Children's Home run by Bess Solutions Limited in Leicestershire

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 1 Registered provider: Bess Solutions 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. The home provides care for up to two children who may have social and emotional difficulties or autism spectrum disorder.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living in the home at the time of the visit.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has left the organisation and a new manager has been appointed. They are not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector has looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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Findings from the inspection

At the last full inspection, three statutory requirements were set and one recommendation. At this assurance inspection two of these requirements have not been met and are reset. The recommendation is also not met and a further three recommendations have been made.

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Findings from the inspection

The child living in the home experienced a positive and planned move to the home. This helped the child to settle quickly into the home and helped staff to quickly gain a more in-depth understanding of his needs. His social worker said, ‘I think it was managed really well and they [staff] shared lots about the home.’ Another child left the home to live with family, and this was positive for the child. The staff team remained in contact with the child’s family.

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Findings from the inspection

One child’s admission was not subject to good planning and the members of the staff team were not able to meet his needs. This meant the child had a negative experience and was moved quickly.

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Findings from the inspection

The child living in the home is safeguarded effectively. Staff have built trusting relationships with him, and as a result he feels safe. The manager and staff have developed risk assessments and care plans that are individual to the child. This helps staff understand and support different behaviours. The child has made good progress with some risks reducing over time. However, some of the plans are not yet amended to reflect this.

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Findings from the inspection

Some safety plans for children were not up to date. Children who went missing from care or who were at risk of exploitation did not have effective plans in place to reduce these risks. It was not clear that risk assessments were being read by staff and that they understood them. There are some gaps in staff training and development in relation to safeguarding.

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Findings from the inspection

The current child has no education placement identified. The manager and staff have been working together with the local authority to identify a suitable school. There is a tutor, who supports the child in the home, but this can be inconsistent due to the child’s needs. Also, the hours provided are low. The staff are willing to provide other educational activities and informal learning opportunities. However, this isn’t always well planned or reflected on to ensure better outcomes for the child.

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Findings from the inspection

There has been an improvement in the records that the home keeps. However, some records around incidents are written in a way that stigmatises the child. Some of the recording of conversations and meetings with children do not reflect the child’s needs or stage of development. This means they may be unhelpful to the child if they read them. Staff are using advice and guidance from external agencies, such as the community adolescent mental health services, to good effect. The staff are Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 3 developing their understanding of children’s behaviours and methods of communication.

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Findings from the inspection

The registered manager has recently left. Staff do not receive regular supervision. This means they have not always had opportunity to share concerns about care practice. There was not an effective system in place for staff to seek support out of hours. The organisation has appointed a new manager. The new manger is experienced in the role. The new manager has high expectations for the children and staff.

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Findings from the inspection

The home’s Statement of Purpose is not accurate and does not reflect the home’s registration. This document is also unclear in relation to the home accepting emergency placements. The document has no detail on how the home supports children with no education placement or who have been excluded. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/04/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 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 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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring an effective induction and robust safeguarding plans from the start for children moving into the home. 27 July 2024

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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

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; 27 July 2024 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 6 help each child to understand how to keep safe; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that staff have the skills and knowledge to support children to keep safe from the start of their placements at the home.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the homes policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The information set out in the Statement of Purpose is an essential part of the process of agreement between the registered person and placing authority.

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Recommendations

Emergency admissions should not be taken unless the home’s Statement of Purpose and it’s capacity to support systems mean that it has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice while continuing to offer high quality care to children already living at the home. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)  Those with a leadership and management role should be visible and accessible to staff and able to deliver their leadership and management responsibilities. Any registered manager employed in the home should have sufficient capacity to ensure that the Quality Standards are met for each child in the home. (‘Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bess Solutions Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 194 Narborough Road South, Leicester LE3 2LD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jason Darbyshire

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Inspector

Chris Haines, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2652672 8 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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