Children's Home run by Calderdale Council in Calderdale

Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 1 Registered provider: Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a local authority and provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in March 2023.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff invest time to get to know children and some children develop strong relationships with staff. One child said, ‘The staff here are really good, and this is a great place to live.’ Children are relaxed and confident in their interactions with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes and feelings are embedded in day-to-day decisions about their care. Children’s daily care plans offer staff clear guidance around how to meet the children’s individual needs. This helps staff to offer the children consistent and positive care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their emotional needs. Staff are proud of children’s achievements. One child’s social worker said, ‘It is clear [name of child] is happy living in the home and has made very good progress.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children have their health needs met and that they attend any health assessments or appointments. Children are supported to lead healthy lifestyles and are encouraged to make wholesome choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend school and overcome any barriers by talking them through any worries they have. Children are offered incentives to promote high attendance. Staff advocate on behalf of children who experience challenges in their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a range of activities for children to enjoy. The children recently went on holiday with staff and regularly go out together as a group. Children also enjoy pursuing their own hobbies and spending time with their friends and loved ones. These opportunities support children to gain valuable independence skills. Staff capture these moments in photos for the children to look back on after they leave the home. This provides children with mementos to treasure in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children share their wishes and any concerns they have during individual and group discussions with staff. Children understand their rights and know how to make a complaint if they want to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are warmly welcomed into the home and are offered support to share any worries. When children move to the home in an emergency, the registered manager makes every effort to ensure that decisions are child centred. Staff also work hard to support children to have positive endings when they move on from the home. One child recently sent all the staff a thank-you card to acknowledge the support provided by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children seeing their families and significant others. Staff value the importance of these relationships and work to forge strong Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 3 ties with families. This means that children maintain links with their families, which sustains their sense of identity.

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improvement to be good

Staff receive training in how to safeguard children. However, they do not always follow the home’s safeguarding procedures. A child made an allegation about a member of staff, but there was an unnecessary delay in this being reported to the registered manager. This means that the child did not receive the appropriate support in a timely manner and a thorough investigation did not take place into the allegation.

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improvement to be good

Searches of children’s rooms are carried out when necessary to ensure children’s safety. However, there are gaps in the recording of these searches. It is not clear if children are present during a room search, if their consent has been sought, and how their dignity is maintained.

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improvement to be good

Children have comprehensive assessments of any individual risks, and these are included in their care plans. Risk assessments offer staff clear guidance around using restorative approaches to de-escalate unwanted behaviours. This prevents incidents and reduces risks. However, on one occasion, staff did not use restorative approaches and needed the police to manage children’s behaviours. This can be damaging to children’s relationships with staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff offer children direct support to help them understand risks. Staff also use appropriate consequences that help to manage associated risks.

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improvement to be good

Physical interventions are minimal and only used when necessary. Children and staff are offered the opportunity to reflect on what happened following any incidents. This support can help repair relationships between children and staff if they become damaged.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from the home, staff are proactive in looking for them. Staff report the children missing without delay and follow the home’s missing-from- care procedures. Children are offered a return home interview which can help staff understand the reasons for them going missing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by a permanent, suitably experienced and qualified registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has a good understanding of children’s care plans. One social worker said, ‘The manager is amazing and drives [name of child]’s care plan.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 4 Staff and the registered manager communicate well with other agencies involved in the children’s care and well-being. Staff share information with children’s families and update them following any significant events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has monitoring and reviewing systems that support oversight of the quality of care for children. The manager also ensures that any safeguarding notifications are sent to the regulator in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a full, strong and committed staff team. Staff speak positively about the support from the registered manager and deputy manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive supervision in line with the home’s policy. This helps staff to talk about training needs and allows the registered manager to address any issues around staff practice. The registered manager challenges staff where appropriate and encourages them to reflect on their practice with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager responded appropriately to a safeguarding incident when they were informed by staff. However, the recording is poor and it is not clear what the rationale was for the decisions that were made. This does not demonstrate that management oversight of the incident was sufficient or effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff have not received essential training to support their understanding around their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. This does not provide assurance of staff’s ability to take action to follow safeguarding procedures effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is maintained to a good standard and the registered manager is proactive in seeking advice to ensure that all health and safety requirements are sufficient. Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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

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

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 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii)) 10 November

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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

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; 10 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 6 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(b) (2)(a)(c)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that management oversight is clearly visible around decisions to promote children’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected. (Regulation 21 (a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that recordings around room searches evidence how children’s rights and privacy will be respected, including an understanding of why circumstances may have to be limited. 10 November

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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: 2704517 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Princess Buildings, Princess Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 1TS

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Inspector

Gina Lightfoot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2704517 8 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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