Children's Home run by Progressive Futures Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 1 SC066242 Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to two children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following the full inspection on 10 May 2023, the home was judged inadequate due to serious shortfalls in safeguarding practice and the leadership and management of the home. Compliance notices were subsequently issued under regulation 6, the quality of care standard, regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 19 June 2023. Ofsted found that the provider had taken sufficient action to meet the compliance notices. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/05/2023 Full Inadequate 24/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 3

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inadequate

Two children are currently living in the home. Their overall progress and experiences have been adversely affected by serious shortfalls in safeguarding practice and the leadership and management of the home.

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inadequate

Managers and staff are not consistently working in partnership with other agencies to reduce risks to children. For example, serious shortfalls were identified during the inspection that had not been escalated to relevant professionals in an appropriate time frame. This created unnecessary delays for children.

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inadequate

Staff do not understand the individual needs of each child. Consequently, this has delayed children’s progress and impacted on their overall experiences. Children’s records are not clear and include conflicting information in relation to their overall care. This does not help staff to provide children with individualised care to meet their specific needs.

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inadequate

Despite the areas of concern, staff support children to meet their health and education needs. Children are registered with general health services and receive support to attend appointments. One child has successfully completed their academic exams and has a place at college. Another child is also attending college.

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inadequate

Since the last monitoring visit, improvements have been made to the home’s decor. This provides the children with a comfortable environment to live in.

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

Leaders, managers and staff do not demonstrate that there is a strong and proactive response to managing and minimising risks for children. Consequently, effective action is not taken to reduce the known and potential risks for each child. This has left them at risk of harm.

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

Leaders, managers and staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. They have not taken appropriate action to safeguard and protect children. Managers and staff do not demonstrate an understanding of safeguarding, nor do they understand the triggers for potential safeguarding concerns. This is particularly in relation to child exploitation.

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

Records of serious safeguarding incidents do not demonstrate that managers and staff respond safely to allegations made by children. Records do not demonstrate that managers and staff have followed the organisation’s safeguarding policies or reported these concerns to all relevant safeguarding professionals, including Ofsted. This does not enable the regulator and local authority social workers and designated officers to ensure that processes are followed to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 4 Staff do not understand children’s individual vulnerabilities. Children’s risk assessments do not contain relevant and up-to-date information and strategies for staff to follow. As a result, effective action is not always taken to protect and support children at risk of harm.

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

Staff do not demonstrate professional curiosity when children are spending time on their mobile phones. Staff do not take sufficient action to understand who children are in contact with or recognise the risks that children may face. This is poor safeguarding practice and does not demonstrate safe care.

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

The home’s policies and procedures around safeguarding when visitors come into the home are not followed. This is a potential risk for children.

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

Staff are suitably trained in the administration and recording of medication. Medication, including controlled drugs, is stored safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager in post since May 2022. This has had a significant impact on the leadership and management of the home. There is an interim manager in post who previously worked in the home as the deputy manager. They have submitted an application to Ofsted to register for two of the organisation’s homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is inadequate management oversight of the home. Leaders and managers are not sufficiently reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided. There is no evidence of learning from practice. Several documents are not up to date, including the home’s statement of purpose. This document does not include accurate information about the care that children will expect to receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager has been working on shift in the home. This has meant that they have not monitored and reviewed care practices in the home. Several areas of concern around the safety and well-being of children were identified during the inspection. These had not been previously identified by senior managers, the interim manager or the independent visitor. This does not demonstrate safe care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recording systems are chaotic. The current systems do not enable leaders and managers to review the quality of care or identify any changes that are required to keep children safe. A requirement in relation to this is restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Rotas do not include the full names of the staff working in the home or the hours they have worked. It is unclear if sufficient staff have been on shift to care for children. A requirement in relation to this is restated. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 5 Staff do not have the necessary skills and knowledge to care for children. Some staff have not received relevant training to be able to safely support children’s needs. The interim manager has not implemented a system that can identify and monitor the gaps in staff training or consider the knowledge and skills of the staff team. This is a missed opportunity to develop the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not notify Ofsted of all serious incidents. This means the regulator cannot monitor the home effectively to ensure that children are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not taken appropriate action to meet the requirements from the previous inspection. Sufficient action has not been taken to address the shortfalls and requirements are repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Due to the serious and widespread failings identified at this inspection, compliance notices have been issued under regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans (Regulation 5 (c)) 20 September

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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—

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; 20 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 7 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 effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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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 work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(b)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 20 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. 20 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 8 The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to—

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Requirement Due date

a child, or a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered;

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (2)(a) (3)(a)(b))

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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 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

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 September

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 20 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 9 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 20 September

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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 behaviour management strategies are understood and applied at all times by staff and are kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)

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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: SC066242 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 55 Hoghton Street, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0PG

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Inspectors

Alexandra Pearson, Social Care Inspector Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066242 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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