Children's home run by YCPG Services Ltd in Walsall

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 1 SC392492

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns this home. It is registered to provide care for four children aged between 11 and 17 years.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post is currently vacant.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 2

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Findings from the inspection

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection:

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Findings from the inspection

 Managers and staff do not take effective action to protect children from harm.  Staff do not support children with consistent boundaries, routine and structure.  Leaders and managers have not provided staff with clear guidance on how to meet children’s needs and reduce risk. This has resulted in children receiving inconsistent care.  Leaders and managers have failed to provide a nurturing and safe environment for children to live in.  Leaders and managers do not regularly consult children about their care.  Leaders and managers have not provided staff with the support they need to meet children’s needs. This includes supervision and training.  There has been ineffective monitoring and reviewing of the service, which has impacted on the quality of care that children have received.  The responsible individual has not provided effective oversight of the home, which has impacted on the management and leadership of the home and,

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Findings from the inspection

subsequently, the quality of care that children have received.

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The care of children

Managers and staff are not providing children with a clean, warm and welcoming family home. Some areas in the home were dirty. For example, the stair banister was sticky to touch and in need of painting. Blinds in the lounge and dining room were broken. In addition, the fire exit in the dining room was obstructed.

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The care of children

Two of the children’s bedrooms needed cleaning. In one child’s room, there was a single mattress on a double bed frame. Clothes were piled up on the floor in the ensuite bathroom, which was dirty. In another child’s bedroom, rubbish and clothing covered the floor, including leftover food. When the inspector opened the child’s ensuite, there was an unpleasant smell and a laundry basket with clothes overspilling from it. The window restrictor was broken, and there was evidence that the child had been smoking in their room. The inspector observed cigarette burns on the windowsill. There was no duvet cover on the duvet. This does not provide a safe and nurturing environment where children feel cared for.

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The care of children

Children’s experiences of living in the home are mixed. Some children are not having a positive experience of living in the home. Not all children have positive, trusting relationships with staff. One child told an inspector, ‘Staff don’t talk to me. Staff need Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 3 training on how to talk to children. It’s like they don’t care.’

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The care of children

Staff do not always encourage children with their hobbies and interests. One child told the inspectors that they have asked to go to the gym but nothing has happened. This does not support children to have positive day-to-day experiences or build relationships with staff.

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The care of children

There is a lack of structure and routine for children who do not attend school. Some children have made some progress with their education, but for other children, there is a lack of planning and routine to support them to engage in education. Some children do not get up until lunchtime, and there are no meaningful activities planned throughout the day. There is no plan in place to address this. This does not support children to feel valued and achieve in their education.

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The care of children

Staff are not consistently seeking children’s views, wishes and feelings. Children’s meetings do not regularly take place, and managers do not always feed back to children. This inconsistent approach does not support children to feel listened to.

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The care of children

Children’s records are of variable quality. Staff do not regularly capture the child’s lived experiences in their daily records. Children’s comments are not sought on incidents, such as room searches and consequences. Daily logs do not always reflect the actions that staff take in response to children’s needs.

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The safety of children

Leaders’, managers’ and staff’s approach to safeguarding is inconsistent and ineffective in keeping children safe.

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The safety of children

Responses to children who go missing from care are poor. When children go missing, staff do not follow children’s missing-from-care protocols. Staff do not always report incidents where children go missing to the police. On one occasion, one child had been missing for two days, and staff only looked for the child once in that time. This is despite staff being aware that there are risks for the child associated with criminal exploitation. In addition, there are not always car drivers on shift. When this is the case, there are no alternative plans in place to ensure that staff can go and look for children. This does not support children to be kept safe and feel cared for.

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The safety of children

Children’s risk assessments are weak. Managers fail to ensure that children’s risk assessments give clear guidance for staff to follow in relation to children’s known risks. For example, risk assessments for drug and alcohol misuse lack guidance for staff to follow. As a result, there is inconsistency in how staff monitor and care for children when they return home under the influence of substances. This lack of guidance results in inconsistent staff practice, which does not support children to be safe.

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The safety of children

Staff do not consistently follow children’s risk management plans. For example, staff do not always ensure that bedroom searches are conducted when children return home under the influence of alcohol or cannabis. In addition, when children refuse Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 4 to allow staff to conduct searches, there are no plans or strategies in place to support staff to manage this.

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The safety of children

Managers’ monitoring of physical intervention continues to be inconsistent. There have been two recorded interventions since the last inspection. One incident was well recorded and included evidence of a discussion with staff. The other incident was not recorded in line with regulation. While the manager signed the incident record, there was no record of any reflection with staff and no manager’s comments. This does not give staff the chance to reflect on their practice and support ongoing learning.

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The safety of children

Managers and staff do not take effective action when children smoke in their bedrooms. A recent fire risk assessment did not fully consider the risk of children smoking in the home. This does not provide any guidance to mitigate the risk. Furthermore, staff have not completed any direct work with the children around fire safety and the dangers of smoking in their rooms. This does not help children to understand how to keep themselves and others safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Management arrangements in the home are inadequate. The home has been without a registered manager since June 2023. A deputy manager has been in day- to-day charge of the home with the support from the responsible individual. However, the responsible individual is not regularly visiting the home. During the inspection, the responsible individual informed the inspector that she had not visited the home for over two weeks. This impacts on her ability to understand what is going on in the home and review the care that children are receiving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The deputy manager in charge of the home is newly promoted. She has not had an induction into the role. She has also not had regular supervision. In addition, the deputy manager has been required to cover staffing shortfalls. This impacts on their capacity to manage the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Inspectors found that, at times, there has been a lack of adequate staffing in line with the ratios required for children as is detailed in their care plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff are appropriately trained. For example, not all staff are trained in physical intervention, online safety or self-harm. This is despite there being known risks in these areas for the children that currently live in the home. This does not ensure that children are cared for by staff with the experience, skills and knowledge to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There continue to be delays in leaders and managers notifying Ofsted of serious incidents. There has also been one occasion where the manager failed to notify a serious incident to Ofsted. As a result, Ofsted is unable to carry out its monitoring function adequately to ensure that appropriate action is taken by the provider to safeguard children. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 5 There has been no review of the quality of care in line with regulation 45 since December 2022. Leaders and managers have not identified areas of strength and weaknesses in the care provided for children, and they have not identified any actions to help support improvement. The lack of a written report being submitted to Ofsted within the regulatory timescales limits Ofsted’s ability to assess the quality of care being provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have not taken appropriate action to address requirements made at the previous inspection. At the last full inspection, Ofsted raised seven requirements and two recommendations. However, leaders and managers have failed to meet six of the requirements and the recommendations. The repeated breaches of regulation do not provide Ofsted with the reassurance that managers are able to take effective action to bring about the required changes to improve the quality of care that children receive. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 6

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/01/2023 Full Good 08/07/2021 Full Good 21/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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;

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the home being appropriately furnished, decorated, maintained and clean.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 19 September

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. 29 October 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted on.

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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

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are provided with clear boundaries, structure and routine when they are not in education. 29 October 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— 19 September Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 9 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

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 designed, furnished, and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers and staff understanding and implementing children’s risk assessments, the monitoring and supervision of children and their role in keeping children safe.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that they take effective action to reduce risks in the home environment.

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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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 29 October 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 10 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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; and

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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)(d)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that there are effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care that children receive. The registered person must ensure that staff have training to meet children’s specific needs.

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home. (Regulation 26 (7)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the nominated responsible individual having oversight of the home and actively supporting the required improvements.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 19 September

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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

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 29 October 2023

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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 29 October 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 11 has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

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

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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 signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, records must show the actions taken by staff when caring for children. Furthermore, children’s comments and views on incidents should be recorded.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 29 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Requirement 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 29 October 2023

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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 29 October 2023 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 12 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

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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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) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are encouraged and supported to take part in activities of their choice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: DMR Services, 102 Queslett Road, Streetley, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham B74 2EZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Joanna Mountford

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Inspectors

Sonia Sullivan, Social Care Inspector Sarah Billett, Regulatory Inspector Manager Assurance inspection report for children’s home: SC392492 14 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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