Children's Home run by West Sussex County Council in West Sussex

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 1 SC037454 Registered provider: West Sussex County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by the local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted and is suitably qualified.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: 8 November 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: SC037454 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2022 Full Good 02/08/2022 Full Inadequate 25/05/2021 Full Outstanding 28/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, four children have moved on from the home and four children have moved into the home. The experiences for children have been mixed. For example, one child has been supported to reunify with their family. However, another child’s care planning had not identified the level of his risk and the decision was made to move this child urgently to safeguard all children. Senior leaders have reflected on this child’s care planning and implemented lessons learned to inform future practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are generally building good relationships with children and understand the importance of this to support children to feel cared for. One child who lives in the home has been missing for significant periods and has unfortunately not settled in the home. However, this child’s social worker feels that staff have made all efforts to work with the child and have acted in the child’s best interests to promote their safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff facilitate regular key-work sessions with children to explore concerns and how they can reduce risks and behaviours. This includes talking to children about their trauma and having other sensitive discussions. The staff are relentless in their efforts to support children to achieve their goals. This has led to children making progress, such as staying in contact when out with friends and coming home on time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children have not engaged in formal education prior to moving to the home. The manager has arranged to enrol all children with an education provider and children are taking steps to attend. The manager has taken action to promote children’s learning to inspire them to fulfil their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some plans in place for children’s care planning are not thorough or accurate following changes to their needs. This means that staff do not always have sufficient guidance on how to care for children. However, the manager recognises this is an area for improvement and is taking steps to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are appropriately supported by staff with their health needs and receive health support when required, including in an emergency. However, one child’s health plan has not been updated with information to reflect changes to their health needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond sensitively and follow good safeguarding practice when serious incidents occur for children. The manager ensures that any allegations made by Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 4 children are thoroughly investigated and works with the local authority designated officer to ensure that they are satisfied with the actions taken.

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improvement to be good

Children have received inconsistent care from temporary agency staff working in the home. For example, agency staff failed to take appropriate action when a child placed temporarily away from the home arrived at the home in the early hours of the morning with a knife. The manager’s oversight failed to address some shortfalls in staff’s practice to safeguard children effectively.

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improvement to be good

The staff have the required skills and experience to support the children’s needs. However, the use of temporary staff has not always provided the same consistency to support the children’s behaviour. On one occasion, agency staff were unable to manage children’s behaviour in the home, which led to the police being called. However, the manager ensured that the agency staff did not work in the home following this incident.

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improvement to be good

The manager has ensured that suitable recruitment checks have been carried out on agency staff working in the home. However, some staff files do not confirm reasons for leaving previous employment when they have worked with children or vulnerable adults. While the manager is assured this information has been requested without success, recruitment records do not reflect this.

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improvement to be good

The registered provider’s fire risk assessment has not been updated following changes to the building. For example, external door locks have been replaced with key locks, which is not reflected in the fire risk plans. Consequently, the risk plans are not reflective of the home’s current alterations.

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improvement to be good

Children sometimes go missing from the home. However, staff are proactive in trying to locate children and preventing them from going missing from home. Staff look for children, whether this be in the immediate location or several hundred miles away, and a warm welcome is provided by staff on their safe return. For one child, the relationships they have built with the staff mean that incidents of going missing from home are less frequent and the child stays in contact with staff when missing from home. This demonstrates progress being made and risk reducing for this child.

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good

The manager has a vision to develop the home and of what she would like the children achieve. There are plans to develop systems and processes, to enable staff to have better access to up-to-date information about the children and how to meet their needs.

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good

Leaders and managers work together. The manager has regular supervision and support to help them to make improvements and changes in the home. Staff feel valued and are supported by each other and the managers. They benefit from regular supervision and team meetings. New staff have been provided with a thorough induction and have reflected on how the team feels like a ‘family’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 5 The manager has failed to notify some serious incidents to the regulator as required. However, the manager has taken appropriate action and raised safeguarding concerns with professionals and attends regular strategy meetings to discuss the risks to children.

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good

Reports required under the regulations to review the quality of care provided in the home have not been submitted to the regulator within the necessary time frame. Additionally, changes made to the home’s statement of purpose have not been submitted to the regulator as required.

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good

The manager has not established effective monitoring systems to ensure oversight of children’s care. During the inspection, information was not easily accessible, and disjointed recording systems meant that important information was not consistently provided. However, the manager has recognised that improvement is required in her monitoring and has started to formulate a system to embed this. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 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, 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 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that the care provided for children by temporary staff keeps children safe and promotes their welfare. 30 June 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the use of temporary staff provides continuity of care for children and that the manager has an established system that is effective in the monitoring and oversight of children’s care. 30 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 7 If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should review the current fire risk assessment to ensure that it reflects changes made in the home and take action to mitigate any risks identified during this assessment. 30 June 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.

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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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider should ensure that care planning is effective and accurately reflects children’s care needs. The registered provider should also ensure that all staff are made aware of changes to children’s care plans. 31 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 31 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice, as set out in regulations 31 to 33. They must ensure that recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. In particular, if a person has previously worked with children or vulnerable adults, verification so far as reasonably practicable should be obtained of the reason why the employment or position ended. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 13.1) The registered person should carry out a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every six months. The generated report should be sent to Ofsted and the placing local authority of all children in the home within 28 days of the completion of the report. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 15.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should develop and keep under review a statement of purpose and ensure that any updates are sent to His Majesty’s Chief Inspector. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should ensure that the home’s workforce plan is used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff. This is with specific reference to ensuring that observed practice records are detailed and contain an evaluation of the staff member’s practice. This recommendation has been restated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: SC037454 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, West Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RG

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Inspectors

Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Tony Waite, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC037454 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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