Children's home run by Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 1 Registered provider: Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd

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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 private provider and is registered to care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties. It is set in a semi-rural location near a major town.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since January 2023.

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This monitoring visit

The home’s registration is currently suspended. The notice to suspend the home was imposed on 3 March 2023, following a monitoring visit that found significant regulatory breaches relating to the protection of children. The home was visited again on 12 April 2023, where it was agreed the suspension notice would remain in place. The suspension expires on 25 May 2023. This visit was to monitor progress in meeting the regulatory breaches identified.

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This monitoring visit

There were no children living in the home at the time of this visit. The home does not have a manager or full staff team. There is a deputy manager, three full-time members of staff, a part-time member of staff, and two bank staff who have the required full range of pre-employment checks. There are five other staff, with varying experience, awaiting full pre-employment checks before they can start working in the home. This means there is currently not enough suitably checked staff to care for more than one child.

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This monitoring visit

The investigations into the incident that prompted the monitoring visit on 3 March 2023 have been concluded by the placing authority, substantiating the allegations made by a child, and the responsible individual has completed an internal investigation. The investigation into the actions of the former manager is currently on hold awaiting further guidance from the organisation’s external human resources advisers. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 2 Staff have attended safeguarding training online and in-person training. Staff understand safeguarding processes and how to report concerns within the organisation, and, if necessary, how to escalate these externally. Staff can explain different safeguarding scenarios with confidence. The use of reflective diaries and supervision shows how this knowledge is tested by the responsible individual and deputy manager. Senior managers are undertaking designated safeguarding lead

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This monitoring visit

training to ensure that they are up to date on the processes to follow.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual and deputy manager continue to demonstrate their knowledge of events that would require a notification to Ofsted.

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This monitoring visit

Staff know how to respond if a child is missing from the home. Staff have been using scenarios to practise responses, and become familiar with procedures and records to complete should a child go missing from home.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has devised several new monitoring systems and has begun using these in practice. These systems are being revised as necessary to ensure that they provide the oversight the responsible individual deems necessary.

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This monitoring visit

The use of external consultants is continuing to help the responsible individual consider how to continue to improve the service, while also reflecting on his skills and abilities, and where these require development.

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This monitoring visit

The requirements made at the last visit remain in place. These will be reviewed as part of the next inspection. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 4

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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, the 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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(iv)) 16 June 2023

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 16 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 5 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b))

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 16 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 16 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 16 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 6 a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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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

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Willow Tree Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ

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Inspectors

Jennie Christopher, Social Care Inspector Tony Waite, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2680923 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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