Children's Home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Shropshire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 1 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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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 owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who have complex needs and who may be experiencing a range of difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There are two other individually registered children’s homes in the same grounds and there is a school on the same site. The children living in the three children’s homes attend the school.

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Information about this children’s home

All three children’s homes had a monitoring visit from Ofsted on the same day. The school was not inspected during this visit.

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Information about this children’s home

The reason for the monitoring visits was because Ofsted has received information of concern about behaviour management at two out of the three homes, including this home. Ofsted undertook a monitoring visit to be assured about the care and safety of children.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has recently left and a new manager has been appointed. Ofsted has not yet received a completed application from the manager to register with the regulator.

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This monitoring visit

Since the last inspection, five children have moved into the home, and two have left. At the time of the inspection, five children lived in the home.

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This monitoring visit

Children’s moves into the home are not managed well. This is because managers are not proactive and do not consider the impact of new children on the children already living in the home. For example, managers recently admitted two children within Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 2 seven days. These children had the same behaviours as children already living in the home; they were unsettled at bedtime. Strategies to support the children include having individual time with staff. However, staffing levels are insufficient to provide children with this individual support. As a result, children’s complex behaviours escalate, and children are negatively affected by the behaviours of other children.

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This monitoring visit

When children demonstrate complex behaviours, staff use physical restraint to keep everyone safe. Children’s behaviours have, on occasions, escalated to injuring staff and causing damage to the home. Other children have been frightened by what they have heard and seen and have said they do not feel safe sometimes. Managers’ monitoring systems have not ensured that appropriate follow up work has been undertaken to reassure children and consider their feelings and sense of safety when the home is unsettled.

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This monitoring visit

Children are sometimes restrained multiple times during an incident and are restrained in their bedroom and on their bed. Managers do not identify the negative impact this practice has on children, and managers do not guide staff to develop other strategies to manage children’s complex behaviours.

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This monitoring visit

Staff’s recording of incidents when children are restrained is unclear. For instance, staff do not record in detail the triggers for children’s complex behaviours or the strategies they use to help children during this time. Details of who is involved in a restraint and who is witness to what aspects of the incident are unclear. This impacts on managers’ ability to monitor incidents effectively, evaluate and develop staff practice and consider the impact of the restraint on children.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff do not fully understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children. Sometimes children say that they have been hurt by staff during the restraint. Although children are spoken to after an incident, it is not always clear that what children have said during the restraint has been fully explored when they are calm. This is a missed opportunity for those not involved in the incident to understand more about a child’s experience of the incident and to promote their safety. In addition, managers do not always inform the local authority designated officer or the regulator when needed. This means that independent oversight of children’s concerns is compromised, and children feel their concerns are not always taken seriously.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff have covered the significant shortfalls in staffing to ensure that children receive care from adults familiar to them. One child said that they like living in the home and they like the staff. The child’s social worker said that staff keep this child safe and that incidents when the child has tried to leave the home have reduced. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/05/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 4

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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 with the given timescales.

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managers considering the needs of children already living in the home and staffing levels, before admitting new children. 15 April 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

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the manager’s understanding of the impact on children of being restrained by staff in their bedrooms. Managers should use this understanding to develop alternative strategies to manage children’s complex behaviours. 15 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 15 April 2024 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 5 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

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that: - For all incidents there is a clear record of when the restraint happened, what de-escalation strategies were used and what led up to the restraint being necessary. - For those incidents that last a longer time, be clear about who is witness to which aspects of the incident.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. 15 April 2024 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 6 (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that when children raise concerns during a restraint incident, these are followed up more specifically afterwards when the child is calmer. In addition, that relevant professionals are informed as needed when a child says that they have been hurt by staff during a restraint incident.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth, Lancashire LA6 2PR

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2718968 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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