Children's home run by The Place Young People’s Company

Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 1 Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company 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 three children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered in May 2023. This is the home’s first full inspection. The registered manager is dual registered with another children’s home in the same organisation. The registered manager is supported by a trainee manager.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the home was registered, two children have moved in. Children are welcomed by a caring staff team. The staff take time to get to know each child’s interests and likes and use this knowledge to compile an individualised plan. This helps children to settle quickly and have a positive experience of moving into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care plans are detailed. Staff and managers regularly consult with children to seek their views, wishes and opinions to ensure that children’s care is individualised. One social worker said that a key strength of the staff team is the way they advocate for children and listen to their voice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health is improved. Staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles and gain an understanding of their health needs. Staff make referrals to specialist health professionals as required. This has resulted in children making better health choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in their education. Staff help children to overcome barriers that stop them from attending school. One child is engaging in full-time education and another child is supported with an educational programme that will enable them to return to full-time education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend meaningful time with their family and friends. When children need support to build or maintain relationships with their family members, staff ensure that this is provided in a child-centred, sensitive and meaningful way. One parent said that their child is genuinely valued and cared for by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The trainee manager and staff have established positive relationships with external professionals. External professionals commented on the good communication systems in place and the good quality of care that children receive and gave lots of examples of children’s positive progress and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well with their independence skills. Staff have supported one child to have structured unsupervised time out in the community. This has helped to develop the child’s confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop a sense of identity. Staff have discussions with the children about what makes them unique, to improve their self-esteem. As a result, children’s understanding of their identity has improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to create positive memories during their time at the home. This is promoted by the deputy manager, who collates photos of their fun experiences in a photo book. This includes memories of Christmas, Halloween, bonfire night and various activities that children have enjoyed. This gives the children a sense of belonging in the home and promotes their overall development. Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 3

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

Risk management and behaviour management plans for children are effective. Staff provide a solution-focused approach to minimise potential dangers and protect the children. Staff try to understand what may be causing the child to be upset and provide support and reassurance to overcome their worries. This has resulted in significant incidents and missing-from-home incidents reducing over time and children making safer choices.

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

Staff have successfully implemented age-appropriate structures and boundaries that help children to feel safe. Children feel comfortable to talk to staff about what is worrying them, and staff provide children with guidance in making better choices. This has helped children to develop trusting relationships with staff.

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

Detailed physical intervention records show that physical intervention is used as a last resort, in a reasonable and proportionate way. Staff have been successful in looking beyond the child’s presenting behaviour and take action to minimise serious incidents from happening. This has resulted in a reduction of incidents involving physical intervention.

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

Staff do not record the purpose and effectiveness of consequences and for how long they should remain in place. This does not help a child to understand the reason for the consequence and how long it applies for. In addition, the manager does not speak to the child when reviewing the consequence. Staff do not record consequences in line with the organisation’s internal behaviour management policy.

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

The registered manager has not ensured that the recruitment agency has explored all employment history gaps with agency staff before they start working in the home. This means that the registered manager has not assured herself that all staff are suitable to work in the home.

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good

The registered manager and staff are supported by a trainee manager who oversees the day-to-day running of the home. Staff speak highly of the support they receive from the trainee manager. All staff said that the trainee manager has been instrumental in promoting a good team-working culture and this helps them to carry out their roles effectively.

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good

Management oversight is disorganised and requires improvement. Oversight is carried out by several managers, who do not address shortfalls when they are identified. This creates confusion and does not help managers to address shortfalls in a timely way.

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good

The registered manager does not use her own monitoring tools and auditing systems effectively and consider learning to inform future practice. For example, monitoring tools were incomplete and showed that the registered manager has not Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 4 carried out oversight effectively. This undermines the effectiveness of her management oversight of the quality of care for children and of staff practice.

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good

The quality of care review report does not demonstrate that the registered manager has established and maintained a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided to children. The review submitted to Ofsted contains duplicated information relating to the other home that the manager is dual registered for. This does not ensure that the quality of care review is unique to the home.

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good

Staff do not receive supervision in line with the home’s workforce development plan and the organisation’s internal policy. They do not receive guidance and support that promotes reflection, learning and development. This does not support their continuous professional development.

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good

The registered manager and staff’s record-keeping requires improvement, as it is not in line with the home’s model of therapeutic care. For example, the registered manager refers to ‘downgrading’ and ‘upgrading’ of incidents. This is not helpful for children to understand, should they want to access their records.

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good

The responsible individual’s oversight of the home is good. She is aware of the shortfalls identified at this inspection and has started to take swift action to address them. Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 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 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided to children, to consider learning that informs future practice. 31 March 2024

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used; 31 March 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 6 the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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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

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)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to all consequences being implemented in line with the organisation’s internal behaviour management policy.

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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

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)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The specifically relates to the registered manager producing a six-monthly quality of review report that accurately reflects the care provided to children. 31 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice. In particular, the registered person must ensure that through checks of agencgy staff’s employment is carried out to safeguard children and minimise potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff receive regular supervision that promotes learning, development and reflection. In doing so, staff should receive support that promotes their overall continuous professional development. (‘Guide Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 7 to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that information about the child is always recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including 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: 2729367 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Place Young People’s Company Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Lymevale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke- on-Trent ST4 6NW

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Emily Wallis Mandache

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Inspectors

Sam Dulay-Kainth, Social Care Inspector Laura Norcop, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2729367 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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