Children's Home run by Esland North Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 1 SC433430 Registered provider: Esland North 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 provides care for up to four children. At the time of inspection, three children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since 12 August 2020 and is suitably experienced.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/09/2021 Full Good 13/08/2019 Full Outstanding 01/05/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff create a warm, welcoming and relaxed atmosphere in the home. They support children to personalise their bedrooms with photographs and decorative lights. Children are encouraged to invite their friends over and they enjoy watching films together in the living room.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made excellent progress since moving into the home. Staff support children to build their confidence. One child said, ‘I was dead quiet. They helped me blossom, they’ve made me loud.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff believe in the children, and this has given the children the confidence to believe in themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to explore options in their lives. One child aspires to join the armed forces. Children who did not attend school before, now attend and have gained work experience. An education provider said, ‘The transformation in the girls is exceptional.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy cooking with staff and learn key life skills in a fun and natural way. This can include experiencing new foods and trying out different cooking techniques.

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

Staff are highly skilled in using de-escalation techniques if children become frustrated or angry. Consequently, there has been no use of physical restraint since the last inspection.

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

Children who needed high staffing levels when they first moved into the home are now safely able to be supported by one member of staff.

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

Following incidents of self-harm, the staff respond in a child-centred way. Written records of self-harm incidents are highly detailed and managers have good oversight. They use team meetings to help staff to reflect on incidents and take learning from them.

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

Staff support children well in developing their independence. However, on one occasion, staff had become complacent in following a child’s risk assessment. This led to a child who was subject to restrictions on their mobile phone use being able to access another child’s phone. This had the potential to place the child at risk.

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

Children rarely leave the home without speaking to an adult first. There has been one occasion since the last inspection when staff did not know the whereabouts of one child. Staff worked with other agencies to secure the child’s safe return. On the Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 4 child’s return, staff spoke warmly to them, expressing their concern, and gave them a supportive lesson on the dangers of leaving the home without someone knowing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals comment that the support provided to children by the manager and staff is ‘phenomenal’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to providing every child with the best possible quality of care. Children say they enjoy spending time with the manager and telling her their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that recruitment processes are safe and staff have a good induction. Staff feel valued and supported by their manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular supervision. However, records do not always indicate reflective discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s records of oversight of areas such as bedroom searches are not always detailed, to help improve practice. For example, she had missed a potential error in a member of staff’s written account of a search.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has strong relationships with other agencies and services, including the local police. She has invited education staff to attend specialist training alongside the care staff. This has proved successful in securing greater consistency between professionals and staff. Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 5

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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

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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that children’s risk assessments and staffing ratios are appropriately adhered to. 20 October 2023

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 20 October 2023 Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 6 This relates to leaders and managers having thorough oversight of the written accounts relating to room searches and discussions with children.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that all risks are included in the location risk assessment and that strategies are in place to manage these. This relates to the risks posed by the main road directly outside the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: SC433430 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Ellen Monk, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC433430 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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