Children's Home run by Resi-Action Staffordshire Ltd in Wolverhampton

Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 1 Registered provider: Resi-Action Staffordshire Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is part of a small private organisation. The home provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered manager in post, and she holds the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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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 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: 27 September 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: 2624155 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/09/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to make good progress in their education. Staff provide children with key-work sessions and children’s meetings, where children’s individual experiences are discussed. This helps the staff to understand any barriers children face with learning and to intervene early to support the children. Leaders and staff work closely with an external education agency to ensure that children always have access to education. As a result, two children have improved their engagement in education, and another child has recently taken their GCSEs due to the staff’s ongoing support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs well. Children are supported by staff to attend routine appointments. When children require additional health services, including child and adolescent mental health services and sexual health services, these have been sourced by staff. Children who are preparing for independent living are educated by the team about how to start arranging appointments for themselves while still having staff support. One child now feels more confident in attending health appointments by themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have positive relationships with the children. Staff understand the children’s needs and how best to support them. Staff support children’s cultural and religious wishes. For example, staff support one child who enjoys going to the gurdwara to do so. Staff encourage children to have positive relationships with peers living in the home. Children take turns to cook for each other with staff support; they also engage in activities together. As a result, children feel that they belong.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with the transition into independent living. Staff help children to complete qualifications in personal hygiene, cooking, shopping and budgeting. Staff also help children to learn the routes to their family home; this has supported one child in travelling independently on the train.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders ensure that children’s moves into the home are well planned. One professional told the inspector: ‘The transition was good, and the manager wanted to make sure that the transition was smooth and that this was right. The process was child-centred with how this was managed.’ This child has settled in well, and has recently said that they wish to remain at the home long term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment requires further attention. During the inspection, children’s bedrooms were untidy and not decorated to a good standard. The lounge and hallway areas are basic, with a small number of homely features. The walls are scuffed and have broken areas. This presents an unhomely and institutionalised feel to the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 4

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

The staff have a good understanding of children’s risks and understand what they should do to keep children safe.

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

Leaders and staff are proactive in supporting children at risk of criminal exploitation. Leaders have held multidisciplinary team meetings to implement plans to protect children at risk of being exploited. Staff have been provided with training regarding radicalisation and exploitation to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to protect children at risk. Regular key-work sessions take place with children about grooming, which has provided them with a better knowledge of how to keep themselves safe.

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

Leaders manage allegations well. One child had made an allegation against a staff member which was retracted soon after. However, the manager had ensured that relevant professionals had been made aware. This allowed the child to be spoken to by their social worker to explore the reason behind the allegation, which had been about worries over a new child moving in. As a result, staff were able to reassure the child that things would not change and that they would still receive good care from staff.

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

Staff manage children going missing from the home well. Staff have a good knowledge of how to manage incidents when they occur. Staff receive missing-from- care training as part of their induction. As a result, children are kept safe and are protected by staff. However, the recording of missing incidents requires improvement, as records do not provide a coherent record of actions taken.

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

Staff impose fair consequences on children to help them learn from their actions. However, staff’s recording of consequences does not always provide an accurate picture. On one occasion, a child’s consequence record had been written as if a child had been given two consequences for one incident when this was not the case. In addition, the management oversight of consequences is poor. The manager does not comment on the effectiveness of consequences. On one occasion, there had been no comments from the manager following a consequence being put in place. This does not show how the manager has assured herself that consequences are fair and effective.

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

Leaders do not always report notifiable incidents in a timely manner. On one occasion, it was not evidenced whether the manager had informed Ofsted about an incident regarding staff conduct. This prevented the regulator from having oversight over the incident. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 5

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good

Since the previous inspection, the current registered manager has decided to accept a senior management position. The manager is in the process of handing over to an interim manager.

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good

Leaders and managers’ monitoring does not always identify shortfalls in staff’s recordings. As a result, children’s risk management plans are not clear. For example, a child’s risk assessment contains information from when they had first moved into the home. Poor management oversight has meant that the risk assessments contain incorrect information about staffing ratios. Behaviour support plans are detailed, and contain strategies. However, there is no descriptive information about children’s behaviour at each stage of escalation. The incorrect information may lead to incidents being mismanaged.

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good

Recruitment is not carried out safely. The interim manager’s recruitment file did not show that previous employers had been contacted to verify reasons for leaving. Additionally, two recruitment files had gaps in employment. It is not clear how it was assured that staff are safe to work with children.

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good

The independent visitor’s report does not always say whether the independent visitor feels that children are safeguarded. It is not clear how the manager has addressed this with the visitor when they conduct monthly visits to the home.

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good

The registered manager is proactive in sourcing additional support for children. The manager has worked closely with children’s local authorities, education agencies and the ‘Prevent’ team to support children’s progress. One professional stated: ‘The registered manager has been one of my favourite people that I have worked with. She really gets it and works very hard with the children.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 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 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

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)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the children’s bedrooms provide a hygienic and welcoming environment. 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 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; 6 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 7 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they have good oversight and monitoring of incidents, children’s paperwork and consequences.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they explore all gaps in employment history for new applicants.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, verification of why the employment ended must be obtained where possible, where a person has previously worked in a position with children or vulnerable adults. 6 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 8 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

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

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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)(c)(e)) 6 July 2023

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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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Recommendation

 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. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. 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 quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.04)

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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: 2624155 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Resi-Action Staffordshire Ltd

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Inspector

Chanel Bryant, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2624155 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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