Children's Home run by Berry Gifford Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 1 Registered provider: Berry Gifford LTD

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who have experienced childhood instability, which has led to trauma and associated complex behaviours. At the time of this monitoring visit, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager started working in the home in March 2023. At the time of the inspection, Ofsted had not received an application from the manager to register.

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This monitoring visit

On 6 and 7 June 2023, a full inspection of the home was completed. Ofsted judged the home inadequate, as there were serious and widespread failures that meant children were not protected and their welfare was not promoted or safeguarded. As a result, Ofsted issued requirements in relation to regulations 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 32 and 36.

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This monitoring visit

The purpose of this visit was to review the progress that the home had made with the requirements issued. Leaders and managers have failed to take sufficient action to improve, protect children from harm, and meet all the statutory requirements. As a result, Ofsted have repeated the requirements and issued a compliance notice in relation to regulation 12, the protection of children standard and a notice restricting accommodation.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff do not understand or manage risk well. Children’s plans are unclear and do not provide staff with clear guidance on strategies to use to reduce and manage risk. For example, children’s plans do not include the areas that children have visited when previously missing. This means that staff do not have access to relevant information to help to locate the children promptly if they go missing. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 2 Arrangements for supervising the child who currently lives in the home are not understood or consistently applied by all staff. On one occasion, two staff members left a child alone in a park when they refused to return home with them. This practice is not in line with the child’s local authority plans, which state that the child should be fully supervised when out in the community, and resulted in the child feeling unsafe. The provider failed to inform Ofsted about this incident during the

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This monitoring visit

visit. A local authority social worker raised her concerns with the inspectors and alerted them to this incident, which the local authority had referred to the local authority designated officer in relation to poor staff practice.

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This monitoring visit

When considering the suitability of children moving in to the home, the responsible individual and manager do not consider all the information available to them. The skills, knowledge and experience of staff are not fully considered to ensure that they can meet the child’s needs. This practice does not promote the safety and welfare of children or staff. At the full inspection, managers identified lessons learned from shortfalls in a previous admission decision. They have failed to demonstrate that they have applied the learning to current admission planning. For example, leaders have not consulted with the local authority of the child who currently lives in the home when considering moving another child into the home, despite identifying this as practice that they would undertake in the future. This does not support building effective and trusting relationships with the professionals involved in safeguarding

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This monitoring visit

The safety arrangements in place at the home include the agreement that sharp items are locked away and only used by children under supervision. Staff should complete checks each day to ensure that all sharps are accounted for. The manager identified that staff had recorded that checks were complete, despite a knife being left in the kitchen overnight and a screwdriver being left in the staff office. On another occasion, staff had signed records to confirm that keys were present when they were in the manager’s possession. This means that systems in place to restrict children from accessing items that they could use to harm themselves are not effective.

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This monitoring visit

Staff did not provide a child who harmed themselves with the opportunity to explore their feelings and help them to reduce future incidents. This was a missed opportunity to develop a better understanding of the child’s needs and inform individualised plans to help to keep the child safe and reduce risks.

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This monitoring visit

Relevant qualifications are only held by the manager and deputy manager. This means that there are occasions when unqualified staff are left in sole care of the children who live in the home.

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This monitoring visit

The recruitment systems in place are not effective, and managers do not ensure that all necessary checks have been completed. On two occasions, the manager has not ensured that there is a full employment history for staff who start to work in the Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 3 home. In another instance, a person worked in the home on two occasions without managers ensuring that all relevant safe recruitment checks had been completed. Furthermore, no risk assessment was put in place to ensure that contact with children was supervised while checks were not complete. This practice has the potential for children to be cared for by unsuitable individuals.

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This monitoring visit

Staff’s practice is inconsistent in meeting the needs of children’s health. On one occasion, staff appropriately supported a child to seek emergency healthcare after injuring their foot. However, they did not support another child to access their doctor when they were having difficulties with their sleep. Staff do not keep up-to-date medication administration records for children who have medication that is administered when required.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has started to make some improvements to the environment; however, communal areas of the home still feel unwelcoming and are unclean. The bathrooms need modernising, and a damaged door on a storage cupboard needs to be replaced. The vacant bedrooms are basic, and one feels institutionalised. This does not provide children who may move in to the home with a welcome that is nurturing.

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This monitoring visit

Since the last inspection, one child has moved from the home. Managers and staff arranged a leaving party and purchased a leaving gift. This supported the child to have a positive experience of moving from the home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 06/06/2023 Full Inadequate 14/06/2022 Full Good 29/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 4

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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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 10 September

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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; and

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— 10 September Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 5 meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure that staff have access to children’s care plans, and that the home is maintained and furnished to a good standard.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well- being—

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff must support children to access health services without delay and ensure that records for recording the medication administered are available.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 10 September Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 6 *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— that staff—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered provider ensuring that staff understand how to protect children, know of potential risk and how to minimise it, and fully consider risks before children move in to the home.

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Requirement Due date

It also relates to ensuring that the manager and staff follow safeguarding procedures. 10 September Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 7 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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

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 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 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)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered provider ensuring that there are effective monitoring and review systems in place to review and improve the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that they provide care in line with the home’s statement of purpose, and that staff have the experience, qualifications, and skills to meet the needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 10 September

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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 10 September Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 8 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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers should gather sufficient information to inform the decision to move children in to the home, and ensure that all children have positive experiences of moving in to and from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. 10 September Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 9 The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person has taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about each of the matters in Schedule 2 in respect of the individual, but the enquiries in relation to any of the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2;

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the circumstances are exceptional; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered person ensures that the individual is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual’s duties, pending receipt of any outstanding information on the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2, which is then considered satisfactory by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must take reasonable steps to ensure that any individual who is working at the home and who does not fall within paragraph (2)(a) and (b) is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual’s duties. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d) (7)(a)(b)(c)(d) (8))

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject of a compliance notice.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Berry Gifford Ltd, Unit 2, Mercury Park, Amber Close, Tamworth B77 4RP

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Inspectors

Helen Dunn, Social Care Inspector Vicky Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2541440 11 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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