Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 1 Registered provider: Esland North 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 run by a private provider. It is registered with Ofsted to provide care and accommodation for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, there were two children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in June 2017 and has a registered manager.

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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

Date of last inspection: 17 October 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/07/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home feels welcoming and homely. A new modern kitchen has been fitted, and there are new carpets, furniture and soft furnishings. Staff involve the children in making decisions about how their home looks. The identity of children is visible through their photos, artwork and belongings scattered throughout the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are comfortable at the home and have secure and trusted relationships with the staff. The length of time that children have lived at the home varies, but both children have trusted staff that they can talk to. There are clear expectations and boundaries set for everyone, which helps children to feel secure as they receive consistent and stable care. The children are confident and express themselves through play, laughter and jokes and seek appropriate hugs from the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a positive experience of moving into and leaving the home. Staff try to make sure that any moves are planned as well as possible to minimise their anxiety. Children are happy. They keep in contact and see the people that are important to them regularly. Staff advocate well for children to make sure that arrangements are in the children’s best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff praise children’s positive behaviour and help them learn. All of the children’s successes are celebrated. Children do a range of activities and hobbies that they enjoy and that are suitable for their age and level of development. Some of these are educational and include visiting museums, farms and local places of interest, and others help children to learn new skills, such as how to swim.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is a high priority for children. Staff and children value education highly, and as a result, children are actively preparing for the new school year and are excited to start school again. Children enjoy good health, and staff support them to attend regular medical appointments and reviews.

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

Children feel safe at the home. The staff understand the risks to children’s safety because children’s risk assessments are comprehensive and provide staff with clear strategies to follow. There are appropriate measures and safeguards in place to reduce the risks to children when they are using the internet. For one child, their care plan had not been updated to reflect the changes made to their risk assessment.

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

Although there have been times when children have been missing from home, the staff and the manager work hard to prevent this. This includes taking appropriate action to try to find them, keep in contact and help them return home safely. Staff share information and work with relevant professionals appropriately. Training in child criminal exploitation has equipped staff with the knowledge to work proactively Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 4 to try to understand the reasons why children go missing. They try new strategies with children to strengthen their responses when children are missing from home.

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

Staff are skilled in supporting children to talk about and manage their feelings and behaviours in a positive way. When incidents occur, staff defuse and de-escalate these effectively. As a result, children rarely need to be held. When consequences are used, they are restorative. Staff complete focused work that is designed for the children’s individual needs and risks. This helps the children to learn new skills and become more aware of the world they live in. This work is well planned and helps the children to become more independent.

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

Staff understand the signs and indicators of abuse and neglect and know their roles and responsibilities for safeguarding children. The staff are confident in raising concerns, and the registered provider has an independent whistle-blowing helpline that staff can contact. When concerns have been raised, the manager has informed relevant organisations and completed thorough investigations. These processes help to better protect children.

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

The children’s bedrooms and external doors to the home have door alarms. The rationale for using these is not clearly assessed and reviewed regularly to make sure this measure is necessary and proportionate to safeguard the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an experienced and qualified manager. The manager is invested in the care provided to children and the staff team. He has a clear vision and expectations that are well communicated to staff. The staff told the inspector that there is a strong culture of teamwork and support. Staff are well supported through regular and effective supervision, team meetings and training. The manager organises additional training when this is needed. However, there are two staff who have not completed the relevant qualification within the given timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is no use of agency staff, which helps children to receive consistent care. The manager makes sure that staff are suitably checked and vetted to better protect children from unsuitable staff caring for them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager welcomes all feedback and uses this to make improvements to the quality of care provided. This creates a culture where staff feel confident in speaking up about any concerns, issues and ideas, feel listened to and feel their opinions are valued. There is a positive culture of learning following incidents. There are key examples where lessons have been learned and put into practice to try to reduce the risk of similar incidents recurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders have clear oversight of the quality of care provided and the performance of the home through clear systems and processes. These systems are effective, and there were no concerns identified at this inspection in relation to oversight or governance within the home. The quality and clarity of records are of a good standard. This means that there are complete and contemporaneous records of Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 5 children’s care and the actions taken by staff. However, when the location risk assessment was reviewed, information about a known risk in the local area was not included. Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 29 December

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s care plans are kept up to date to form the basis of their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 11.1)  The registered person should make sure that the location risk assessment for the children’s home includes the known risks in the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 7  The registered person should make sure that the use of door alarms is rigorously assessed and under regular review to ensure that this is proportionate to risks to children’s welfare. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: 1253008 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Honor Hamshaw, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1253008 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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