Children's Home run by After Care (NW) Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 1 SC042652 Registered provider: After Care NW Limited 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 a private company. The home provides care for up to three children. It specialises in caring for children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/08/2022 Full Good 27/09/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Good 12/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 3

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inadequate

There are serious shortfalls in care planning, management oversight of the home and the safeguarding of children. Consequently, children’s progress and experiences have been limited, and their safety has been compromised.

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inadequate

Since the last inspection, two children moved out of the home and two children have moved in. At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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inadequate

Some children have moved into the home without the statutory documentation required. This limits the staff’s knowledge of the children and their ability to effectively care plan for children. Consequently, children do not understand their care plan and make little progress as a result of living in the home.

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inadequate

None of the children have access to education at school. When children are told they cannot be educated at school, this is not challenged and there is no support from staff to get children back into school. Consequently, children are educated at the home or are not accessing any form of education. This significantly impacts on the educational outcomes for children.

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inadequate

Children are not positive about their daily experiences at the home. They have little structure to their days. During the inspection, managers and staff were unclear what the plans were for each child’s day.

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inadequate

Children’s access to all areas in the home is restricted. Staff routinely lock the door to the kitchen each night. This means that children are unable to access the kitchen until the following day. Managers and staff were unable to give any explanation of why this happens.

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inadequate

The communal areas of the home do not reflect the children who live there. There are picture frames on the wall without any pictures in them. This limits children’s ability to feel a sense of belonging in the home.

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

When potential risks are identified, appropriate action is not always undertaken by staff or the manager. One child informed staff that they did not want to escalate concerns about bullying in the home due to fear of repercussions from their peers. Staff did not take any further action to respond to the concerns of bullying or to reassure the child that they will be kept safe from potential repercussions. This means that children have felt unsafe in their home.

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

Managers and staff have failed to act when serious concerns have been raised about one child in a multi-agency meeting. Concerns shared by the child’s social worker to Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 4 staff were not shared with the staff team, recorded or acted on. This means that a child was left at risk of harm.

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

Children’s daily lived experiences are not fully considered by staff and managers. Staff have not recognised and responded to emerging risks relating to children’s physical and mental health, in particular children’s dietary intake. As a result, children have not been given the necessary support needed.

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

Some staff that spoke to inspectors are unclear about their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe, including when a child goes missing from home. Staff training records indicate that mandatory training for some staff members was significantly out of date, including mandatory safeguarding training.

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

When children decline to take prescribed medication, staff do not seek medical attention or advice as set out in the home’s internal procedures. This means that children are not finishing the required course of medication, and their health needs are not consistently met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The monitoring of the quality of care in the home by leaders and managers is ineffective. There are serious shortfalls in relation to management oversight and the monitoring of incidents, care planning and safe caring practice. This impacts on the care provided to children and inhibits the progress that they make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager in post since July 2022. One manager had been in post and applied to register with Ofsted; however, they then left the role. There has been an acting manager in the home since March 2023. The manager has not submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has completed a quality of care review as required by regulation. However, this does not include any feedback from children. In addition, the review did not set out what actions are to be untaken to improve the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all children’s records are child-friendly. Language used in some records refers to children with institutionalised acronyms and blameful language. Some children’s records refer to the wrong child, contain inaccurate information and have information missing. The manager has not taken steps to advocate on behalf of children and challenge placing authorities when required. For example, the manager has not effectively escalated requests for statutory documents for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been some improvements made to the timeliness of staff supervision since the current manager started. However, there have been periods when staff have gone some time without receiving supervision. One staff member told inspectors that they did not feel that the frequency of supervision was regular enough. Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 5 The provision and monitoring of training completed by staff is ineffective. As a result, mandatory training has lapsed, and staff are not well equipped to meet the needs of children living in the home.

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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 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

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

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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; and

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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 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)) 6 July 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 6 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 6 promotes their welfare.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(a)(f)(h))

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(c)(e)(i)) 6 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— 6 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 7 seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that requests for missing statutory documents are escalated quickly.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises;

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Requirement Due date

and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the kitchen door is not locked. 6 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (1) (7)(a)) 6 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 8 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; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the quality of care review incorporates feedback from children. The quality of care review should be evaluative in nature and should identify learning from the past six months. This should then be carried forward to create an action plan with clear, measurable goals. 6 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that that the home’s decor is homely and personalised to reflect each child residing in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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) Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 9 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: After Care NW Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 45 Kensington Road, Southport, Lancashire PR9 0RT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Timothy Blundell

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Inspectors

Rob Neild, Social Care Inspector Sally Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC042652 11 inspects 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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