Children's Home run by Choices Home for Children Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 1 Registered provider: Choices Home for Children Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and may have learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in January 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since May 2023. A new manager has been appointed and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has lived at the home since it was registered. They are making good progress. They have been supported to form positive relationships with core staff. However, at times, the child has required additional support to accept changes in the staff team and the use of non-permanent staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child receives individualised care. Effective joint working between the provider, child and adolescent mental health services and the specialist commissioned therapeutic services means that staff have access to the information they need to understand and respond to the child’s complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is listened to and supported to express their wishes and feelings. Through the support from staff, the child’s communication has significantly improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has access to new opportunities and has been helped to engage in new activities, including using public transport with the support of staff, going to restaurants and completing a sponsored walk to raise money for charity. These new experiences help the child to develop their confidence and equip them to understand and engage with the world around them. The child told the inspector that their recent holiday to Wales had been ‘the best days of my life’. Staff are also exploring ways to support the child to develop peer relationships and have identified a local youth group for them to attend.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is helped to safely spend time with their family, in line with their wishes and feelings. Staff work closely with the child’s social worker and family to make sure that the time they spend together is in the child’s best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s physical health needs are met through primary healthcare services. The child is supported to attend appointments and to manage their emotions in these situations. Consequently, health staff are able to assess and respond to the child’s health needs more effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has made significant progress in their education. They receive one-to-one tuition in the home for a short period of time each day. The child recently gained functional skills qualifications in maths and English. This was a celebrated achievement for the child and will help them in their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is personalised and reflects the child’s interests. However, some areas of the home look tired and are in need of improvement. The living room suite needs replacing and cleaning routines in the child’s bathroom are not well established. Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 4

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

The child’s plans are detailed and reflect their risks and vulnerabilities. Plans clearly inform the care delivered and include strategies for staff to follow to keep the child safe.

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

Staff have all the information they need from the child’s placing authority to inform their care. They have written information which details the court-ordered deprivation of the child’s liberty. This ensures that staff are working within their agreed remit when restricting the child’s day-to-day life. Staff work effectively with the child’s social worker to consider the child’s progress and ongoing vulnerabilities when exploring how and when restrictions might be eased.

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

Core staff are able to identify situations or events that may lead to the child becoming distressed. They use agreed calming strategies to reduce the child’s distress and to help them to feel safe. When they are upset, the child will ask core staff to rub their feet or back to sooth them. These strategies are clearly recorded and regularly reviewed with the child to ensure that they remain safe and effective.

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

Positive behaviours are encouraged and incidents of the child needing to be held are rare. When incidents do occur, interventions are proportionate, and records are detailed and clear. However, the oversight of these incidents by leaders and managers is not robust. Not all incidents have been evaluated and on one occasion the manager evaluated an incident that she was involved in. This means that there was no independent oversight. These shortfalls reduce opportunities for leaders and managers to identify or address any concerns and to identify learning for the team.

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

On a small number of occasions, staff have called police to manage the child’s behaviour. This is not only distressing for the child but has the potential for them to be criminalised. There is no management oversight or evaluation of the appropriateness of these decisions. Consequently, leaders and managers have not identified any learning to inform future practice in the home.

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good

The registered manager post has been vacant since May 2023. A new manager has been appointed. She has not been previously registered. The manager is currently developing her understanding of the role. She had a planned handover from the previous registered manager before they left.

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good

Systems for monitoring and evaluating practice in the home are not effective. The current systems do not enable managers to understand the home’s strengths and areas for development and do not help to improve outcomes for children.

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good

Shortfalls in supervision practice mean that staff do not receive good-quality, reflective supervision. Supervision does not take place in line with the provider’s supervision policy and is not always recorded in a way that is helpful to staff or Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 5 makes them feel valued. A requirement made at the last inspection in relation to the supervision of staff has been restated.

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good

Due to staffing changes, only one current member of staff has been eligible for an annual performance appraisal. This has not taken place.

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good

Staff turnover is high. Core staff are supported by a combination of staff from the provider’s other homes, bank staff and agency staff. Efforts to recruit permanent staff are ongoing but there are a high number of non-permanent staff working in the home. This is impacting on the consistency of care provided to the child. A requirement made at the last inspection in relation to the consistency of care has been restated.

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good

The review of the quality of care in the home does not include the child’s views. Views from external professionals are taken from the independent person reports rather than from any consultation leaders and managers have had directly. This does not evidence that leaders and managers are actively seeking the views of others to inform their practice.

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good

The manager is a strong advocate for the child. Her practice is child-centred and she has developed a good understanding of the child’s needs. She has appropriately challenged other services to ensure that the child is in receipt of the correct allowances. This has resulted in the child receiving back-dated payments into their savings account to support them in adulthood. Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 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, 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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 31 October 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; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

supervision takes place with sufficient frequency to support staff’s professional practice and is recorded in a way that is helpful to staff;

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Requirement Due date

staff within their first six months of employment receive additional supervision as detailed in the provider’s supervision policy; 30 September Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 7 the duration of supervision meets the minimum requirements detailed in the provider’s supervision policy;

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Requirement Due date

staff receive an annual performance appraisal.

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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 complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5)) 31 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 30 September Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 8 the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

they do not evaluate incidents of physical intervention that they have been involved in;

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Requirement Due date

where incidents have led to police involvement to manage behaviour, the appropriateness of these decisions is also considered in the evaluation.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is decorated and furnished to a high standard throughout, that all areas of the home are kept clean and that the living room suite is replaced. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26) Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 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: 2674455 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Choices Home for Children

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 31 Wellington Road, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 7ED

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2674455 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 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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