Children's Home run by Stockton on Tees Borough Council in Stockton-on-Tees

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 1 SC035222

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Registered provider: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2012 and is appropriately qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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The care of children

Since the last inspection, improvements have been made to the interior of the home. A new kitchen and bathroom are fitted, and the child’s bedroom is decorated to reflect their individual tastes and to include personal touches. Further improvements are being made to the interior of the property and the garden to enhance children’s living arrangements inside and outside the home.

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The care of children

The child is developing trusting relationships with staff. Agency staff still work in the home but at a much reduced rate since the last inspection. This has led to more consistent care for the child from staff who are known to them.

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The care of children

Staff advocate for the child well and work with a multi-agency team to contribute to decision-making. Staff understand the importance of children accessing education and work well with educational professionals. Staff have received specialist training and taken additional steps above and beyond their roles to support the child in completing their examinations. This has enabled the child to make positive progress in their education.

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The care of children

Daily consultation with the child takes place and their views are sought to contribute towards planning for their future. The staff have developed a consultation paper to enable children to provide their views.

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The safety of children

Risk assessments are carried out and updated to reflect the child’s presenting needs. Although the child’s risk assessment is regularly updated, not all known risk factors and measures to manage or reduce risk are included in the assessment. This means that staff are not always aware of how to mitigate specific risks relating to the child.

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The safety of children

Sometimes, physical intervention techniques are used to keep the child and others safe in the home. One incident of physical intervention involved a staff member who later carried out a debrief with the child. This practice means that the child did not have the opportunity to speak with an independent person to discuss how they felt.

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The safety of children

Procedures are in place for when children go missing from the home. However, the child’s risk assessment is not always followed. On two occasions, there have been delays in staff reporting the child as missing. There has been an occasion when the child was not supervised as detailed in their care plan. This could have placed the child at risk of harm. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 3 When necessary, room searches take place if there is a safeguarding concern. Staff complete a record of these searches, but it is unclear from records whether permission has been sought from the child. This practice does not make children feel valued, and, although there is oversight by managers, this has not been addressed.

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The safety of children

An area risk assessment is updated with relevant information about local risk factors. Leaders and managers have developed relationships with partner agencies, including the police, to better understand any known risks and how they may affect children living in the home. However, the risk assessment is not individualised to the child who lives in the home. Therefore, it does not consider how local risks may affect the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager. Since the last inspection, a new experienced deputy manager has started to work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have made good progress in improving the home environment. Police callouts by staff have reduced when trying to manage unwanted behaviour in the home. Risk assessments for children have improved, as has the recording of children’s information.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Not all shortfalls found at the last inspection have been addressed appropriately. Agency staff have not been provided with the necessary training to use physical intervention techniques if needed. This prevents a consistent and safe approach should physical intervention be necessary. This could lead to someone being harmed if physical intervention is needed to keep people safe at any given time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers have developed systems to monitor the progress and experiences of children who live in the home. This has included how staff access documents relating to children and how information is recorded by staff on children’s files. However, this system does not extend to agency staff. This means that agency staff may not be able to access important information to enable them to care for the child safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered manager carries out six-monthly reviews of the quality care provided in the home. These reports are provided within appropriate timescales. However, the manager does not include any consultation with the child and their opinions about the home are not captured and evaluated as part of this review. This is despite the child regularly being consulted with. This means that important opportunities for the child to contribute to ways that improvements can be made are missed. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/10/2021 Full Good 30/10/2019 Full Good 28/01/2019 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that: children’s risk assessments identify any mitigation strategies in place to keep them safe; staff follow children’s risk assessments and supervise children when this is detailed in their assessments and care plans; staff follow missing-from-home procedures in line with children’s individual risk assessments. 9 May 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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; 9 May 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 6 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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) (2)(b)(c)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all agency staff are adequately trained to provide care for any children living in the home and have access to children’s daily records.

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Requirement Due date

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 quality of care provided for children;

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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)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children’s opinions about the home are incorporated in the review and evaluation. 9 May 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms are not generally entered without their permission, though it may be necessary to establish routines to allow for bedrooms to be cleaned regularly. Usually, bedrooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 7 restraint as soon as practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident. A debrief should be offered to the child by a person not involved in the incident of

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Recommendations

restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that case records are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. These records should be made available to agency staff so that they can understand information relating to a child at the point of handover. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton-on- Tees, Cleveland TS18 1LD

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Inspectors

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector Emma Ridley, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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