Children's Home run by Solve Housing Limited in Sandwell

Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 1 Registered provider: Solve Housing Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered manager who is qualified.

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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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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have remained living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy having established, trusting and positive relationships with staff. Staff know the children well. This means that the children accept support and encouragement to make progress. One child told the inspector that they feel safe and settled. They said that they wish to stay at the home if they cannot return to the care of their parent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have consistent routines and boundaries. Staff support children to contribute to them. This helps them to have structure to their day. In addition, regular direct work with children, linked to their care plans, is undertaken by staff, which helps children to make progress from their starting point in terms of their confidence, health and education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work hard to ensure that children access education that meets their individual needs. One child spends two days a week at a vocational training provision. This supports their aspiration for the future. A tutor visits them on the other days. The other child should attend school for two hours every day. However, they often refuse to attend. They also receive home tutoring, with a plan to support them to go back to school full time. The manager and staff are aware of the child’s anxieties in relation to attending school, and continue to work with them to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive consequences for appropriate behaviours. Staff praise children for the progress that they make, and help children to understand when their behaviours are unsafe and the impact of this. Staff supported one child with mediation and reparation work. This was following a recent incident when a member of staff was physically hurt. This supports children to reflect on their behaviours, and puts learning into practice to reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with health services and encouraged to attend routine appointments. One child can struggle to attend face-to-face appointments. Staff have worked with a family member to offer them encouragement and support. Staff also advocate for them to attend virtual appointments instead. The child has engaged with this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to enjoy a range of activities in the home and community. One child recently enjoyed a holiday in Southport as they wanted to visit the beach. The other child went to Blackpool. Children have enjoyed activities such as football and going to the cinema. This enables children to have a sense of purpose and direction to support their progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 4 Staff help children to see people who are important to them. One child is now able to see a parent at the family home. There are plans for the other child to spend more time with their parent, which the parent told the inspector they are happy with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the importance of promoting the children’s cultures. For example, one child is provided with religious education. They also attend a place of worship every week. This helps them to develop their personal identity.

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

Missing-from-home protocols are clear and individual to each child based on their risks. Staff understand the risks to children when they are missing. Missing incidents are a concern for one child, which have significantly reduced over time. When the child is missing, usually, this is for a short period of time. When this happens, staff diligently follow the agreed protocols, ensuring that they maintain contact with the child, look for them in known local areas, and work with family members to encourage the child to come home. This proactive practice has helped to reduce missing-from-care incidents for the child and keeps them safe.

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

Children can display challenging behaviours, which have resulted in children damaging things in the home and assaulting staff. On two occasions, staff have been seriously hurt by a child. Records for these incidents were seen and show that staff tried different ways to de-escalate the situation in line with children’s plans. Staff carry out follow-up work with children, which includes reflecting on their actions and repairing relationships with staff.

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

Children’s risk assessments are detailed. They help staff to understand children’s risks and behaviours and inform them of what they can do to support children who struggle with their feelings. One child is accessing support from an external peer mentor and the other child is accessing support from a psychotherapist. In addition, the manager has had discussions with social workers to look at additional support for children. This has led to referrals to therapeutic support services.

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

The use of physical intervention to manage children’s behaviour is rare. There has been one incident of physical intervention since the last inspection. This was used a last resort. The manager reviewed the incident and reflected with staff and the child to identify any learning from it.

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

There is a detailed location risk assessment that provides staff and children with essential information about the local area. The assessment also outlines potential risks in the area and how staff can work with children to keep them safe.

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

A requirement raised at the last inspection with regards to fire safety has been addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 5

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good

The manager has some monitoring and review systems in place, and has recently developed some additional systems to enable better oversight. However, the independent visitor’s report is not detailed and has little analysis. It is not clear how this contributes to the manager’s monitoring and how this has been addressed by the manager. In addition, the quality of care report was submitted to Ofsted out of the timescale. The report does not provide a detailed overview of the quality of care, and it is not clear how the views of children and others informed this review.

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good

On one occasion, the manager did not notify Ofsted of a serious incident. The incident was appropriately managed by the staff and the manager. However, when Ofsted is not informed of safeguarding incidents it means that the regulator does not have up-to-date, accurate information about children.

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good

Staff are receiving regular supervision sessions. However, the records seen are brief and do not give a sense of how staff, with the majority of them being relatively new to this role, are being supported to reflect on their practice and develop in their role.

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good

There is a qualified manager in role who is relatively new to this role. The management team has recently been strengthened with the appointment of an experienced assistant manager. They have been sought to support the manager and assist them to develop the staff team.

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good

Staff have access to regular training. Staff have completed mandatory training as well as training that is specific to the children in their care, such as training in criminal exploitation and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This helps staff to increase their knowledge and provide tailored care to children.

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good

Most of the members of the staff team are not qualified. However, they are completing the relevant qualification within the timescale. There has also been challenges with recruiting staff. The manager has tried to manage this by ensuring that senior members of the team are always on shift. This lessens the impact on children when temporary staff are working in the home. The manager has recruited new staff, who are waiting to start.

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good

Positive feedback was given from an independent reviewing officer. They said that a child has made progress since they moved in to the home. Written compliments were reviewed from two social workers, who said that they are happy with the care that children are receiving and that staff and the manager work with them well. Children’s records also confirmed that staff and managers regularly liaise with professionals and work together to support children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 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 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

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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the independent visitor’s assessment of the home is rigorous, and that the review of the quality of care is informed by the views of children and others.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 19 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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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)(e)) 19 August 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff supervisions are reflective and help them to develop and improve their practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 7

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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: 2679735 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solve Housing Limited

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Inspectors

Shazana Jamal, Social Care Inspector Nurul Kabir, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2679735 9 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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