Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 1 SC037302 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home is registered to care for up to three children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not have a registered manager. A new manager has been appointed and they have applied to be registered with Ofsted.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/06/2022 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/02/2020 Full Good 07/11/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children currently live in the home. Children receive good-quality care and are supported to make progress. Children have positive relationships with the staff who care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of children’s education. One child has recently finished school and staff have enjoyed celebrating her GCSE results. The child has now started a job, which she is enjoying.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two of the children are not currently accessing full-time education. There are several factors that are contributing to this. Staff have been proactive and have taken all reasonable steps to promote children’s educational needs. Staff are working with education colleagues and there are plans in place to reintegrate children back into education. As an interim measure, staff engage children with informal education activities, and one child is accessing a tutor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their health needs. Children’s views are respected and listened to. Staff advocated for one child to change therapies as the child had voiced that it was not meeting their needs. Staff utilised advice and tools from specialist services to ensure that one child could communicate their mental health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child was struggling with their sleep routine when they first moved in to the home. Staff have worked with the child to overcome this, and the child no longer struggles to sleep. This has had a positive effect on the child, and their new routine has contributed to them being motivated and able to access sporting clubs, where they have made new friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children spending time with family and promote this. For example, children’s siblings are welcomed to the home so that they have more time together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move out of the home, staff ensure that they are ready and prepared for this. For example, staff used a social story with one child to help them to understand what was going to happen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are given lots of opportunities to share their views and wishes. This includes weekly children’s meetings. Children sometimes decide not to attend these meetings and will instead share their views directly with staff. When children make requests, these are considered by staff and the manager. However, there is not a clear record of what responses children have had to their requests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, improvements have been made to the home environment, Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 4 including the renovation of bathrooms. Despite these improvements, the home continues to look tired and worn in some areas. For example, repairs are needed to the hallway flooring and kitchen worktops.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to take ownership of weekly tasks, such as cleaning their rooms and washing their own clothes. However, children are not yet consistently doing these tasks and, at the time of the inspection, the children’s bedrooms needed to be cleaned.

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

Risks are identified, understood and managed well by staff. Staff take effective action to safeguard the children living in the home.

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

All three children have had episodes of going missing from home. Staff’s response to this behaviour has been good. For example, staff have worked closely with partner agencies to implement a plan to manage one child’s persistent missing behaviours. In another example, staff ensured that one child could have more time with family and friends in order to reduce their desire to go missing. This had a positive impact and decreased the frequency of the child going missing from home.

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

Staff use discussions with children to build relationships and help children to understand risks. One child was able to tell the inspector about his discussions with staff around staying safe online.

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

The home has a weekly rewards plan in place for each child. This is personalised to the specific needs and goals of each child. This promotes positive behaviour, and has meant that consequences are not used as a regular behaviour strategy.

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

Staff ensure that children have clear, consistent and appropriate boundaries in place. This has meant that there have been no physical intervention incidents. Staff understand the reasons for children being upset or sad, and have identified strategies to help children to express their feelings in a safe way.

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

Children know how to make a complaint. When one child made a complaint regarding another child in the home, staff took action to ensure that both children felt safe. Children’s views were listen to and steps were taken to help the children to rebuild their relationship.

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good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has left and a new manager has been appointed. The manager has previous relevant experience and knowledge. The manager has applied to be registered with Ofsted.

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good

In addition to the manager, the leadership team consists of a duty manager, service manager and responsible individual. The leadership team is working to improve the Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 5 home and meet the needs of the children currently living in the home. Despite this, some shortfalls identified at the last inspection, including training and improvements to the home environment, have not been fully addressed and have again been identified as shortfalls at these inspections.

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good

The home’s workforce development plan is regularly reviewed by the manager. However, the plan does not provide relevant information, such as the details of the management and staffing structure, or the training and induction plans for staff. Furthermore, there is a lack of evaluation of the professional development needs of staff.

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good

Staff have completed a wide range of training. However, in some instances, dates for staff to complete refresher training have passed. This means that some staff need refresher training in topics such as self-harming behaviours and substance misuse.

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good

Children are sometimes cared for by staff who have not completed first-aid training. This means that there is a risk that these staff may not recognise that a child needs help or have the skills to give the right support. This issue had not been identified by managers. It was confirmed during the inspection that the staff who do have the required training are booked to complete this.

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good

Managers have good oversight of many aspects of home. However, management evaluation is not consistently documented. In some instances, the records for significant incidents are not fully completed and the section for management oversight is not completed. Managers have not ensured that documentation related to the children is signed and dated and has a clear author.

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good

At the time of the inspection, the home’s statement of purpose was not up to date or accurate. Steps were taken during the inspection to review this, and a copy has been shared with Ofsted.

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good

Staff in the home have regular reflective supervisions and yearly appraisals. Staff enjoy working at the home and feel well supported. Handovers are used effectively and ensure that important information is shared between the team. Team meetings are 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.

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good

Managers have introduced internal review meetings for children and the staff to attend. These meetings give children the opportunity to contribute to the planning of their care. In addition, they inform the plans that are in place to support children and promote their progress. Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 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 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;

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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

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

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(1)(c)(f)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This includes ensuring that all staff complete relevant training, including, but not exclusive to, self-harming behaviours and substance use.

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Requirement Due date

The manager should ensure that monitoring systems used in the home enable effective oversight and evaluation of the care provided to children, including any significant incidents. 24 October 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 24 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 7 at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (1) (2)(a))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is well maintained and that required repairs, including the hallway flooring and kitchen worktops, are completed in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC037302 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Time Square, Warrington WA1 2NT

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Inspector

Alexandra Pearson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC037302 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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