Children's Home run by Derby City Council in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 1 SC036019 Registered provider: Derby City 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 by a local authority and provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by an experienced manager, who is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 7 March 2023 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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: 23 January 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 02/07/2019 Full Good 19/11/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 3

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improvement to be good

Children live in a spacious home that has a homely feel. Children like their bedrooms and can decorate them to their tastes. When children move into the home, this is managed well. They are supported to meet staff and visit the home before they move. This helps children to quickly settle and adapt to their new environment. Children who were spoken to said they like living at the home.

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improvement to be good

One child has recently begun accessing education through a tutor, and they are beginning to make good progress. Two other children are not in education or training. The manager has been proactive to seek out education provisions for them to attend, but these are yet to be established. Staff are not currently engaging children in learning during the day, and there is a lack of structure during school hours.

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improvement to be good

One child has experienced bullying. Staff have not followed risk assessments, which has allowed incidents to continue. Staff have not adequately worked with children to understand the implications of bullying on others or put in place appropriate consequences. One child who was spoken to explained that they did not feel that staff intervened or that children were challenged when bullying incidences occurred.

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improvement to be good

Children are not yet able to influence the care they receive. While children’s meetings and key-work sessions are attempted, children do not always engage. Staff do not record when they have attempted to speak with children or how they are trying to strengthen relationships with them. The home cannot yet evidence that children are being supported to reflect on incidents or share their wishes and feelings.

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improvement to be good

Care plans do not offer a good enough level of detail, and information is not consistent with that included in risk assessments. Care plans do not include a clear history of the children. Therefore, staff are not able to fully understand the needs of children, and triggers to behaviours could be missed.

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improvement to be good

Serious incidents are not always recorded clearly. Both staff and children are encouraged to have a debrief following serious events, although these attempts are not always successful with children. The manager informs appropriate professionals after events but does not always notify Ofsted. This prevents Ofsted from having oversight of safeguarding practices to ensure that regulations are met.

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improvement to be good

There are emerging risks associated with the close location of this children’s home to another. Staff recognise the importance of good communication with their Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 4 colleagues to safeguard children. However, effective safety plans have not been collaboratively developed. There are no agreed strategies for managing challenging behaviours that involve children from both homes, which has meant that some incidents have escalated quickly.

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improvement to be good

All children living at the home have risk assessments in place. These are detailed and individualised. Risk assessments do not guide staff in how to respond practically to children’s challenging behaviours. Consequently, there have been missed opportunities for staff to intervene quickly and decisively. For example, one child had not had their phone removed despite using it to film another child being bullied in the home.

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improvement to be good

The home has a fire risk assessment in place. Fire drills have been completed but were not clearly documented. There have been some incidents when children have started small fires outside of the home. Although staff were watching children and were vigilant, they did not use the correct fire equipment to extinguish the fires quickly. The information regarding fire precautions is not easily accessible, and staff do not fully understand their responsibilities in potentially dangerous situations.

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good

The home benefits from a committed manager who understands the children well. She has quickly identified areas of need for children and ensured that the appropriate specialist services are involved. Professionals spoke of her open and dependable communication style.

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good

Staff enjoy working at the home and feel well supported by the manager. Opportunities to talk informally after incidents mean staff are developing their skills, for example in managing children’s challenging behaviours. Some staff have not received the required training, which is impacting on their confidence and ability to manage incidents in the home, particularly at night.

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good

The manager understands that there needs to be careful planning in place to ensure that children can safely live together. However, this process does not address risks in relation to another children’s home in close proximity. As a result, there are missed opportunities to pre-empt and mitigate complex group dynamics among children.

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good

There are not yet effective auditing processes in the home. There are plans in place to have monthly managerial oversight, but these are not yet embedded into practice. The manager is therefore not currently able to properly track the impact of the care offered to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 5

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the need for risk assessments and care plans to identify known and potential risks for each child. This is also in relation to staff’s skills and confidence in challenging children’s inappropriate and risky behaviour, such as bullying. There are improvements needed to the quality of incident records and safety planning for risks associated with the location of the home. 28 July 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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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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

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or 28 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 6 there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to an incident that should have been notified to Ofsted.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that all the children have a plan that staff can work to, to ensure that children are helped and protected and their welfare is always promoted.

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Requirement Due date

This is also in relation to care plans to reflect the current needs of children and how staff are to address children’s behaviours. 28 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

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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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 28 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 7 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to ensuring that all staff are trained to manage children’s behaviours in the home.

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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

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire;

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

In this regulation, “the fire and rescue authority” means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(2) for the area in which the home is located. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2)(a)(b) (3))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to ensuring that staff take appropriate action to minimise the risk of fire and that the manager ensures there is a clear record of fire drills at the home. 28 July 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when children are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 8 other reason, the registered person and staff work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should balance the wishes of the child against what they judge to be in the best interests of the child and reach a reasonable view about the best way forward in the interests of all. The reasons for reaching any decision will need to be carefully explained to and understood by the child or children

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Recommendations

concerned. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.9)

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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: SC036019 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Treasurers Department, Council House, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2FE

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Inspectors

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Helen Walters, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036019 10 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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