Children's home run by Bradford Children and Families Trust

Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 1 Registered provider: Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by Bradford Children and Families Trust. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who have a range of social and/or emotional difficulties. There are three children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was re-registered on 1 April 2023, when the local authority arrangements were taken over by a trust. The manager is suitably qualified and is registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 3

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improvement to be good

Children do not have consistently good experiences living in this home. Some of the children living in the home complained to the inspector about the quality of care they receive from some of the staff. In particular, the children stated that some staff have hurt them when managing their behaviour. This hinders children’s ability to build trusting relationships with all staff working in the home. The manager has acted on these allegations, which she was unaware of previously.

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improvement to be good

One child complained that their experience of group living has not always been positive. They stated that some children are often unsettled during the night, and staff are unable to manage them well. This has had a negative impact on the child’s sleep, and they have been tired before school the next day. The child was also unhappy that their privacy and belongings have not always been respected by other children. This has involved some children entering their bedroom without permission and taking some of their belongings. While the registered manager, in response to the complaint, has reiterated strategies to support the child’s privacy in their room, their experiences have been negative.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported by staff to understand their situations through key-work sessions. Staff do not always write up key-work sessions in a timely way. It is therefore difficult to sufficiently assess the quality of the session and how it has benefited the child. The sessions reviewed were of a mixed quality, and staff are not always proactive in how they engage and encourage children to express themselves and talk about their experiences.

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improvement to be good

Children live in a house that meets their needs for space, particularly the large garden where they enjoy playing football. Children are encouraged to spend time with staff, and they eat and chat together around the dining table. Communal areas of the home, which were previously restricted, are now mostly open for children. This helps to create a warm and welcoming home for children to live in. Children’s bedrooms are personalised, and children say that they like their rooms. Some recent damage requires repair, but staff have acted appropriately to minimise risk for children.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities with staff and each other. They particularly enjoy bicycle rides with staff. Children access activities in the community that help to develop their talent for sports and provide opportunities for friendships with children other than those they live with.

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improvement to be good

Parents report that staff communicate well with them and work hard to promote family time, including overnight stays for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 4 Children are supported to share their views in regular house meetings. The registered manager acts in response to children’s formal requests, including pursuing their wish for artificial turf for the grassed area where they play football.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always understand all risks for all children. Some children have comprehensive and well-coordinated plans. For other children, there have been missed opportunities to identify and reduce risk. For example, staff did not remove a child’s ball-bearing gun, which had the potential to cause harm, as quickly as they could have done. Because of this variation in response to risk, staff are not always as proactive as they should be to ensure that children are safe.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments are not updated in a timely way to inform staff of any new actions or strategies following significant incidents. Children’s risk assessments do not always include all areas of risk. In addition, the registered manager does not provide staff with sufficient guidance and direction.

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from home. If they do, they usually stay in the local area. Staff are proactive in maintaining contact with children and searching for them if they do not respond to welfare checks. Staff are usually successful in encouraging children to return home.

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improvement to be good

Children are offered return home interviews by a commissioned service. However, these have been offered through telephone calls rather than face-to-face interviews. For one child, the interview was five days after the missing-from-home episode, rather than within the required 72 hours, and at a time in the evening when children would usually be preparing for bedtime.

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improvement to be good

Staff usually manage children’s behaviour by using de-escalation techniques. There has been one occasion where staff physically intervened in order to keep a child safe. A senior member of staff who assisted with the holds later completed the staff debrief. This does not ensure an independent review or evaluation of the incident. In addition, the child was spoken to about the measure by another member of staff, rather than someone who is of a level of seniority to respond to any practice issues should this be needed.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage children’s risks, such as buying vapes, through using consequences. This has usually meant that children are appropriately supervised when spending pocket money. This helps children understand that there are consequences for their behaviour. The registered manager has oversight of the consequence and, where needed, has identified alternative strategies, such as key-work sessions, as being more appropriate for the child. However, the consequence records are poorly maintained, with gaps and delays in dates or sign off. Records do not state if the child has been spoken to independently from the member of staff who issued the consequence. Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 5 The registered manager directs staff to complete regular checks of children’s phones and gaming consoles. Staff conduct room searches when they are concerned about a child having items that they could use to place themselves or others at risk.

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improvement to be good

Therefore, staff work together, when directed, to safeguard children.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager responds appropriately to allegations made by children. She notifies the local authority designated officer and takes steps to ensure that children feel listened to and safe while the allegations are investigated.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager oversees regular fire drills, which include evening evacuation. The children engage well, and they have also completed fire extinguisher training alongside staff.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager ensures that medication is appropriately kept and administered to children.

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good

The registered manager has introduced monitoring and review systems to help her track progress for children and staff and the development of the home. However, the registered manager is not yet using this monitoring to analyse and review the quality of care and practice in the home. For example, the registered manager does not have effective oversight of children’s records. She has not identified discrepancies in how staff record children’s experiences. As a result, there has been a lack of challenge by the registered manager, and children’s experiences, for example how their behaviour is managed by some staff, are not sufficiently understood.

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good

Not all staff, including the registered manager, receive supervision at the frequency stated in the home’s statement of purpose. Actions identified in supervision are not specific and do not have timescales. Therefore, the registered manager does not use supervision as effectively as she could to progress children’s plans and promote staff accountability.

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good

The staff team is stable, with a number of long-term agency staff becoming permanent. Although this will provide consistency for the children living in the home, additional staff continue to be seconded to this home while work is undertaken at their usual place of work.

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good

The registered manager is supporting staff through a change of employer and the integration of electronic recording systems. The registered manager is influencing how the electronic recording system captures information for children living in this home. Currently, the integration of recording systems is impacting on the quality of records maintained for the children living in this home. Children’s records are of poor quality. Staff do not record consistently, with some records lacking detail or being incomplete. Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 6 The registered manager has submitted two notifications to Ofsted. However, a further serious incident involving children living in the home was not notified. As a result, the inspector did not have the opportunity to review the registered manager’s response to ensure that all children were appropriately safeguarded.

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good

The registered manager is ambitious and committed to developing staff to provide good care for the children. Staff speak positively about working at this children’s home. They feel supported by leaders and colleagues. This helps them to learn and fulfil their roles. Staff have, or are working towards, their required qualifications. Staff report that they are encouraged by the registered manager to complete training, which allows them to develop the skills to care for the specific needs of the children.

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good

Team meetings are held on a regular basis. The manager uses the meetings to reinforce expected standards of care, such as ensuring that communal doors are unlocked during the day. There is a comprehensive update provided about all of the children. This means staff are aware of all issues and any actions required, and as a result, they can better meet the needs of the children.

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good

The registered provider has addressed the appointment of the independent visitor, who has not worked in the home and is therefore able to reach an impartial judgement of the quality of the staff’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 7

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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 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

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to children receiving consistent care that helps them to build trusting relationships with all staff.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, this relates to children being supported through key-work sessions that address all identified areas of need to help improve children’s experience and progress. 31 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationship standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on–

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults. Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 8 (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to staff helping children to respect each other’s needs and right to privacy.

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to staff identifying and responding effectively to reduce all potential risks for children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to staff managing children’s behaviour in a way so that children do not feel that they have been harmed by staff.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, this relates to children’s risk assessments being updated when new risks arise, including guidance for staff that sufficiently addresses how they should respond to reduce all risk of harm to children.

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Requirement Due date

This further relates to return home interviews being conducted in a way that meets children’s individual needs and supports their engagement so that risks can be assessed effectively. 31 August 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 31 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 9 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

This relates specifically to the registered manager overseeing the effectiveness of the care that staff provide for children through regular supervision of staff and review of children’s records.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, this relates to the registered manager using monitoring systems to review the quality of care and practice in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This further relates to the registered manager overseeing and improving the quality of children’s records.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 31 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 10 This relates to records demonstrating that users and children are spoken to independently following a measure of discipline or restraint.

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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)) 31 August 2023

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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: 2730003 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : Bradford Children’s and Families Trust

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sir Henry Mitchell House (5th Floor), 4 Manchester Road, Bradford BD5 0QL

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Picklu Roychoudhury

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Inspector

Joanna Warburton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2730003 12 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 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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