Children's home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 1 SC469761 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services 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 social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This home was registered in October 2013. 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

Date of last inspection: 24 October 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit was carried out on 11 December 2023. This monitoring visit found that the compliance notice for regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, and all the requirements raised at the last full inspection have been met. As a result, the notice to restrict accommodation was lifted on 14 December 2023. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/10/2023 Full Inadequate 30/11/2022 Full Good 13/07/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the previous inspection, two children have continued to live at the home. Children told the inspector that they feel safe living at this home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality care. All external professionals told the inspector that the managers and staff provide a solution-focused approach to the children’s care and this has resulted in children making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children well with their education and gaining employment. Staff have been successful in promoting one child’s educational needs through working closely with the school. One teacher said that there is no problem too big or small for the staff, they understand the child’s educational needs, and this has resulted in the child doing well at school. In addition, staff have been successful in supporting one child with their independence skills and gaining employment. This has helped the child to gain important life skills in preparation for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met. Staff have helped children to develop a better understanding of diet, nutrition, physical health, and emotional well-being. This has resulted in one child seeking healthcare advice from their general practitioner without staff support, and another child exploring a wider variety of foods.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have been successful in supporting children with their talents and hobbies. They are supporting one child well with making historical models and another child enjoys a wide range of activities with staff. As a result, children have fun and enjoyable experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a very good understanding of the children’s relationships with various members of their family, and they support children to enjoy time with their family members. One parent said that their child views the staff as an extension of their birth family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children make complaints, the registered manager does not always complete an investigation into the child’s concerns. For example, one child was informed by the manager that they must complete a complaint form for their concerns to be addressed formally. This is despite the child making a complaint to the trainee manager via email on two separate occasions. This does not help children to feel listened to and it is not in line with the organisation’s internal complaint policy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not receive appropriate support from the registered manager and staff to explore their culture, identity, and religious beliefs. Staff rely on the children to educate them on their needs, despite children asking for support. The lack of understanding and support for children has left them feeling upset and isolated. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 4

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

Staff know the children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Comprehensive risk and behaviour management plans are regularly reviewed and updated following any significant events. Staff have been successful in supporting children to understand behaviour that may present a risk to them and triggers that may cause them upset. This work has supported children to become increasingly safe.

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

Risk management is effective. Staff are curious and use the learning gained from previous incidents to minimise the likelihood of serious incidents happening. As a result, since the last inspection, there has been no physical interventions or missing- from-care incidents, and the severity of significant incidents is minimal.

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

Staff place a strong emphasis on children’s successes and positive behaviours. Children are rewarded when they have been well behaved or done something well. This helps children to regulate their emotions and develop better self-esteem and confidence.

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

When children are unkind to each other, the staff identify and address this immediately. Staff support children to learn to be kind to each other and to understand why bullying behaviours are not acceptable. This has resulted in a reduction of incidents where children are unkind to each other.

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

The trainee manager works closely with all external professionals to safeguard children. This ensures that the children receive the support they need, and their care, risk, and behaviour management plans remain in their best interest.

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

Children receive medication in line with the guidance from their general practitioner. This means that the recording, storage and administration of medication is compliant with regulations.

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

All staff undergo comprehensive safer recruitment and vetting checks to ensure that they are suitable to care for vulnerable children. As a result, safer recruitment and vetting checks are compliant with regulations.

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good

There is a registered manager in post, who is dual registered for another home. The registered manager is supported by a trainee manager, who undertakes many of the responsibilities for overseeing and managing the home. The trainee manager is an effective leader to her staff team.

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good

There is currently a disorganised approach to management oversight of the home. This does not help managers to make the necessary improvements in a timely manner. For example, the registered manager does not use her own monitoring tools effectively. In addition, several managers have oversight of the quality of care Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 5 provided to children and they do not take immediate action to remedy any shortfalls that they identify.

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good

The registered manager’s six-monthly quality of care review report does not demonstrate the registered manager’s monitoring, review, and evaluation of the quality of care provided to children. In addition, there is no plan of action to address shortfalls identified. This is a missed opportunity to improve children’s experiences.

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good

Staff do not receive supervision that promotes their continuous professional development. In addition, staff who provide supervision to staff do not receive guidance in supporting staff with their learning and development.

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good

The registered manager and staff do not receive the training to support children who are struggling or experiencing difficulties in understanding their identity. All staff, the registered manager, and responsible individual said that their understanding of the children’s culture, identity, and religious beliefs is limited. As a result, children do not receive effective support for their cultural, identity and religious needs. In addition, staff’s record-keeping of children’s day-to-day life in the home fails to capture children’s journeys in understanding their own cultural, identity and religious beliefs.

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good

The managers were accepting of the shortfalls identified from this inspection and have started to take action to address them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 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, 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager must ensure that the organisation’s internal complaints policy is adhered to and children are supported with their cultural, identity and religious beliefs. 31 March 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 31 March 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 7 promotes their welfare.

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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 of the quality of care provided to children. In addition, they should consider learning that informs future practice and ensure that staff receive the training to support children with their cultural, identity and religious beliefs.

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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 care review report that accurately reflects the care provided to children. 31 March 2024

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Recommendations

 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 to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered manager should ensure that information recorded about the child is always recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child, particularly when recording about the children’s culture, identity, and religious beliefs. (‘Guide to the Inspection report for children’s home: SC469761 8 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: SC469761 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services 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: SC469761 10 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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