Children's home run by Independent Living Services (North West) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 1 Registered provider: Independent Living Services (North West) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 3 October 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 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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

On 24 August 2023, one compliance notice was served under regulation 13, the leadership and management standard.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit was carried out on 4 October 2023. The inspector found that the provider had made suitable progress against the specified steps and that the compliance notice had been met. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2023 Full Inadequate 24/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/02/2022 Full Inadequate 29/01/2020 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child was living in the home at the time of this inspection. Children who move into the home experience planned moves that are managed sensitively. One child has moved out of the home in an unplanned way. Despite this, managers have offered the child an opportunity to meet with staff and say goodbye. This will support the child to have a positive ending to their time living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs and support them to attend health appointments. The manager has effective oversight of the administration of children’s prescribed medications and works closely with health professionals. Staff carry out direct work with children, which supports them to understand their own health needs and lead a healthy lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have high aspirations for children and support them with their education. Staff communicate effectively with children’s schools. As a result, barriers to learning are quickly identified and resolved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff nurture children’s relationships with their families and friends. This includes facilitating children’s time with their family and providing families with regular updates. This helps children to maintain important relationships and develop their networks for the future. Staff have encouraged one child to have friends visit the home to eat and play games.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to build trusting relationships with children. Children’s views are sought regularly and acted on. This enables children to feel valued and listened to. Staff support children to take part in care-planning meetings, which empowers children to contribute to decisions made about their own care. Children know how to make a complaint and are provided with advocates. This means that children are equipped to raise any concerns they have about the care that they receive.

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

Staff have a clear understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. Children’s plans capture known risks and provide staff with clarity about the actions they need to take to keep each child safe. Staff understand triggers for children’s risk-taking behaviour. This enables them to anticipate incidents and take action to prevent behaviours from escalating.

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

Children experience consistent boundaries and support to manage their feelings safely. Staff carry out direct work with children to assist them in understanding risks and steps they can take to keep themselves safe. As a result, one child’s unsafe behaviours have reduced. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 4 Use of physical intervention is rare and is only used when necessary to keep children safe. Staff are trained to hold children safely. Staff undertake searches of children’s bedrooms sensitively. The manager ensures that staff and children are spoken to after any incident. This ensures that practice in this area remains safe and appropriate.

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

Staff encourage positive behaviours through rewards and incentives. Staff record children’s daily praise and rewards. This provides children with a record of progress they have made while living in the home.

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

Children are enabled to take risks in line with their individual abilities. For example, staff encourage one child to travel independently and experience a range of activities. This promotes children’s confidence, social skills and independence.

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

Investigations into allegations of harm are shared with relevant agencies and responded to quickly. As a result, children are protected from unsafe care. The home is a physically safe place. The children benefit from a spacious and welcoming living environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A dedicated manager leads the home. The manager has a thorough understanding of children’s needs and the plans to promote their continued progress. The manager has effective monitoring systems in place and takes decisive action to address shortfalls in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the support they receive from the manager. Staff enjoy working in the home. The manager and staff work together to understand children’s changing needs. The manager leads by example and has consistently high expectations. This ensures that staff have a clear sense of purpose and direction. One member of staff said that the staff team ‘were all over the place; now everyone is on the same page’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager maintains strong working relationships with partner agencies, which promotes a team-around-the-child approach. The manager has used appropriate escalation when children’s needs have not been met. For example, the manager escalated concerns to a school because of an imposed change to subject choices that was not in line with one child’s wishes. As a result, the school reinstated the preferred subject choices and the child returned to school following a period of school refusal.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager closely monitors the care that staff provide and delivers constructive challenge to inform staff development. Staff access regular supervisions and team meetings. This enables them to contribute to decisions about changes in practice and understand children’s evolving needs. Staff training and development needs are identified and met effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 5

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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: 1278022 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Independent Living Services (North West) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 4 Ena Works, Volunteer Street, St. Helens, Merseyside WA10 2AY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Catherine Chandler

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Inspector

Sally Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1278022 7 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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