Children's Home run by Inspirations Leicestershire Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 1 SC486398 Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire LTD Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. The home provides care for up to four children with emotional and/or social difficulties. There is a registered manager in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/07/2022 Full Good 09/06/2021 Full Good 25/02/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 3

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improvement to be good

Children live in a home that is kept to a high standard and is homely. The home has recently undergone renovations that have allowed for the creation of a dedicated learning and sensory space. Children spend time in different parts of the house according to their preferences.

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improvement to be good

Staff advocate well for children’s educational needs and proactively seek out educational provisions for them. The children are now enrolled at school but do not regularly attend. One child spends large amounts of time in their bedroom during the day. Staff do not always ensure that educational activities are structured for children or that children understand the expectations of them during the school day.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are well understood by staff. Children are supported to access medical professionals when needed, including accessing local children’s mental health services. Children benefit from having access to an assistant psychologist and more specific therapeutic input when needed. One child’s personal care has much improved while living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Children have recently experienced a period of change within the home, including a high turnover of staff. Some serious incidents have overwhelmed staff, and care plans have not always been followed. Consequently, children said that they did not feel staff could manage challenging behaviours, and this left them feeling unsafe. For example, there has been an instance of racial abuse between children that was not managed effectively by staff.

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improvement to be good

Children have key-work meetings with a staff member, but these tend to focus on behaviour management. There are missed opportunities to connect with children and explore their feelings. Children’s meetings are inconsistent and there are not always follow-up actions. Therefore, children are not able to influence the care they receive at the home and do not always feel listened to.

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improvement to be good

Children have risk assessments in place that enable staff to understand a child’s behaviour in relation to their wider experiences. There are clear strategies to manage behaviours, although these are not always understood or followed by staff. Risk assessments are not regularly updated. Consequently, information to keep children safe is omitted. As a result, opportunities to safeguard children are missed, and children are occasionally at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Where there have been concerns regarding staff practice, appropriate and swift action has been taken by senior managers. Despite this, children have experienced Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 4 inconsistent boundaries and mixed messaging from staff at times. Incident reports are not always clearly documented, and the sequence of events are difficult to understand. A lack of staff reflection and learning from incidents has meant that opportunities to improve staff responses to children were missed.

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improvement to be good

Allegations made by children are always taken seriously by staff. Appropriate steps are taken to explore these both with staff and the child. Necessary professionals are informed in a timely manner. This helps children to feel their concerns are validated by those caring for them.

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improvement to be good

Staff have taken action when children have made disclosures about their past. Staff responses have not always been curious, and some follow up work with children has not been completed. As a result, children do not always receive a warm and empathetic response to sharing their difficult experiences.

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good

The home is benefitting from newly appointed managers. They have acknowledged fully the challenges faced at the home and have identified areas for improvement. Staff reported that they enjoy working at the home and that they feel well supported by the new management team.

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good

Managers understand the importance of auditing the home and tracking the progress of the children. Both the current and previous manager have reflected on incidents within the home and identified areas of learning. Their plans ensure that current staff are responding to children in a trauma-informed and child-focused way.

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good

There is a lack of management oversight of records. Staff are not therefore offered clear guidance about their practice or able to plan subsequent work that supports children. The acting manager is aspirational for the development of the team and has plans to improve recording.

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good

Staff have not consistently received supervision meetings with their manager. One staff member had not received supervision for a period of several months, despite requesting this. Staff do not feel they are listened to, or their concerns acted on. The high turnover of staff has hindered good practice becoming embedded within the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 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, 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

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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to ensuring incident records are clear, detailed and demonstrate management oversight, reflection and learning. This is also in relation to the lack of clarity in care plans and risk assessments and staff’s skill and confidence in challenging and dealing with risks to children. 22 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the supervision of staff taking place regularly and especially when requested by staff at times of crisis. 22 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that expectations of standards of behaviour are high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. Children should be supported to develop understanding and empathy towards each other. Positive behaviour and relationships should be reinforced, praised and encouraged; poor behaviour should be challenged and discussed. The development of safe, stable and secure relationships with staff in the home should be central to the ethos of the home and support the development of secure attachments that, where appropriate, persist over time. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work

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Recommendations

closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: SC486398 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire LTD

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 131a London Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5DP

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Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC486398 8 inspects 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

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Inspector

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspector

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Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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