Children's Home run by Gateshead Council in Gateshead

Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 1 SC036773 Registered provider: Gateshead Local Authority Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to five children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2020. The registered manager has had an extended period of absence from work, returning in October 2023. During this absence, the home was managed by an interim manager.

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Information about this children’s home

There are currently four children living in the home. Three of these children were seen and spoken with during the inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2022 Full Good 08/06/2021 Full Good 28/05/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy and feel safe in the home. There are trusting relationships between the staff and the children because the staff know the children well. One member of staff has accompanied a child to appointments on their day off, to help the child feel well supported. Staffing shortages mean that it has been necessary for the manager to use agency staff. However, the same agency staff are used to help to provide continuity of care for children. One child said, ‘I give it 10 out of 10. Staff talk to you and don’t scream at you.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of children maintaining relationships with those who are important to them. Staff have forged positive relationships with some of the children’s family members and the parents of children’s friends. This helps children to safely spend time with others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move out of the home, this is managed well by staff. Some of the children who have left the home have maintained contact with staff and return to the home. This helps to provide children with a sense of belonging and increases their support network.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to try new experiences. Some children have been supported by staff to enjoy a holiday to Blackpool this year, while another child has been helped to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh award. Staff also help the children to learn new skills, such as baking and cooking. These opportunities provide the children with a sense of achievement and help to build their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have recently developed memory books for the children. Photos, accompanied by descriptions, capture the children’s experience of living in the home. Where possible, the staff obtain photos of the children before they move into the home. This helps the children to better understand their life story.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has benefited from recently being redecorated. The children are involved in deciding the colour schemes and designs of these refurbishments. This includes the children personalising their own bedrooms. However, two of the children’s bedrooms were seen to be in a poor decorative state. One child’s bedroom contained items that could harm them. This hinders children from having a safe, private space they can spend time in and take pride in.

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

Children know how to make a complaint, and allegations are taken seriously. Children feel confident in telling the staff when they feel unsafe or treated unfairly. The staff and the manager take immediate steps to ensure that children are physically safe, while providing them with emotional support. This helps to build trusting relationships and helps the children to feel listened to. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 4 Staff educate children about the harm and associated risks caused by cigarettes and substance and alcohol misuse. This helps children to understand that the staff care about them and want to promote their health and welfare.

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

Staff use a restorative and consistent approach when teaching children about how their behaviour can affect others. Although children may have financial penalties imposed on them, children also contribute towards improving the appearance of the home, such as by building new furniture. This helps the children to understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the risks that children face. They take appropriate steps to help to keep children safe, such as when they go missing from home. However, the children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans are not up to date. They also do not reflect all known risks, do not always set out clear strategies for staff, and sometimes use stigmatising language. As a result, the staff are not always consistent in their approach to supporting children when they are in crisis. This has also resulted in some staff using police intervention, which places children at risk of being criminalised.

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

Staff hold the children to keep them and others safe when required. More often, this involves children being guided away from a situation by staff. However, management oversight of these incidents and the strategies used by staff is not completed in a timely manner. This prevents the manager from being assured that the staff provide children with a consistent and appropriate response.

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good

The manager’s auditing and monitoring processes are not always effective. There have been significant delays in records being reviewed by managers. The manager also does not have an effective process for tracking children’s progress. This prevents the manager from implementing any required changes to improve the progress that children make.

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good

When a child is due to move into the home, the manager considers the impact of the new child on those children who already live in the home. However, there is a lack of guidance for staff to help them to mitigate the children’s competing needs. This has resulted in the risks associated with drug misuse increasing for one child.

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good

The manager has reflective supervision discussions with staff, which consider the needs of the children and the welfare of staff. However, these sessions are not always held regularly. This limits opportunities for staff to have private discussions with the manager and prevents the manager from exploring the quality of care provided.

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good

Team meetings are held regularly. These provide opportunities for staff to share updates on the needs of the children with each other. This allows the staff to Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 5 consider any newly identified risks and discuss the most effective ways to manage these.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose does not contain all the information it should. This oversight may prevent families and professionals from understanding how the home functions and from being able to access important documents, such as the provider’s complaints policy.

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good

The managers and senior leadership team recognise that children benefit from having a maximum of four children living in the home. This insight helps to support the staff in better meeting the children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(b)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must have an effective monitoring system to track the progress of the children and to ensure that the staff team and management team comply with regulations 35 and 36. 31 January 2024

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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; 31 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 7 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

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

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that there is consistency of care provided to the children by the staff team, particularly with the use of behaviour management techniques during incidents. Furthermore, the registered person must ensure that all items of furniture, decor, fixtures and fittings in a child’s bedroom are repaired or replaced in a timely manner, are safe and are fit for purpose.

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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

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the statement of purpose must contain details of the genders of children who may live in the home, how the staff team will support children’s cultural beliefs, how an individual may access the complaints policy, and how an individual can access the safeguarding policy. The statement of purpose must also set out the home’s approach to discrimination, how children with special educational needs will be supported, and how staff are trained in the use of restraint methods. 31 January 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have fully considered what impact any new child moving into the home may have on the existing group of children. In particular, the registered person should provide effective strategies to the staff team to mitigate competing risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 8  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC036773 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Adults, Children and Families, Gateshead Council, Group Secretariat, 1st Floor, Regent Street, Gateshead NE8 1HH

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Inspector

Julia Hagan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC036773 10 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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