Children's Home run by North Yorkshire County Council in North Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 1 SC034235 Registered provider: North Yorkshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority under the ‘No Wrong Door’ model. The home provides care for up to six children aged between 10 and 18 years with social, emotional or mental health difficulties. The home can also provide care for a further two children in separate accommodation for up to 28 days.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, the home was providing care for six children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2019.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit was carried out on 2 February 2023 due to concerns raised through safeguarding notifications. During the visit, the inspectors found that a lack of leadership and management oversight had led to a significant shortfall in the help and protection of the children’s behaviour, safeguarding practices and the quality of recording of significant events. Ofsted issued two compliance notices under Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 2 regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard) and a notice restricting accommodation.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A further monitoring visit was carried out on 17 March 2023 to monitor both compliance notices. The evidence demonstrated that they had both been met. Therefore, the notice restricting accommodation was lifted. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/05/2022 Full Inadequate 15/02/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/09/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is enjoying calm and stability following a particularly difficult period. There is evidence of change and improvement in the progress and experiences of the children living in the home. This is in part due to the quality of care that is provided to them by the registered manager and the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy trusted and secure relationships with staff. Children feel confident to speak with preferred members of staff should they have any worries or concerns. For children who have recently moved into the home, those relationships are appropriately developing. One child said, ‘I absolutely love my team of staff. They are the best. I can tell them anything and they won’t judge me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of the children spending time with the people who are important to them. Staff promote family time, which helps children to build relationships with their family and previous carers. Staff transport children to, and supervise, some family visits. Children’s families have welcomed this support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move into and on from the home in a planned way, this is managed sensitively and with care. There are clear transition plans in place. All children can redecorate and personalise their bedrooms to their specific tastes. Outreach support continues to be offered to all children when they leave the home, to help with the transition when required. Some children who have moved on maintain contact with the staff. One child who no longer lives in the home said:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

‘I visit the home regularly and am always welcomed back. I don’t think I would be the person I am today without the staff from the home. If I am ever struggling, they are here for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a wide range of forums, including children’s meetings and individual discussions, to seek children’s views. While staff are seeking the children’s views regularly, it is not clear what the staff have done to respond to the children’s requests. This means that children do not develop an understanding that their views are important and will be listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

While there have been some improvements made to the home conditions, the home continues to look tired and run down in some areas. Further work is required in the property to make it a homely environment for the children to live in.

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

Children say they feel safe living in the home and know that they can speak to staff should they have any worries or concerns. Staff understand procedures for safeguarding children and follow them. Staff respond to any immediate risks and act Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 5 promptly to reduce them. This is then followed up appropriately and direct work sessions with the children take place. One child said, ‘This is the safest I’ve ever felt.’

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

When children go missing, staff follow the missing-from-home procedures. Staff are proactive in looking for children when they are missing and welcome them back into the home when they return. Return home interviews are offered as soon as possible following an episode of child going missing.

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

Children’s risk assessments are of good quality. They identify the risks associated with each child’s behaviour and include strategies for staff to follow. These risks are then reviewed on a weekly basis as part of a multi-disciplinary meeting. This means that children’s identified risks are well managed and there is a clear, up-to-date plan in place to reduce risks.

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

Children’s records are child focused and written to the child. There is a clear emphasis from the whole team of staff to ensure that they use caring language when writing and talking about the children. Staff understand that children can access their records and want them to recognise and understand how important they are to the staff.

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

The number of incidents of physical intervention has reduced significantly since the last inspection. However, records of physical interventions lack detail. The records do not identify where the physical intervention took place, the details of the hold are not always clear and there is no evaluation from the manager of the effectiveness of the measure. This means that it cannot be established if the holds are appropriate, proportionate and safe.

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

There is a fire risk assessment in place for the home. However, children are not always made aware of the procedure to be followed in case of a fire by means of fire drills when they first move into the home. This prevents children from following the correct procedures should there be a fire in the home.

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

The recording of bedroom searches is poor. The rationale for carrying out these searches is not always clear and children are not always informed of the need for the room search. Consent is not requested, and children are not always offered the opportunity to be present during the search. This means that the staff are going into the children’s private space and searching through their personal belongings without their knowledge and involvement.

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good

The home is managed by a permanent, suitably experienced and qualified registered manager. She is supported by two deputy managers. Staff provided positive feedback about the support that is available to them from the home’s management team. One member of staff said, ‘The manager’s passion about the children is unique.’ Staff are also provided with clinical supervision to support their work with the children if they request it. Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 6 The registered manager has implemented new monitoring and auditing tools. These support her to evaluate children’s progress and staff’s performance effectively. While these processes are not yet fully embedded in practice, there are early signs that these tools are effective.

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good

Staff say they benefit from supervision. However, the quality of the recording of these sessions varies. There is little evidence of reflective supervision taking place, which is a missed opportunity for the staff to discuss their practice and make any changes needed.

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good

The home’s location risk assessment does not evidence what feedback has been received from relevant professionals about the local area and how this has informed the assessment. The identified risks associated with the local area are not specifically identified and there are no strategies in place to manage these risks. This means that the staff do not have access to the most up-to-date information about the local area. Therefore, no consideration has been given as to how any risks may affect the children living in the home.

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good

The home’s independent visitor is also the independent reviewing officer for one child living in the home, which is a possible conflict of interest. This means that not all children have access to an independent person to raise any worries or concerns they may have about their care.

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good

There is one member of staff who has passed the relevant date for attaining the level 3 diploma qualification. The registered manager was unaware of this and was unclear why the staff member had not undertaken the required qualification. This means that not all staff who are providing care to the children are appropriately qualified to do so.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose contains inaccuracies and is not completed as it should be. This means that parents, children, the regulator and other professionals do not have the correct information available to ensure that children are cared for in line with the statement of purpose.

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good

Shortfalls in recording have been identified. While staff ensure that they meet the children’s specific cultural needs and follow children’s daily routines, this information is not clearly recorded. The children’s guide has also not been updated following a change in the statement of purpose. This means that key information could be lost as it is not recorded effectively and is not helpful for children should they wish to read their records.

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good

Prior to children moving into the home, the registered manager carries out a risk assessment. This identifies whether the staff team can manage the known risks of all the children effectively should they live together. However, these risk assessments are not always a true reflection of the assessed risks. Some risk assessments have identified that it is not suitable for children to move into the home. However, due to wider placement sufficiency issues, the registered manager has been instructed to Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 7 move some children into the home contrary to these assessments. The detrimental impact of this decision-making on the children living in the home has been significant. Placing children where the risk assessment identifies that the staff cannot meet the child’s needs and keep all the children safe potentially places children and the staff team at risk of harm.

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good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 8

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to decision-making by senior leaders to admit children into the home when the registered manager has assessed it as not being suitable to do so. 21 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint, at the registered provider’s expense, a person (“the independent person”) to visit and report on the children’s home carried on by the registered provider.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must declare any actual or potential conflict of interest (whether of the type mentioned in paragraph (3) or otherwise) to the registered provider without delay and, if reasonably practicable, before conducting a visit to the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider becomes aware of a potential conflict of interest in relation to the independent person 21 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 9 before or during the independent person visiting the home (see regulation 44), the registered provider must—

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements to cancel the visit without delay; and

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Requirement Due date

appoint a different independent person to visit the home. (Regulation 43 (1) (6) (7)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(iii)(iv)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that physical intervention records are accurately completed. 21 July 2023

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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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is— 21 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 10 in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1 st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1 st April 2014, 1 st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (1) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 21 July 2023

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 28 June 2023

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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

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s cultural needs and daily routines are recorded.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that the children’s guide is updated. 21 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. 21 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 11 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard. The toilets and showers should be hygienic, and children’s bedrooms should be clean and free of hazardous waste or items. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms are not generally entered without their permission. Usually, bedrooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission and given the option to be present. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that the children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s

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Recommendations

cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive regular supervision to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC034235 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: North Yorkshire Council, County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Inspectors

Paula Shepherd, Social Care Inspector Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC034235 13 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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