Children's home run by Care Today (Childrens Services) Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 1 SC005589 Registered provider: Care Today Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home offers care for up to two children who may have social, emotional and/or or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered by Ofsted in August 2020.

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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: SC005589 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/08/2022 Full Good 28/04/2021 Full Good 06/08/2019 Full Good 22/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are currently two children living at the home who are brothers. The children are happy and their needs are being met. One child stated, ‘I really like it here.’ Children were proud of their rooms and were keen to show the inspector all the books that they had recently been reading.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff. They spoke fondly about spending time with staff drinking hot chocolates and having movie nights. Staff have put together personalised and handmade photo books for children to remember fun days that they have had, such as visits to the seaside.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to learn age-appropriate independence skills, such as changing and washing their bedding. One child has been supported to build his confidence in traveling on a bus and is now traveling independently to and from school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress in school. The manager communicates well with the school and has had positive feedback about the children following a recent parents’ evening and assemblies. However, the manager does not have a copy of one child’s education, health and care plan. This has not had any detrimental impact for the child, but is a missed opportunity for staff to fully understand the child’s targets and how to further support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s basic health needs are met. Children are supported to attend medical appointments. However, for one child, staff have not incorporated recommendations from specialist services into their plans to meet their health needs. Despite this, the child has made progress with their toileting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children understand how to make a complaint and are confident in doing so. Weekly home meetings allow children to share their wishes. Recently, children asked staff to change the arrangements for them to spend time with their family. Staff acted on this swiftly.

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

Children live in a home where they have trusted adults who keep them safe. Staff are nurturing in their approach and this means that children feel able to go to them when they are sad or need help.

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

Staff are successful at supporting children and helping them to stay calm when they may be anxious or upset. This means that there has only been one incident of physical intervention since the last inspection. Follow-up action by staff ensured that the child was able to understand why the physical intervention was needed and help them learn from the incident. Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 4 Children are praised for their positive behaviours and children respond well to this. There is a clear structure and routines in place. However, there are some inconsistencies in how staff manage children’s behaviour. This has the potential to undermine staff’s efforts to support the children.

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

Staff understand what action to take when allegations are made. Concerns shared by children about incidents that occurred prior to them moving in have been communicated to the children’s social worker. The action taken by staff ensured that the children felt listened to.

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

Staff understand the risks around children who go missing from home and balance this with the need for the children to develop their independence skills. There are clear plans in place to manage such situations, and staff have a good understanding of how to respond when a child goes missing. When needed, the registered manager ensures that children receive independent missing-from-home interviews so that children can discuss why they went missing from the home.

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

Staff have recently completed training in internet safety. Internet safety has also been discussed in team meetings and additional resources have been provided to help staff to keep children safe when they are online. However, children’s plans have not been updated to reflect the current safeguards that are in place, and staff have not yet completed work with children to develop their understanding of internet safety.

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

Bedroom door alarms are used in the home. The use of this monitoring system is not kept under review to ensure that it is necessary and proportionate.

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

The registered manager is aware of risks to children due to the location of the home and sought information from the local police to ensure that risks to children are identified. These risks are reflected in a standalone risk assessment and further individualised risk assessments for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been an experienced manager in post since August 2020. He leads an equally experienced staff team. The registered manager and staff work together to identify what is working well and what could be improved. This helps to promote good outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff undertake a range of training, which supports their knowledge of meeting children’s needs. The manager can identify when staff would benefit from additional training, and he ensures that this is actioned. The manager supports staff’s progression and staff feel well supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff receive regular supervision. Staff find these helpful and stated that they can discuss their own personal needs as well as the needs of the children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 5 The manager encourages staff to be reflective of practice to establish if current strategies are meeting the needs of children. Team meetings are also used to identify the needs of the children and how to support them to progress. These meetings ensure that staff are aware of any changes to children’s plans. Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 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

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 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. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(i)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff are aware of recommendations from specialist services, and these are considered in children’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children’s education, health and care plans are considered in children’s relevant plans. 30 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30 November Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 7 This specifically relates to the use of door alarms.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are clear on behaviour expectations. When consequences are given, these should be fair and proportionate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that risks are continually and actively assessed and that there are arrangements in place to protect children, which include when children are using the internet. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: SC005589 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Today Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor, Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Alexandra Pearson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC005589 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 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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