Children's home run by Belmont Residential Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 1 Registered provider: Belmont Residential Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and social difficulties. The home registered with Ofsted on 6 April 2022. There has been no registered manager since October 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 15 September 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: 2633239 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build positive and trusting relationships with staff and managers and share their wishes and feelings with them. Staff support children to open up about their life experiences and encourage positive changes. This has reduced challenging behaviour and missing-from-home episodes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage children to attend school. Where some children refuse to engage in education, managers and staff work closely with their school and social worker to understand the reasons why and re-engage them to access learning in alternative ways.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in developing their independence skills. Staff support children to learn and develop their skills in cooking, cleaning and budgeting. This helps the children to develop life skills and prepare for independent living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and supervise children’s time spent with family and friends. This enables children to maintain positive relationships with significant people in their lives. Furthermore, managers and staff worked closely with one child’s placing authority to support the child’s transition plan to return home to the care of their parent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs and ensure that these are met. When a child refused to attend specialist health services, managers and staff worked closely with the child’s professional network to support them in other ways, including accessing therapeutic support in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s communication needs. When spoken language is a barrier, staff utilise different tools to communicate effectively with children. Staff encourage and motivate children to develop their English speaking skills by practising with them. This supports children to develop their English language and communication skills.

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

Children’s risks and vulnerabilities are well understood by staff. Children’s risks are discussed with them in key-work sessions. This helps staff to understand children’s wishes and feelings and identify strategies to reduce risks, such as self-harm and going missing from home. Consequently, this helps to reduce risks to children.

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

Room searches are carried out sensitively to protect children and reduce risks. For example, staff remove items that pose a risk of self-harm to children and talk to them about their risks. This helps to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 4 All children have individual key workers allocated to them. Key-work sessions focus on children’s individual needs and are in line with their care plans. Staff have positive relationships with children, which means that key-work sessions feel natural and meaningful. Consequently, staff are able to inspire children to achieve and make positive changes.

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

Incidents are managed well by managers and staff, who are able to de-escalate challenging behaviours. Children are offered medical assistance if required. Managers and staff are reflective and carefully consider what sanctions are appropriate to support and manage children’s behaviours. This helps children to understand the impact of their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions.

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

The managers and staff take appropriate action and work closely with the children, families and their professional network to develop strategies to reduce the risk of children going missing from home. Staff undertake key-work sessions with children to help them to understand the risks and dangers involved in going missing from home. This protects children and safeguards them from unknown risks. However, missing-from-home records lack detail and do not provide a clear picture of the actions taken by staff. Independent return-home interviews are not always requested for missing incidents. This reduces the opportunity to understand why children go missing.

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good

Leaders, managers and staff have high aspirations for the children in their care. The manager and staff know and understand the children’s needs well. The manager works closely with children’s placing authorities to support good outcomes for children. A placing social worker reported that they are kept up to date about children and worries around children’s risks have reduced.

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good

Staff team meetings are regular and well attended. Children’s needs and risks are discussed, which helps the staff team to identify the best ways to safeguard and support children. Staff training is also discussed and specific training is identified to support the unique needs of the children living in the home. However, not all mandatory training has been completed by staff and managers.

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good

Staff receive regular and effective supervision that focuses on children’s needs and risks and staff development. Staff performance and practice are appraised annually. This ensures that leaders and managers have good oversight of staff practice and development.

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good

Appropriate action is not always taken in response to allegations made against staff. Although one allegation made by a child was reported to the local authority’s designated safeguarding lead, a further allegation that was made, and later retracted by the child, was not reported. This does not align with safeguarding procedures. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 5 Recruitment practice is still not robust. All safer recruitment checks are not undertaken when assessing the suitability of staff to work at the home. For example, gaps in employment history are not always explored and references are not always verified. This does not demonstrate safe recruitment practice and potentially places children at risk.

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good

The actions on the fire risk assessment have not been completed, which the managers say is because it creates fire hazards in the home. This has not been challenged or recorded by managers to ensure that fire risk assessments are up to date. Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 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 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

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. (Regulation 12 (2)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that to report all allegations made by children to the local authority’s designated safeguarding lead. 22 September

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home; and 22 September Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 7 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the person in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that safer recruitment checks are completed for all staff including the manager.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all staff including managers undertake appropriate training to meet the needs of the children living in the home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that appropriate action is taken to ensure fire risk assessments are up to date. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2633239 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Belmont Residential Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 Belmont Road, Ilford IG1 1YW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Maureen Gilchrist

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Inspector

Amena Begum, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2633239 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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