Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare 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 company. It is registered to provide care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2023.

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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 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: 28 February 2023

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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: 2694819 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are at the centre of staff’s practice. Staff provide children with love, care and affection. Children said they feel supported and listened to by staff and the manager. They have formed positive relationships with key members of staff and speak highly of them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, two children are settled living at the home. Since the last inspection, two children have moved on. Both children’s moves were planned and supported by staff, together with relevant professionals. One child moved back to the care of their family. The other child moved on following a period of challenges. The manager quickly identified the child’s need for a home that could provide more therapeutic care and worked with professionals to support the move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is spacious, beautifully decorated and personalised to meet the children’s needs. The home keeps chickens, which the children enjoy helping to take care of. One area of the home has a display of positive notes written to children by staff. Children reply with nice comments back to staff, which are also on display. This is motivating and reassuring for children. One child said, ‘I like living here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress in education. Staff work with external professionals to help ensure that children have education and healthcare plans so that they can receive the right level of support. One child said that she likes school. She also attends an after-school club to learn how to play the guitar. For another child, education has provided structure to her day. Although she is not attending school full time, there is a plan to help her move towards this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the children they care for and prioritise their health needs. The manager works with other agencies to ensure that children have wraparound support provided by specialists when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to build and maintain links with their families. As a result, they enjoy regular family time. Children’s family members are complimentary about the plans in place and support provided.

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

Staff understand how to keep children safe. They and the children are well supported by the manager when incidents occur. Staff help children learn through regular conversations, guidance and support how to keep themselves safe. This good work helps children to build resilience.

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

Sometimes children self-harm. When such incidents occur, staff take appropriate action to ensure that children are supported, monitored and kept safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 4 When children go missing from home, staff manage these incidents well to ensure that children return home safely. Missing-from-home protocols are in place for each child. However, these lack clear guidance for staff based on children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Although this has not had an impact on children’s safety to date, it has the potential to do so if not addressed.

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

The manager does not keep risk management strategies under review. For example, bedroom door alarms remain active even when there is no clear risk identified. In addition, there is no plan for a child to be able to work towards having her smartphone returned to her and to access social media. If not addressed, this shortfall may lead to children having restrictions in place for longer than necessary, which encroach on their freedoms and development.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been incidents of children being unkind to each other. This has resulted in two children making complaints, which are well documented. Staff supported children well and have worked with them to understand the impact of their actions on others and to reduce risks. Children said they were happy with the response following the complaints and that their complaints were resolved. This strong response helps children to feel listened to and confident that when they have a worry this will be acted on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is dedicated to her role and leads by example. Staff feel well supported by her. She is a great advocate for children and staff when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a stable staff team which promotes a nurturing approach to care and creates a family atmosphere. One staff member said, ‘The house is a lovely place to work and I feel lucky to be surrounded by a supportive team.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager undertakes monthly supervisions with staff. These are focused on enhancing staff’s development and their skills to work with children. As a result, staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to support the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has some good systems in place for monitoring and overseeing the children’s care, incidents and children’s records. When incidents have occurred, the manager records lessons learned and helps staff to reflect and improve practice. Further work is ongoing to develop these monitoring systems and ensure their effectiveness. The manager has struggled to obtain children’s care records following statutory reviews. She has raised concerns with children’s placing authorities about this. However, when the manager has not received a response, she has not escalated the matter with the authority and the matter remains unresolved. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that any restrictions imposed on children to manage risks are kept under review and only kept in place for as long as needed to safeguard the child. This includes the use of bedroom door alarms and a child having access to their smartphone. 3 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the missing child policy") setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children from being absent without permission; and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to, the missing child policy, the registered person must— 3 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 6 consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person; and

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Requirement Due date

have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that each child has a missing-from-home protocol, with clear steps for staff to take in the event of a child going missing. Protocols must be based on each child’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities.

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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: 2694819 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Platform Childcare, Suite 2 Millennium Court, First Avenue, Burton-on-Trent DE14 2WH

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Inspector

Joanne Humphreys, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 8 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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