Children's Home run by Enhanced Young Persons Care Limited in Gateshead

Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 1 Registered provider: Enhanced Young Person’s Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care for up to six children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2021.

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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 to all five children.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 September 2022

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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: 2602558 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2022 Full Good 05/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they feel safe in the home and can identify staff who they trust and have good relationships with. Children said they feel loved and cared for by the manager and staff. When talking about the staff, one child said, ‘They understand me. If I have a go at them, they still come and speak to me, which is great.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have mixed experiences with their education. Two children are excelling, with one child now in college, travelling independently and preparing for a move into their adult home. Another child has achieved his Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. In addition, he has won a national award for ‘ground breaker of the year’, competing against thousands of other entrants. A trip is planned to receive his award in a special ceremony.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The other children at the home do not have the same experiences. Some have intermittent attendance and engagement with their education provision. One child does not attend at all and there is no tutor to support education at the home. This adds to the lack of structure and routines to the children’s day and increases their involvement in antisocial and negative behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and understand how their past experiences and backgrounds can impact them today. Staff also receive external support from medical professionals, which helps them to understand how to respond when children need emotional support. As a result, the times that children display self- injurious behaviour have reduced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff struggle to manage the children’s behaviour because they are not provided with guidance about what to do when difficulties arise. This leads to staff responding in an inconsistent way. Furthermore, the manager fails to review the consequences implemented by staff to make sure that they are being proportionate in their response. This inconsistency creates confusion for the children, who escalate behaviours such as injuring each other and staff and causing damage to the home.

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

Children’s risk assessment plans provide staff with clear strategies to help them keep children safer. Leaders and managers work well with other professional agencies. Safeguarding issues are responded to quickly and effectively. Staff provide the children’s social workers with regular updates about the children. This promotes good collaborative working to ensure that professionals are responding appropriately to the children’s needs.

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

When children go missing from the home, there are clear protocols and guidance for staff to follow. Staff understand actions to take to help locate children who go missing, such as carrying out searches of the local areas. Staff also try to keep in Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 4 contact with the children. Furthermore, staff work with the police, which helps to ensure children’s safe and swift return.

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

Children do not receive timely independent interviews when they return home. The manager fails to challenge this with the placing authority. The failure to speak to children soon after they return home is a missed opportunity to try and obtain more information about why they left the home.

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

Staff speak to children about their risks and vulnerabilities. Risks are reduced as children learn new coping mechanisms and understand the impact that their behaviour has on themselves and others.

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

Children do not know how to make complaints and are unfamiliar with the process. When they have raised issues with staff, these have not been recorded or responded to in line with the home’s complaints procedure. This does not give children the message that their opinions matter.

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good

The manager and staff understand the children and their backgrounds. Staff adopt a therapeutic parenting response in line with the ethos and approach of the home.

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good

There are monitoring and review systems, however these have not been entirely effective. The manager benefits from audits by other managers. These in-depth assessments identify shortfalls in practice and recording, and actions that need to be taken to address these. This approach gives an extra layer of scrutiny and ensures that shortfalls are identified.

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good

The manager reviews incidents to explore the actions taken by staff to identify learning from these. Serious incidents also have the oversight of a senior manager. This means that leaders and managers have good oversight of events in the home.

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good

The manager is not carrying out regular supervision sessions with staff. This includes newly appointed staff who should be having increased supervision meetings in line with the supervision policy. This does not support the staff’s learning and development and does not provide staff with support at a time when they are new to the home.

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good

All fire extinguishers have been moved behind locked doors which the manager said is to make it feel more homely. The fire risk assessment states that firefighting equipment should be easily accessible. It is not clear for staff where the fire equipment is stored. This places children and adults at increased risk as the staff do not know where to locate essential equipment quickly in the event of a fire.

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good

The manager’s review of the quality of care is poor. The review does not include any consultation with children or actions to improve the quality of care in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 5 Where actions have been identified, there is no explanation of how these have been met or the impact on the care and progression of children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 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 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 socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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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

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(xi)(b)) 9 January 2024

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 9 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use reasonable endeavours to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(x))

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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 each child— 9 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 8 has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(b)(ii)(d)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, each child should have the complaints process explained to them in a way they understand and have this revisited throughout their stay.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 9 January 2024

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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

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must consult with children, their parents, local authorities and staff to obtain feedback and opinions on the quality of care provided. The impact of any actions implemented should also be reviewed. 9 January 2024

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(d)) 9 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 9

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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: 2602558 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Enhanced Young Person’s Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Fox Street, Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE10 OBD

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Inspector

Lee Riley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 11 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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