Children's home run by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 1 SC034012 Registered provider: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home offers care for up to three children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that care is provided for children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since November 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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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/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or 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: SC034012 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/08/2022 Full Good 16/02/2022 Full Good 16/09/2019 Full Outstanding 24/04/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 3

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inadequate

Since the last full inspection, the quality of care provided to children has been negatively affected by the lack of clear leadership and guidance to the team.

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inadequate

The quality of care provided is inconsistent. Consequently, children’s experiences are varied and frequently poor. Staff miss opportunities to spend time with children and build relationships with them. However, one child, who has lived at the home for five years, said, ‘The staff here are my family.’

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inadequate

Staff are not ensuring that the environment of the home is of an acceptable standard. While the kitchen and communal living areas are clean, tidy and homely, this standard is not maintained throughout the rest of the home.

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inadequate

Some children’s bedrooms were found to be in an unacceptable and hazardous condition. There was evidence of children smoking in their bedrooms. Children did not have bedding on their beds, and mattresses were of poor quality. Bedroom furniture was damaged and had not been repaired or replaced in a timely manner. Broken pieces of furniture are being stored in communal areas. One child had a broken window restrictor that had not been repaired. Electrical extension leads in one child’s bedroom were hanging from a socket high up on a wall. Rubbish bins were overflowing, and window ledges were dirty and stained. The unacceptable condition of children’s bedrooms does not reflect nurturing care, help children to feel valued or keep them safe.

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inadequate

Staff are not achieving a good enough balance between supporting independence and ensuring that children continue to be given the care and guidance that they need to support their transition into adulthood. Staff are not supporting children to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy and were of the view that it is the children’s responsibility to clean their room. One child told the inspector that they are being supported to gain the skills to move towards independent living. They are learning how to shop, how to cook meals and how to budget. However, the child also said that they are allowed to have their e-cigarette in their room and that it is where they eat all of their meals. Other children also eat in their bedrooms rather than with staff. This does not give them an experience of family life and communal living.

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inadequate

Children are able to access all communal areas inside the home. However, the door to the back garden is locked with a key. As a result, children cannot go into the garden without staff unlocking the door for them. This restricts their access to their outside space.

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inadequate

Children’s health needs are not being met. Staff do not understand their responsibilities in supporting children who smoke. This undermines the efforts staff make to support children to meet their overall health needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 4

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

Significant shortfalls were identified in the management and oversight of children smoking in the home. Staff are not aware of, and are therefore not implementing, the local authority’s policy for children who smoke. Staff allow children to keep cigarettes, e-cigarettes and lighters in their bedrooms. This is unsafe, significantly compromises children’s health and increases the risk of fires in the home.

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

Staff do not have the correct written information to support their practice and inform their care of children. Leaders and managers are not ensuring that statutory documents received from children’s social workers are up to date and correct. One child’s delegated authority for decision-making was out of date. Another child’s delegated authority was signed by a social worker, who did not have the legal authority to do so.

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

Staff work collaboratively as part of a multi-agency team with local authority colleagues, external professionals and children’s families to share information and ensure risks to children, particularly when in the community, are addressed and reduced. However, although risks are known, they are not always included in risk management plans to inform staff on how to manage risks safely, for example risks about exploitation. Monitoring systems are not sufficiently robust to inform staff when risk assessments need to be updated as a result of changing needs.

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

Direct-work sessions are not sufficiently focused on meeting all children’s needs. However, some progress has been made in how staff capture the positive work they are doing to support children.

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

Staff are working with a commissioned psychotherapist to inform their care of one child with complex emotional health needs. The therapist told the inspector he was confident that staff were acting on his advice and had developed a greater awareness of the child’s needs through this work. This has led to the child being more open with staff about their emotional health and allowing staff to help them develop their emotional resilience.

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

When children go missing from home, staff are proactive in their attempts to engage children to return home. Missing-from-home records are not fully completed by staff. This makes practice less accountable and limits management oversight of incidents.

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

There is not a sufficiently accountable system in place for monitoring the suitability and effectiveness of consequences for negative behaviours. Records do not demonstrate that children are routinely consulted with. This reduces opportunities to seek children’s views and support them to learn from their behaviours.

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

All serious incidents are well recorded. There is a clear connection to work arising from these incidents, such as one-to-one sessions with children and updates required to children’s plans and assessments. All serious incidents are notified to Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 5 Ofsted. This enables the regulator to have more effective oversight of the response to serious events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager for 18 months. A temporary manager has recently been appointed to the home. During the period the home was without a manager, registered managers from the provider’s other homes and the responsible individual have had some oversight of practice in the home in addition to their substantive roles. However, a lack of management capacity and the absence of a permanent manager for a prolonged period of time have led to insufficient management oversight of practice and a deterioration in the quality of care in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The new temporary manager is inexperienced in residential care. She is being supported in her role by a skilled and experienced registered manager from the local authority. In addition, she is receiving regular formal supervision and informal support from the responsible individual. However, the home remains without a permanent and registered manager. This means that there is a lack of consistency for children and the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing of the home has remained stable since the last inspection. No new staff have been employed at the home other than the temporary manager. If additional staff are needed, these are taken from a small pool of staff from the local authority’s other homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not had regular supervision in line with the local authority’s supervision policy. This leaves staff without formal support and reduces opportunities for them to reflect and be accountable. Despite staff holding the relevant qualifications and having access to training to meet the needs of the children in their care, significant shortfalls were identified during the inspection in the quality of the care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Team meetings take place regularly. In addition to these, the responsible individual has recently implemented new bi-monthly full-service meetings. These are opportunities for staff across all the local authority homes to come together to share their experience and practice. Staff told the inspector they welcomed this development and found the first of these meetings to be positive and supportive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent person’s visits to the home are not sufficiently robust, and there is a lack of consultation with children’s families and external professionals. The independent visitor’s reports are not providing leaders and managers with the level of independent scrutiny required to help them improve the quality of care for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 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, 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

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

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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

 staff understand and implement the provider’s policy in relation to supporting children who smoke and ensure that safeguards are in place to prevent children from smoking in the home;  children’s risk assessments and risk-reduction plans are up to date and provide staff with the information they need to undertake their roles and responsibilities in protecting children;  the use of extension leads and multiplug adapters is risk assessed to ensure that their use does not compromise children’s safety;  broken window restrictors are repaired or replaced. 16 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 7 *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

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)) 16 July 2023

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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

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult; 16 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 8 ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home; (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(v)(vi)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there are clear boundaries, routines and expectations in place around the day-to-day care delivered in the home and that these are consistently followed by the staff team.

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Requirement Due date

They should ensure that staff make efforts to positively engage children and promote the development of positive relationships.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, children should be supported and encouraged to eat their meals away from their bedrooms, and children’s bedrooms should be furnished, decorated and maintained to a high standard and be free from hazards, with enough storage for children to store their belongings.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b)) 31 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 9 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that up-to- date delegated authority information is on each child’s file, and that these are signed by a person with the legal authority to do so. 31 July 2023

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the door to the back garden has a thumb turn lock to allow children access to the garden. 31 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 31 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 10 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that staff are supervised with the frequency detailed in the provider’s supervision policy.

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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

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the independent person’s visits are of sufficient quality to provide effective challenge. 31 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 11

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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: SC034012 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Market Street, Hyde, Tameside SK14 1AL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Tammy Sutherland

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034012 13 regulates and 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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