Children's home run by Prosperity Children’s Services Limited

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 1 Registered provider: Prosperity Children’s Services

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home registered with Ofsted in September 2023.

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Inspection date: 16 January 2024

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection date: 16 January 2024

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector has looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 2

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Findings from the inspection

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection:

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Findings from the inspection

 Risks are not identified, managed or understood by staff.  The registered manager has failed to share safeguarding incidents with social workers and the local authority designated officer.  There is insufficient staff, and they do not have the skills and experience to safely care for children.  Staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in protecting children.  Leaders and managers do not demonstrate any learning from safeguarding incidents. Therefore, children are at risk of further harm.  The home environment is unclean and hazardous.

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Findings from the inspection

This inspection was prioritised due to an increase in safeguarding notifications and concerns about the overall leadership and management of the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Two children have continued to live at this home since the last inspection. One child moved out of the home the day before the inspection and one child is currently living in the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Children’s care has been compromised by poor safeguarding practice and ineffective leadership and management. Therefore, their overall progress and experiences have been adversely affected.

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Findings from the inspection

The arrangements for leadership and management are poor and ineffective. The registered manager has submitted a request to voluntarily cancel her registration and she is due to leave her post. The contingency management arrangements are unclear.

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Findings from the inspection

The home environment is poor. Children’s bedrooms are in a poor state and have numerous hazards. There is an unpleasant smell in one child’s bedroom, which has not been eliminated despite pest control identifying the potential issue. Leaders, managers and staff have not taken any other action to prevent any further issue of infestation as rubbish bins were observed to be overflowing in both children’s bedrooms and outside the home.

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Findings from the inspection

The child attends school on a part-time basis. Staff support the child to do activities that he enjoys.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. On at least two occasions, a child has been taken by staff to another area that is a significant distance from the home. On both occasions, the child returned home Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 3 under the influence of unknown substances. The manager and staff did not know who the child was meeting with or consider the potential risks that the child may be exposed to in that locality. Staff did not demonstrate any professional curiosity about who the child was with. Following these incidents, the child’s risk assessment has not been updated and staff do not have clear strategies to follow in practice to reduce the risk reoccurring.

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Findings from the inspection

Other records in relation to children contain conflicting information about significant safeguarding incidents. Inaccurate and conflicting information seriously impacts on staff and children’s social workers’ practice to keep children safe.

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Findings from the inspection

Leaders and managers do not share significant safeguarding information with children’s placing authorities. Failure to share safeguarding information means that staff and relevant professionals cannot work together to reduce the risk of harm to children.

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Findings from the inspection

Leaders and staff do not have the knowledge and skills to keep children safe. Leaders and managers do not provide staff with sufficient and clear information that enables them to manage children’s vulnerabilities safely and effectively. Therefore, staff have little guidance on how to meet children’s needs. This is compounded by the fact that leaders and managers do not demonstrate any learning from safeguarding incidents to promote children’s welfare and improve staff practice.

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Findings from the inspection

There are insufficient staff to safely care for children. Since the last inspection, several staff have left the organisation, which has left two core staff members. There has been an over-reliance on staff across the organisation and agency staff to maintain sufficient staffing levels. This has meant that children have not had the opportunity to develop trusting relationships with a consistent staff team.

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Findings from the inspection

It is Ofsted’s view that children are at risk of further harm due to the serious and widespread safeguarding concerns and ineffective leadership and management. Ofsted has issued an emergency notice to suspend the home’s registration.

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Findings from the inspection

Ofsted will continue to monitor the actions taken by the provider and keep the suspension notice under review. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/07/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/01/2023 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 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, 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, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e)) 10 April 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 6 In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff act appropriately to safeguard children during incidents of challenging behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that individual incidents are appropriately evaluated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children’s bedrooms are regularly checked, clean and cleared of any hazards.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that hazards in the home are identified and rectified in a timely manner.

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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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(c) (2)(a)(c)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) 10 April 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 7 In particular, the registered person must ensure that written records have appropriate management oversight and that any errors in recording are noted and rectified.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff receive timely training that is relevant to the specific needs of the children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that there is sufficient support for managers in their role.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s individual needs are assessed before they move into the home and that staff have the relevant skills and experience to meet their needs. The registered person must ensure that children have appropriate placement plans in place. 10 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 10 April 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 8 maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the planned and actual hours worked by the manager in the home are recorded on the rota.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the report is sufficiently detailed and provides good-quality information to support the manager’s monitoring of the home and allows effective oversight from the regulator. 10 April 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.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b) (5)) 10 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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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 (3)(a)(b)) 31 January 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 9 In particular, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose is updated to reflect any changes in staffing.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s bedrooms are only searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. The registered person should ensure that such searches are recorded clearly and include the child’s and manager’s comments. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that consequences for children’s behaviour are restorative in nature, clearly recorded, and evaluated to ensure that they are proportionate and effective. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Prosperity Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Prosperity Children’s Services Limited, 8 Mercury Rise, Altham Business Park, Altham, Accrington BB5 5BY

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Inspector

Sarah Jackson, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2694962 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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