Children's Home run by Northumberland County Council in Northumberland

Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 1 SC486604 Registered provider: Northumberland County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated and managed by a local authority to provide care for up to four children who may have emotional and social difficulties. At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. The inspector spoke to all of the children.

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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 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: SC486604 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2022 Full Good 25/05/2021 Full Outstanding 06/01/2020 Full Outstanding 26/02/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive individualised care, which is provided by the staff team. A psychologist helps staff to understand children’s needs and supports the staff and children to build positive relationships. The foundations of these trusting relationships help children to make progress in their health, well-being and education. Staff support the children to value themselves and develop a good sense of their own identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a wide variety of stimulating activities that help them to develop new skills. Children particularly enjoy outdoor activities, such as rock pooling, geocaching and local outdoor activity centres. Children are supported to plan regular holidays where they have fun and make positive memories. Staff support children to join local clubs and football teams. This provides children with an opportunity to meet new friends in the local area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain and develop relationships with their family and friends. When children live long distances from their families, staff ensure that children have regular opportunities to visit. They provide transport to and from visits or help children to make appropriate travel arrangements. Children invite their friends to the home for tea and activities. This helps children to build and maintain relationships with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek children’s views about their day-to-day care, activities, and food choices. In addition, children benefit from an independent advocate who regularly visits the home. The advocate consults with children to seek their views about the care that they receive. This helps the staff and manager to develop meaningful plans of care. Two children from the home have recently joined the local authority children’s council. This empowers children and influences the local authority’s practices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move in to the home are welcomed by a skilled and caring staff team. Staff take time to get to know the children before they move in, helping children to quickly settle in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are well maintained and personalised to their individual tastes. Children have an ensuite shower and toilet in their bedrooms. However, there are some unnecessary restrictions, such as locked communal bathroom facilities and locked cupboards. This hinders the children’s access to all areas of their home.

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

Children are cared for by staff who use their professional curiosity to understand the risks to children. Staff use their knowledge to develop individualised risk assessments that help them to keep children safer. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 4 Staff have a good understanding of the home’s safeguarding arrangements. Staff make safeguarding personalised by blending their knowledge of the child with the home’s safeguarding procedures. Staff work transparently with other professionals and agencies when safeguarding incidents occur. This ensures that children who live in the home are safely cared for.

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

When children go missing, staff are inquisitive about their motivation for doing so. Staff work with other professionals to explore known risks in the community that influence children to go missing. Staff use this information and their knowledge of the children to develop effective plans. This has reduced the frequency of children going missing from home.

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

When bullying incidents occur in the home, staff support children to make a complaint. The staff utilise independent advocates to ensure that children’s views and feelings are heard following any complaint. Staff work with children to resolve complaints and teach children the values of respect and kindness.

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

Children have individualised behaviour support plans that support staff to understand how to help children to be calm. When children become upset and their behaviour becomes unsafe, staff use restraint as a last resort to help to keep children safe. Children and staff consult with the home’s psychologist to help them to understand children’s behaviour. Together, they develop meaningful strategies that reduce the frequency and intensity of times when children become angry or upset.

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

Children learn boundaries that help them to feel secure. When children do not follow the boundaries, staff use proportionate consequences to help children to develop positive behaviour. However, staff do not always record consequences. This means that the manager cannot monitor and assess the effectiveness of consequences that staff give to children.

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

The manager has a monitoring system that supports her to understand children’s progress. However, her monitoring system has been ineffective in identifying one fire hazard in the home. The manager took immediate action during the inspection to remove the hazard and reduce the risk to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high aspirations for both children and staff. The manager spends time getting to know the children. As a result, children feel comfortable talking to the manager about their worries and concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works with independent advocates to ensure that children’s views, wishes and feelings are listened to, and their rights are met. The manager uses the children’s views to influence and change practice in the home. The manager challenges other professionals to ensure that children receive the care and support they require. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 5 The manager understands the value of positive relationships between key professionals and her staff team. She has developed effective working relationships that help her to collaborate with professionals, ensuring that children’s needs are met. Professionals and staff speak highly about the manager’s warmth, tenacity and understanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular training that the provider considers to be mandatory. In addition, the manager and staff consult with the home’s allocated psychologist. Weekly sessions provide an opportunity for staff to develop their understanding of children’s specific needs. Staff discuss children’s current presentation and develop purposeful strategies to help children to overcome challenges.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the manager, who has an open-door policy. Staff regularly consult with the manager and senior team to discuss their ideas, worries and concerns. The manager uses this daily informal consultation to seek the staff’s views and develop their practice. However, staff do not receive regular supervision in line with the home’s supervision policy. This is a missed opportunity for the manager to consolidate staff’s views and review their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When children move in to the home, the manager’s assessment is not always effective. This has resulted in children who live in the home being exposed to preventable risks. The manager has quickly identified this shortfall and worked with other professionals to ensure that children are moved to suitable accommodation where their needs can be met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When children move in to the home, the manager does not always receive the children’s updated care plans from their social workers in a timely manner. This means that the staff do not always have the information they require to provide appropriate care and support to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 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, 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

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. (Regulation 25 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the boiler room being kept free of combustible materials. 8 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that she receives children’s relevant documents prior to any child moving in to the home. 8 September 2023

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and 8 September 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 7 allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive regular supervision so that they can reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 Any consequences used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. All consequences should be recorded, and their effectiveness reviewed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: SC486604 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northumberland County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Northumberland County Council, County Hall, MORPETH, Northumberland NE61 2EF

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Inspector

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC486604 9 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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