Quest, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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