Children's Home run by The Beeches UK limited in Peterborough

Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 1 SC466786 Registered provider: The Beeches UK 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 four children with learning disabilities and other complex needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left in February 2024. A new manager was appointed in September 2023 and is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/07/2022 Full Good 02/06/2021 Full Good 29/10/2019 Full Good 28/01/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. Overall, the children are making good progress. However, there are several areas where some improvements are needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build positive relationships with staff. Staff know the children well and have a good understanding of their needs. Staff encourage children to have active and healthy lifestyles. This has helped the children to try new activities and they have joined football and cycling groups in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality support and individualised care. Staff are experienced and dedicated to their roles. Interactions between staff and children are compassionate and reassuring. This approach helps children to develop the sense of security and stability that they need to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Independence skills are encouraged. Children are supported to complete tasks such as washing-up after meals, keeping their bedrooms tidy and helping with their laundry. One child has recently started to travel independently to school. These skills help to prepare children for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s school attendance is generally good. The communication between education and home staff provides continuity of care for the children. This collaborative working helps to ensure that the children are provided with consistency and stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff are proactive in their actions to ensure that the children receive the professional health and well-being support they need. Children’s referrals and appointments are continually followed up by staff. One child’s prescribed medication was unavailable for a period due to a national shortage. During this time, it was noticed that the medication had minimal benefit for the child. Consequently, with agreement from health professionals, the child has stopped taking potentially unnecessary medication.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager will confidently challenge on behalf of children. However, children do not have regular access to independent advocacy support and therefore do not have an independent trusted person to confide in should they need to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and understand their methods of communication. However, one child’s care plan does not include detailed communication guidance for staff. Communication aids such as pictures, symbols and photos are not easily accessible throughout the home. This reduces the opportunity for the child to make choices, express their views and initiate interactions. Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 4 The home is generally well maintained, however walls in two bedrooms require attention. The large garden is overgrown in areas and the trampoline is covered with sticks and leaves. This does not encourage the children to make use of the outside space.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand safeguarding and generally respond appropriately to concerns. However, on one occasion, staff have failed to respond effectively when a child raised a historic concern. There were delays in reporting the concern. Although this did not present an immediate risk to the child, this meant that the concern was not investigated promptly and delayed the necessary actions being considered by the relevant professionals.

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improvement to be good

Staff use consequences as a response to unsafe or unkind actions. However, there has not been sufficient objective oversight of all consequences to establish their effectiveness and appropriateness.

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improvement to be good

Physical intervention is used appropriately to keep children safe. However, several records fail to show that the manager had oversight of the restraint within the required time frame. This delay in oversight has the potential to delay any identification of emerging concerns or issues relating to the restraint.

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improvement to be good

Children’s behaviour is generally well managed and behaviour plans are usually clear. However, one management plan had not been updated since a child moved to the home. This is despite some incidents taking place that should have triggered a review.

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improvement to be good

Staff receive a range of training; however, staff have no training in ligature removal or harmful sexual behaviour. This does not ensure that staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge appropriate to the risks for the children they care for.

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improvement to be good

Children can identify trusted staff they can talk to about any concerns. Children engage in discussions with staff about the issues that are important to them. Staff have helped children with their understanding of unsafe situations and inappropriate choices. From these discussions the children gain an awareness of how to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced, approachable and supportive. She regularly works on shift and acts as a positive role model for the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children know the manager and are relaxed in her company. She has a good understanding of each child’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 5 The manager has established positive relationships with families and other agencies. Communication between managers and professionals is generally good. Children benefit from the manager’s approach to cohesive, multi-agency working.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s relationships with their families are supported. Regular time spent with families ensure increases the potential for children to maintain positive relationships with the people who are important to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most staff receive regular supervision sessions and annual reviews of their performance. However, one new member of staff has only had two supervisions in the last five months. This fails to provide staff with enough support when they are new in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person visits monthly and provides considered reports that recommend actions for improvement. However, due to the visits taking place when the children are at school, children’s views have not been included in the last five visits. This significantly reduces the effectiveness of the report as a quality monitoring tool and does not provide the intended safeguards for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers do not ensure that record-keeping is consistently clear and objective. On occasions, staff have used inappropriate terms in children’s records. This does not ensure that information is always recorded in a way that is helpful to the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff have not completed the relevant level 3 qualification within the required time frame. Therefore, not all staff have the qualifications required for their roles. Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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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)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

any historical allegations are shared promptly with the necessary authorities.

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Requirement Due date

staff receive training in ligature removal and harmful sexual behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the management oversight of the use of any measure of control, discipline or restraint is prompt and thorough. 11 April 2024

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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

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

ensure that staff— 11 April 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 7 help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(ii) (b)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the visits are undertaken when the children can be seen.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last two inspections and is restated. 11 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 11 April 2024

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or 11 April 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 8 in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that behaviour plans provide staff with clear, up-to-date expectations of standards of behaviour. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11)  The registered person should ensure that they provide a nurturing, homely environment. In particular, redecorate bedroom walls, and ensure that the garden and trampoline are maintained to a good standard (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way. (‘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: SC466786 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Beeches UK Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: SBCH House, 212 Ballards Lane, London N3 2LX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Robinson

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Inspector

Rachel Watkinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC466786 10 regulates and inspects 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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