Children's home run by Footsteps Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 1 Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to eight children. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home cares for children with learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities and/or social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in August 2019. The new manager commenced her post in August 2023 and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There were seven children living in the home at the time of this 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 requires improvement to be 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 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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good

Date of last inspection: 6 December 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: 2540285 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2022 Full Good 18/05/2021 Full Good 10/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 3

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improvement to be good

Children have made steady and meaningful progress from their individual starting points. However, some of the children’s placements have been disrupted due to the staff team not having the appropriate level of skill or training to meet their needs. This situation also causes instability for other children living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to practise and develop basic life skills. Some children have learned how to wash their hair and use the toilet. Children have also developed their confidence, communication and social skills.

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improvement to be good

Children’s accomplishments are recorded in the home’s ‘golden book’, and they are praised in children’s meetings. This supports children’s sense of achievement and success. However, not all children have their progress and outcomes recorded appropriately in their individual files. These records are important for children and represent a part of their life history.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy various activities and have positive experiences. They engage in a wide range of activities in the home and community, including trampolining, water play, day trips and holidays.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are well understood, and their needs are met. Staff observe children closely and are adept at noticing changes in children’s presentation and behaviour. Staff respond promptly if children require urgent medical attention. Furthermore, staff and managers collaborate closely with specialist services to support individual children with their emotional and behavioural needs.

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improvement to be good

Children’s house meetings are held on a monthly basis, when children are given the opportunity to share their wishes and feelings. Staff make a special effort to communicate with non-verbal children and seek their views to involve them in the meetings. This empowers children to participate and express their views. Social stories are used to record the meetings, which means children can refer back to them and understand what the meetings were about.

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improvement to be good

Staff support and advocate for children to spend time with their families. They have good relationships with families and encourage them to visit children at the home and in the community. This supports children to maintain positive relationships with significant people in their lives.

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improvement to be good

Managers and staff demonstrate a good understanding of children’s needs and vulnerabilities. Children receive a minimum of one-to-one support, which Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 4 significantly minimises the risk of harm. However, some children’s individual risk plans are not all on file, and strategies to manage and reduce risks are ineffective in some risk assessments. This does not support staff to understand triggers for certain behaviours or give them strategies to manage situations and prevent escalation.

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improvement to be good

Staff are unable to de-escalate children’s aggression or challenging behaviour, and many incidents require the use of restraint to manage children’s behaviours. Children are not always debriefed after incidents. In one incident, the use of physical intervention was disproportionate. The manager reviewed this incident and felt the actions of staff were not balanced.

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improvement to be good

When considering new children moving into the home, managers consider their needs and the children already living in the home. However, they do not consider whether the staff team has the skills and training to meet the needs of children. It is essential that managers and staff understand what will be required of them before they accept responsibility for a child’s placement to avoid disruption and instability for the child in the future and for other children in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s bedrooms are decorated with personalised items and wall stickers. However, one child’s bedroom has a hole in the wall. The living room is also bare and unappealing. This does not support a homely environment.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding agencies were not consulted when the local area risk assessment was updated. This does not equip leaders, managers and staff to respond effectively to risks relating to the location of the children’s home.

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good

The manager commenced their post in August 2023 and is working hard to provide an environment where staff feel supported and inspired. The manager has high aspirations for the staff to develop their skills and experience to ensure that children receive good-quality care in the home.

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good

The change of managers for the home was handled positively. Staff and children were prepared well, and a picture profile was created of the new manager and shared with children individually to prepare them for this change.

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good

Team meetings take place regularly, with management involvement and oversight. Staff training and reflective practice are encouraged. Staff discuss different ways of supporting children, including how to help them to develop important life skills.

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good

Some staff have not completed their mandatory training within the required timescales. This training includes safeguarding, first aid and physical intervention. This lack of training undermines the staff’s knowledge, skills and confidence to help and support children effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 5 The workforce development plan does not include information on staffing structures, staff qualifications, induction, training and supervision processes.

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good

Actions identified in the home’s fire risk assessment have not been recorded as being completed, which prevents safe and effective oversight.

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good

The manager has identified areas for improvement within the home and has taken effective action to improve staff practice and children’s experiences. For example, not all staff have received regular or effective supervision; however, staff are now beginning to receive better-quality supervision, which is reflective and where discussions about children’s strengths, needs and risks are more apparent. Other recent improvements include more effective management oversight of incidents and better monitoring of the quality of children’s records. Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 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,

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Requirement Due date

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

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;

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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)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that risk assessments are robust, are regularly reviewed and updated, and correctly identify risk levels and strategies to help staff manage and reduce children’s individual risks.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must consider the staff’s skillset when considering new children moving into the home. 29 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 7 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure (""the user""), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all incidents of physical restraint are recorded correctly and that records include the duration of the measure, debrief with staff that were involved and debrief with the child or justification why this is not appropriate. 29 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 8 This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2)) 29 February 2024

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2) (b)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must monitor and improve the quality of records. This relates to key-work sessions and monthly summaries, which do not detail work conducted with children or highlight the progress children are making.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that staff receive the appropriate support and training to provide a good quality of care to children and ensure that their needs are met well. 29 February 2024

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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. 29 February 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 9 (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all staff undertake appropriate training within the required timescales to meet the needs of the children living in the home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have for the child in the future and for other children in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that all staff receive regular supervision to support them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce plan clearly sets out the procedures for staff’s induction and probation reviews. It should include any new training and qualifications completed by staff, including the registered manager, as well as identifying any gaps in training and professional development. (‘Guide

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Recommendations

to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that environment is homely, as far as possible maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression and ensure that actions are recorded for fire risk assessments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2540285 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Footsteps Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Orchard, Ashmead Drive, Denham, Uxbridge, Buckinghamshire UB9 5BA

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anslim Narinesingh

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Inspector

Amena Begum, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2540285 11 regulates and 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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