Children's home run by Albrighton Care Ltd

Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 1 Registered provider: Albrighton Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to three children who may have learning disabilities and social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is in the process of applying to be registered with Ofsted. She holds qualifications in leadership and management. Together with her managers, she needs to consider if these are equivalent to the level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 5 Diploma’).

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered in April 2022 and provided care to a child until October 2022. When the child moved on, the home closed temporarily. It reopened in April 2023. At the time of this inspection, no children were living at the home, as a child had recently moved on. This is the home’s first inspection since registration.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 2 How l

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to improving children’s experiences and they have provided children with consistent support, which has enabled them to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff supported one child with complex communication needs to develop their communication and independence skills. For example, the child was supported to remain focused to eat their meals at the dining table. The child’s carer provided positive feedback and explained that the child had ‘picked up new skills’ and was ‘more settled’ as a result of the care she had received.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views are gathered and acted on. Staff have supported children in individual ways to ensure that they can share their views about the care they receive. Staff helped one child to communicate using pictures, to help the child’s understanding. They created a book of pictures tailored specifically to the child’s communication needs. When the child left the home, they took the book with them to aid their transition to their new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain good health. Reviews of children’s health are carried out and staff have followed health professionals’ recommendations to ensure that children’s health is improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to attend education provisions which meet their needs. The staff team worked closely with designated staff at one child’s provision to ensure that their attendance was maintained in the new school term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s relationships with people who are important to them. They helped one child to regularly keep in touch with their family members. The child’s carer said staff had encouraged contact and used a variety of different methods, including visits to the home and video calls when this was not possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is being decorated in preparation for new children moving in and improvements to the garden are planned.

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

Staff understand and recognise the individual risks for children and act to protect them. Staff manage risks well, in accordance with the guidance set out in children’s individual support plans. Staff respond quickly and effectively to incidents. They also share information with each other and with external professionals to keep children as safe as possible.

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

Staff are trained to use individual behaviour management strategies for children. Children benefit from having clear boundaries and good routines. Staff encourage children’s positive behaviours using incentives. This approach helped one child to Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 3 develop because they were encouraged to try new foods. When one child’s behaviour escalated, their support plan was reviewed by the manager, with guidance from the provider’s clinical team. This helped staff to know how to respond and develop their skills to improve support for the child.

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

Staff are safely recruited. This helps to ensure that staff are suitable to work safely with children.

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

There are appropriate systems in place to support children to take medication and staff are suitably trained. The manager explained how a medication error in June 2023 had been managed. Improvements have been made to the medication management system and no further incidents have occurred.

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

Some checks are carried out to ensure that the home environment is safe. However, the fire alarm system has not been checked for safety by an external contractor since April 2022. The manager said staff carry out regular checks on the system and there are no concerns. Nevertheless, good practice is for fire alarm systems to be checked periodically by a competent person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of the manager’s leadership qualities. Staff have regular supervision with their line manager, which allows them to reflect on their practice and help improve the service. A member of staff said, ‘Supervision is regular, and I get feedback from my previous targets.’ Staff feel supported by the manager and they work effectively as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the manager started work at the home, one child has moved out. The staff team had used different strategies to support the child to remain safe. However, staff were eventually unable to meet the child’s changing needs and the child moved to a new home. The manager has reflected on the move, to understand the reasons behind it. She used this learning to improve the assessment processes when considering future admissions of children to the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recently received training from the provider’s clinical team specifically tailored to help improve their understanding of one child’s needs. The manager has good oversight of staff development. She identifies areas where staff require further support and puts things in place to meet those needs. However, staff have not received some key elements of training referred to in the service’s statement of purpose. This has not had an impact on the care of children who have lived at the home. The manager acknowledged the statement of purpose required review and has scheduled further training for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The provider has a statutory responsibility to share reports with Ofsted which review the quality of the service. One type of report is drawn up by an independent visitor and another by the registered person. Reports have not all been shared with Ofsted in a timely way. The manager said this was due to problems with the provider’s Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 4 electronic communication system. The provider is reviewing their systems to ensure that information can be shared easily with relevant agencies. Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 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 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.

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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) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the statement of purpose reflects that the service supports children with emotional or behavioural difficulties and children with learning disabilities. In addition, that the statement of purpose is updated whenever relevant changes take place at the home and that a copy is sent to HMCI. 13 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced. 13 November Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 6 The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and

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Requirement Due date

the responsible individual (if one is nominated). (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5) (7))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that regulation 44 reports are submitted to Ofsted in a timely way.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and 13 November Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 7 any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the review of care report is carried out at intervals specified by regulation and is sent to Ofsted and the placing local authority of all children in the home who are looked after children.

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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: 2591643 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Albrighton Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 Heritage Park, Hayes Way, Cannock WS11 7LT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Kerry Hutchinson

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Inspector

Virginia Vickers, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2591643 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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