Children's Home run by Hennessy Living Group Limited in Hartlepool

Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 1 Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties, and who may have learning disabilities, alcohol misuse issues, and mental health issues.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, five children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with all five children during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/03/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 3

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home and in the protection of children. This means that children’s safety, progress, and experiences are compromised.

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inadequate

The ethos of practice in this home is not in line with the statement of purpose. The registered manager has failed to review the ability of the home to meet the collective needs of all the children and to ensure they are safeguarded. There has been an increase in incidents of children being harmed or being at risk of harm.

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inadequate

The children have mixed views about their care and experiences of living in the home. The children said that they are often unhappy, sometimes scared, and not consistently protected from harm. One child described the home as ‘chaos’.

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inadequate

The home does not provide children with a safe or welcoming place to live. Children’s bedrooms are not well maintained by the staff. The conditions are unacceptable and unhygienic. The children’s possessions are disorganised and not well looked after, and the children’s bedding was observed to be dirty and in some cases absent.

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inadequate

Children have trusting relationships with staff. They feel able to speak to staff and share important information about their needs. During the inspection, children were observed laughing and smiling in their interactions with staff members.

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inadequate

The staff respond to children who are unwell or have suffered injuries. However, all the children smoke tobacco and have been under the influence of cannabis. The registered manager has failed to challenge professionals when there are significant delays in action being taken. Furthermore, the staff do not promote healthy lifestyle choices with the children. This compromises children’s health and well-being and their health needs remain unmet.

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inadequate

The registered manager and staff team have worked with the headteacher of the virtual school and education professionals to develop education plans for children. Four children now attend education and have made progress from their individual starting points. One child recently passed their maths and English exams and enjoyed celebrating this with staff.

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inadequate

Staff support children to take part in enjoyable hobbies and activities, including trips to football games and theme parks. These opportunities support children to develop social skills and increase their confidence.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 4 Risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance on how to support the children. Risk assessments do not reflect children’s known and emerging risks. They have not been updated following serious incidents and do not capture the severity of the risks present. This prevents the staff from being able to take effective action to reduce further risk of harm to the children.

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

The registered manager has failed to ensure that her staff understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. When children are away or missing from home, staff do not adhere to the children’s individual protocols. Staff failed to intervene when a child left the home and was known to be at risk of harm. This exposed the child to potential harm.

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

The staff do not consistently carry out room searches of the children’s bedrooms when there are concerns that dangerous items may be hidden. Staff have failed to effectively safeguard children. This has resulted in children obtaining illicit materials which exposes them to the risk of harm.

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

Children regularly spend time together in each other’s bedrooms. The registered manager and her staff are aware of this; however, records do not show what, if any, action is taken to ensure that children are safe. Despite a recent incident of fire- setting in the home, children continue to smoke in their bedrooms and have access to lighters, which increases the risk of fire-setting and further harm.

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

The staff have failed to ensure that children are adequately safeguarded from one another. Written records do not demonstrate that staff have intervened when children are harming one another. This has led to increased incidents of physical aggression and emotional abuse between the children.

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

The registered manager and her staff have failed to recognise the extensive level of bullying going on in the home. Poor supervision of children has led to missed opportunities for staff to intervene before bullying incidents occur. Consequently, bullying incidents continue to escalate, resulting in poor experiences for children.

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

CCTV devices have been fitted to the home externally. However, this is not reflected in the children’s safety plans and there is no risk assessment or the necessary consent in place from the placing authority acknowledging their agreement to this practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor leadership and management have resulted in serious failings. Poor practice has not been addressed. This has resulted in the children being repeatedly placed at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager failed to adhere to safeguarding procedures following an allegation of harm made by a child. This lack of action and failure to follow safeguarding procedures left the children at continued risk of harm. The registered Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 5 manager has not shared information regarding the allegation with external stakeholders which has prevented external scrutiny of the response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

During the inspection, the registered manager failed to be open and transparent. The registered manager stated that the children’s documents had been updated and shared with staff, but the documents did not show this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of monitoring and review systems to identify and address shortfalls and promote continuous improvement and safe practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff spoke positively about the support that they received from the management team and their peers. The registered manager and her staff team receive regular supervision. Because of this, staffing at the home has stabilised since the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The failures identified during this inspection were immediately brought to the attention of senior leaders. Immediate action was taken during the inspection to improve the children’s bedrooms and address identified hazardous items. Due to the seriousness of the inspection findings, Ofsted has issued a notice to restrict accommodation, in order to prevent children from moving into the home. Ofsted also issued compliance notices under regulations 11, 12, 13 and 28. Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 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, 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii) (v)(vi)(d)) 19 November 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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 19 November 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 7 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;

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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)(a)(h))

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Requirement Due date

*The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(vii)(xi)(xii)(xiii)) 19 November 2023

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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. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)) 19 November 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect; and 19 November 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 8 sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for liaison and co-operation with any local authority which are, or may be, making a child protection enquiry in relation to a child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(vii)(c)(i)(ii)) 19 November 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 9 The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is registered as a patient with a general medical practitioner and a registered dental practitioner; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(b)(c)) 31 December 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 19 November 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (a)(b)) 19 November 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 10

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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: 2613032 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rickleton 1B, Bowes Offices, Lambton Park, Chester Le Street DH3 4AN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Goundry

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Inspector

Claire Webster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2613032 12 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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