Children's Home run by Tressell Homes Ltd in Wirral

Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 1 Registered provider: Tressell Homes Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement

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requires improvement

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement

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

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 2

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improvement to be good

Two children are living at the home. Despite shortfalls identified during the inspection, the children have some positive experiences and make good progress in some areas of their lives. One child left the home as managers and staff could no longer meet their needs. Staff worked hard with this child to try to meet her complex needs. However, a multi-agency decision was made to move the child to a more suitable home. A relative of this child said, ‘I could not fault the staff. They tried their best, but she had very complex behaviour. I have to say though, this was the most stable, caring place that she has lived in.’

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers do not provide sufficient support to help children to progress. For example, one child spends a lot of time in their bedroom. There are no plans for staff to follow to engage this child in activities. Staff respond to children in a nurturing way and children speak positively of their relationships with staff. However, the shortfalls prevent children from making as much progress as they could.

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improvement to be good

Children’s educational progress is mixed. Some children make significant progress considering their starting points. For example, one child is awaiting results from recent GCSEs and has a college placement identified. However, another child has made limited progress because they do not have an identified education provider. There is no plan in place to structure the child’s day. This has resulted in the child regularly remaining in bed until early afternoon. Managers and staff do not adequately support this child to understand and overcome any barriers that they might face with their learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff want the best for the children they care for. They talk about them with warmth and affection. Staff support children to keep in touch with people who are important to them, and children enjoy spending quality time with their families.

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improvement to be good

Children live in a welcoming and spacious home. It has a calm and relaxed atmosphere which helps children feel safe and relaxed. However, the garden needs improving, as it is unkempt and uninviting. A child said, ‘We don’t use the garden. There is nothing in it.’

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improvement to be good

There are shortfalls in safeguarding practice which mean that the children’s welfare is not consistently promoted.

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improvement to be good

Children told the inspector that they feel safe living in the home. The children can identify staff who they can confide in and who take their concerns seriously. Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 3 However, managers and staff fail to recognise potential safeguarding concerns and fail to take action to protect children.

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improvement to be good

The manager is not consistently recognising, recording and responding to risks in line with safeguarding processes. One child has become more at risk of exploitation in recent weeks. This is because staff have not supervised the child appropriately in the community. This risk was alleviated during the inspection when the managers met with the child’s social worker and a safety plan was devised to safeguard the child.

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improvement to be good

The quality of the care plans is inconsistent, and some plans are not included in the children’s files. This means that children’s plans and targets are not always clear to staff. This may affect children’s outcomes and progress.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk management plans lack relevant information and clear strategies to keep children safe. This fails to give staff direction on how to understand and manage the risks that children may face.

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improvement to be good

Visitors to the home are appropriately checked. However, managers and staff do not ensure that all visitors sign in and out of the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff are not aware of the local offer setting out the support available for children with special educational needs. This is a missed opportunity to access additional resources for children.

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improvement to be good

Staff are recruited safely and staff retention is high. This means that children are cared for by safe and consistent staff who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Oversight of the home by leaders and managers is not effective. The manager’s monitoring and oversight are insufficient. The provider has a robust monitoring system in place which, if used correctly, provides an overview of children’s progress. However, despite the provider’s policy stating that managers should complete monitoring every two weeks, the registered manager has not completed this monitoring in over four months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Records demonstrate that not all staff have received sufficient training to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children. For example, training records show that some staff have not completed their safeguarding and/or medication administration training. A member of bank staff had not received any training at all, despite working in the home for six months. This means that staff are not fully equipped to care for children who require support and help them reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not receive regular supervision. Additionally, new staff are not supported well enough during their probation period. For example, a member of staff had not completed any of the induction programmes set out in the provider’s own policy. Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 4 This makes it difficult to determine whether staff are ready to complete their probation within timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The rosters of staff working patterns do not contain full names of staff. This fails to provide an accurate record of staff working with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Effective monitoring and management oversight need to be embedded in practice in the home. The responsible individual has given a commitment to ensuring that effective systems are used to monitor and evaluate the safety and care provided to the children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(vi)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, for children who are temporarily out of education, ensure that they engage in constructive activities during the school day. 28 August 2023

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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, considering information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 6 help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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)(ii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the plan for children’s safety when in the community is appropriately monitored, and that risk management plans are in place for each child.

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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 the staff work have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided 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)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that staff have the appropriate training to meet the needs of the children and that safeguarding policies and risk management plans are reviewed and kept up to date. 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 7 In addition, the monitoring and audit tools available in the home should be used to continuously monitor the quality of care to identify areas for improvement.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the home has a copy of every child’s placement plan. 28 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff supervisions, including for the manager, are carried out in accordance with the provider’s internal supervision policy. 28 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the roster for staff working in the home clearly shows full names of staff. 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 8

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Recommendation

 The registered person should research the support available through the local offer and use this to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)

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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: 2702562 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tressell Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 41, Price Street Business Centre, Price Street, Birkenhead CH41 4JQ

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Inspector

Elaine Allison, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2702562 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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