Children's home run by Wakefield Council in Wakefield

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 1 SC033808 Registered provider: Wakefield Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides short breaks and full-time care for up to six children on a planned basis, with additional capacity for a seventh child on an emergency basis. Care and accommodation are offered to children with learning and/or physical disabilities, including sensory impairment. The service currently supports 36 children. One child is living at the home. The home operates for six days a week. Adults access the premises one day per week for respite care.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with the Care Quality Commission in March 2022 as it provides domiciliary care to children in their homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2019 and is suitably experienced and qualified.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 20 February 2023

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/02/2023 Full Good 19/01/2022 Full Good 27/01/2020 Full Good 26/02/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 3

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inadequate

There are serious shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home and in the protection and safety of children. This means that, although some children are making progress, for others their overall experiences when they visit the home are poor.

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inadequate

The home is clean and spacious. However, it does not look or feel like a family home for the child who lives here, or for children who experience short breaks. Not all areas of the home are in good repair or personalised for the children who stay. There are no photos of the children on display in the communal areas. The children’s bedrooms are sparse, and staff have not supported the child who lives at the home to personalise their bedroom. Access to one set of stairs has been blocked off with a makeshift wooden gate. This does not enhance children’s experiences while staying in the home.

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inadequate

Care planning for the child who lives in the home is poor. The child is moved out of the home for part of each week, into alternative accommodation that is arranged through a short-term rental organisation. This is because the home’s premises are used for adult respite one day per week. As a result, the child’s clothes and personal belongings are kept in storage in the staff office. This does not promote consistency of care for this child or a sense of belonging. Leaders and managers have no detailed understanding of the nature of the premises that the child moves into or the impact that these weekly moves have on the child’s overall experience, progress and safety. During this period, the child is cared for by agency staff who are not otherwise known to the child. Oversight of this arrangement is seen by leaders as exclusively the responsibility of the child’s social worker. This does not ensure that the child receives effectively planned care in or

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inadequate

through the home. Leadership within the home has failed to ensure that children’s relevant plans are followed. One child’s risk assessment has not been updated to reflect their current needs and abilities. This has meant that the child is unnecessarily deprived of their liberty while out in the community through the use of a harness.

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inadequate

While there are systems in place to support children to make their wishes and feelings known, these are not accessible to all children staying in the home. Specifically, the feelings board is not within the reach of all children due to the height at which the board is positioned. In addition, some of the staff are not sufficiently skilled to communicate with the children using their preferred communication methods. This means that communication at the home does not align with the communication methods used by the schools that the children attend. This does not promote consistency for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 4 Staff are committed to ensuring that children have fun when they visit the home and support them to make progress from their starting points. Staff promote positive relationships within the home and help children to develop important life skills.

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inadequate

Photo albums are prepared for children who are leaving the home. However, the photos have no accompanying narrative. This does not help to tell the child’s story and does not support children to have a good understanding of their time in the home.

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

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staff have a good working knowledge of the whistle-blowing policy and understand its purpose and importance. This has led to several staff not knowing what to do if they have concerns about poor practice in the home and they do not have the confidence to raise these concerns with managers. This does not promote a safe environment for children. Management of the home does not take effective action to reduce risk to children when allegations are made about staff. When one parent made an allegation about the conduct of a member of staff working in the home, the response to the allegation was inappropriate. This allegation was not properly managed or recorded. Since the last full inspection, there have been two incidents where children have managed to leave the home without permission, and one incident where a child went missing from the home. Not all children who receive short breaks have

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

individual missing-from-home plans. This does not support staff to understand what urgent action they need to take should a child go missing. In addition, this shortfall does not support external agencies to quickly understand children’s specific vulnerabilities and communication needs. This prevents staff and agencies taking effective action to reduce the risk of harm to any child who goes missing from the home. Procedures are in place to promote the safe administration of medication within the home. However, on one occasion, staff were instructed to deviate from these procedures. This undermines the safe working practices in place and increases the risk of medication errors happening.

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

Fire safety is not consistently promoted in the home. For the child living in the home, fire safety is identified as a risk. However, the management of the home has failed to ensure that this child has taken part in a fire drill.

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

Safer recruitment practices are followed. This reduces the risk of unsuitable adults working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This full inspection of the home was brought forward due to Ofsted receiving two anonymous complaints about the leadership and management of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 5 There are no issues about safer recruitment practice for staff working in the home. However, in respect of one child, there are significant shortfalls in how the leadership and management team assures itself that the agency staff who care for this child away from the home are suitable and that the premises the child stays at are safe. This does not promote children’s safety or support them to make progress. Ofsted has not been informed of all significant events that relate to the safety and welfare of children living in the home. This does not promote transparency and does not allow the regulator to assess whether the children in the home are safe. Staff are committed to helping the children in their care to be safe and make

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

progress. They understand the ethos and approach of the home as stated in the home’s statement of purpose. They reported working well together as a staff team. However, some staff have no confidence in the leadership and management team when reporting safeguarding concerns. They do not feel supported by the manager, and do not feel that the home is well led and managed. This is impacting on staff morale and the safety and welfare of children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not always properly staffed and resourced to meet the needs of the children. Staff inductions are not sufficient to support new staff to provide suitable care for the children staying in the home. On one occasion, this led to a child being poorly supervised and being able to make their way out of the home in the early hours of the morning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The bed from the staff sleep room has been removed resulting in one member of staff having to sleep on the floor during sleep in. The bed has been replaced with a sofa bed in the children’s chill-out room, which compromises the times the chill-out room can be used by children, and means that staff do not have a dedicated sleep room.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most parents and professionals spoke positively about the home and the good levels of communication between them and the staff. For parents, the support that the manager and staff offer is a ‘lifeline’. One parent described the staff going above and beyond to support them and their child during a period of crisis. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 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

that staff 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

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;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(viii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are clear safeguarding processes that all leaders and managers know and follow, in the event of an allegation or serious concern being raised in respect of staff working in the home; that these processes include the requirement to fully and accurately record all actions taken; that each child has an individual missing-from- home plan; and that all staff comply with the medication policy. 28 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 7 *The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children 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, as 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, take steps to ensure that all staff understand the whistle-blowing policy; that all staff, including agency staff, are suitable to care for children; and that all staff receive appropriate training and induction to enable them to meet the communication needs of the children in the home. 28 January 2024

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are only admitted to the home when their needs can be met in their entirety, and that children’s risk assessments are relevant and up to date and support staff to meet the individual needs of children. 28 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 8 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 and 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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children personal items that are appropriate for their age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(vii)(viii)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the home looks and feels like a family home for children; that children are supported to personalise their bedrooms; that the feelings board is easily accessible for all the children living in the home or receiving short breaks; and that areas of the home designated for the use of the children are used solely for this purpose. 1 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all children and staff who are new to the home participate in a fire drill as soon as is reasonably possible. 28 January 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 9 The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 1 March 2024

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person must ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to the child’s life history. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. In particular, life-story materials should have accompanying information that will help children to understand their time in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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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: SC033808 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Bond Street, Wakefield WF1 2QW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Cheryl Whitehouse

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Inspectors

Shirin Khan, Social Care Inspector Rachel Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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