Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 1 Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living in the home at the time of the inspection. They all spoke with the inspector about their experiences living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

A manager has been appointed and has applied to register 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 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: 15 November 2022

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/12/2021 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/04/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy living in the home. They are helped to develop positive relationships with staff, who interact with them in ways that make them feel valued and respected. This helps children to develop a sense of identity and enables them to express their opinions and views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are all helped to engage in their education. One parent said that their child would not have been able to return to education without the support of the manager. The staff communicate effectively with education professionals to ensure that information is shared. This helps children to feel supported and to view school as a positive place for them to be.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to regularly spend time with people who are important to them. Staff have positive relationships with children’s parents and carers. They keep them updated about their child’s progress and involve them in their care. This ensures that children stay connected to their families and can continue to benefit from these relationships into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well promoted. Staff provide high levels of nurture to help children overcome any fears they may have about receiving treatment and support them to attend all their health appointments. Children enjoy a healthy range of meals and are encouraged to take turns with cooking. This means children understand the importance of making healthy choices, alongside developing skills for becoming more independent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have areas in the home where they can relax and enjoy their free time. There are two sitting rooms for watching films or gaming and a sensory room to have some quiet time. Children’s bedrooms are spacious and personalised. However, there is minor damage in some areas of the home, including to paintwork on bedroom doors, and frayed carpet, a loose blind cord and a broken office chair, which have not been repaired or replaced in a timely manner. Together with the use of commercial ‘wet floor’ signs, these issues all detract from the homely environment that the manager is trying to create.

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

Children are safeguarded effectively. Staff are professionally curious and are able to talk to children about issues that are affecting them, such as knife crime. This ensures that children have an awareness of the risks they may be exposed to inside and outside the home and that staff know what is going on for children.

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

Staff receive training that is tailored to the individual needs of children, including in online safety, exploitation and radicalisation. This means that staff are confident in identifying signs of risk and know how to respond effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 4 Children rarely go missing from the home. When incidents do occur, staff respond quickly and effectively. However, children’s risk management plans do not include consistent guidance for staff to follow to keep children safe or do not accurately reflect current practice in the home. This limits management oversight and is a missed opportunity to ensure that staff respond to children consistently.

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

When children are struggling with overwhelming feelings, staff seek alternative strategies to support them. Consequently, staff rarely need to hold children to keep them safe. When incidents do occur, they are recorded accurately and debriefs are carried out with the staff and children involved. However, the name of the author of the report is not included.

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

Staff are proactive in working with external professionals and refer children to specialist services when their expertise is needed. They share relevant information and use any learning to develop practice in the home. However, minutes from meetings are not always kept on children’s files. This reduces opportunities to ensure that all staff have access to the most up-to-date information about children.

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

The rationale for the routine use of sensors in the hallway outside children’s bedrooms is not clearly reflected in children’s plans and is not kept under regular review. This unnecessarily limits children’s privacy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been changes to the management team since the last inspection. The manager is supported by an acting deputy manager. Managers are child-centred and promote a culture of inclusion in the home. Staff feel supported and say that they enjoy working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are embedding reflective practice in the home. Staff have access to regular supervision sessions and team meetings where they talk about the progress of the children and any areas of practice they can improve on. This ensures that staff are continuously improving the care provided to children. However, a change in recording systems meant that the records of the manager’s supervision sessions had not been uploaded to her supervision file. The responsible individual took swift action to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment practices are followed. All staff receive a thorough induction and work alongside more experienced staff members. Children spend time getting to know the staff before choosing who they would like as a key worker. This ensures that there is continuity of care for children when there are changes in staffing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use internal and external monitoring systems to continually review and develop practice in the home. Although recording shortfalls identified during the inspection had not impacted on children, they limit management oversight and had not been identified. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 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 registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the use of hall sensors is thoroughly assessed in respect of each child, and only used as a safeguarding measure. Any use of monitors must also be kept under regular review, with a clear rationale for their use. 3 May 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all records in the home are maintained to a high standard, that children’s plans contain consistent information and reflect 3 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 6 current practice in the home, that the author of records is clearly identified and that supervision records and minutes from meetings are held in the relevant files.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children live in a warm and welcoming environment that has a homely feel. Signs used should not be institutional and any damage to paintwork on the children’s bedroom doors, furniture and carpets should be repaired or replaced in a timely manner and cords on blinds should be secured. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 2594033 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3, Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens WA10 1GJ

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Inspector

Sarah Gilbert, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2594033 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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