Children's Home run by Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited in Hounslow

Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 1 SC409851 Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run children’s home provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in June 2010. The manager registered in July 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2023 Full Good 17/05/2022 Full Good 20/10/2021 Full Good 21/01/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by friendly and nurturing staff. This helps them to develop trusting relationships with staff. Staff encourage children to speak with them whenever they need support. A child who is new to the home has settled quickly and is responding well to staff support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good care from staff who are motivated to support children to do well. Staff understand children’s needs and they provide care in a way that helps children to make progress and thrive. In a recent survey, a child praised staff for the support they give them. The child said they are much better at resisting peer pressure because of the manager’s advice. Staff’s support helps children to develop the skills they need to manage challenging situations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to provide feedback through children’s meetings and formal or informal conversations with staff. This helps children to feel that they are listened to and trusted to contribute to the development of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children get support to take part in activities they enjoy. Staff plan activities with the children and they encourage them to participate to develop their skills and interests. Children will further benefit from staff helping them to have a wide range of experiences, including going on holiday.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers are ambitious about children attending school or college, so that children can achieve their full potential. The manager is working with other professionals to ensure that children consistently attend and are settled in school or college. The manager said, ‘Education is so important for us in this home.’ Staff also help children to learn skills they will use in adult life. This includes helping a child to enrol on a course that develops their confidence and employment skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children get the right support to meet their health needs. Managers and staff make sure that children are seen by the right professionals to promote their health and well-being. There is good and detailed guidance to help one child and staff to understand and manage well the child’s long-term health condition. This helps to ensure that the condition remains stable and that it does not prevent the child from living an active life.

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

Children are safe and they receive care from staff who understand how to keep them safe. A child said that they feel safe living at the home. External professionals had no concerns about the safety of the children.

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

There are few incidents of concern at the home. There has been a reduction in incidents of a child not returning to the home at agreed times when they have visited friends. Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 4 Staff continue to support children to understand how to stay safe when they are away from the home. Professionals said that staff share concerns about children in a timely way.

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

There has been some refurbishment work done to make the home a safe and pleasant place for children to live in. The home is clean and tidy. However, more work needs to be done to enhance the feel of the home. For example, curtains in the lounge were not properly fitted to provide adequate shade from direct sunlight when children want to watch the television. The walls in the lounge could benefit from artwork made or chosen by the children.

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

Managers carry out necessary employment checks to make sure staff are suitable to work at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers have failed to make sure that the two vacant children’s bedrooms are ready for children to move into. The bedrooms have been redecorated but one of them is being used as staff sleep-in room. The other contains a child’s property that is yet to be checked and moved to their bedroom. This is not consistent with the home’s registration conditions and the statement of purpose. A requirement in relation to this was made at the last inspection and has been restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is an experienced manager who has provided stability to the home. However, leaders have not taken effective action to reduce staff turnover. Most of the staff have been at the home for less than six months. This does not support continuity of care for the children and could lead to children not making good progress. This has also meant that the manager works regularly alongside staff to ensure children get good care. Because of this, some records were not up to date, or the manager could not easily find them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff said the manager is busy and could do with support with her leadership and management role. A deputy manager has been employed and is due to start at the home in June 2024. The manager said this will help her to spend more time reviewing and improving the quality of records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The responsible individual is involved in the running of the home. However, this means that the manager does not always have control of decision-making. For example, during the inspection, the manager had to contact the responsible individual, who was abroad, a few times to ask for information or about records. T he manager did not have access to some employment records that are kept in the responsible individual’s office. The manager is taking steps to improve access to records and there was no evidence that children were at risk because of this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager did not know when further improvements would be made to the home, including repairs to the office floor. The manager does not have control of the home’s budget. This means that improvements to the home cannot be made unless the responsible individual is available to authorise them and provide the money. Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 5 The home’s record-keeping processes do not support staff to keep and update records in a timely way. The home keeps mainly paper records for staff and children. Records in files were not always up to date. This may lead to staff not having the right information to provide safe and effective care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff said that they receive the right training and information for their roles and that they have formal support in the form of supervision and team meetings. They said the manager is approachable and very supportive. External professionals were positive about how well managers work with them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to ensuring that staff turnover is minimal, to promote continuity of care for the children. Also, there should be a more robust record-keeping system so that staff are able to access and update all records in a timely way. 3 June 2024

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 and apply the home’s statement of purpose; 3 June 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 7 ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all children’s bedrooms, including those that are vacant, are suitably furnished and maintained to meet the children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they monitor and review the patterns and trends of turnover of staff, whether agency or directly employed, and be able to understand and, where possible, address any negative trends. In particular, they should put in place systems to promote staff retention. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.19)  The registered person should ensure that the home provides a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. In particular, they should ensure that all areas of the home provide a nice and comfortable place for children to live in. This includes appropriate curtains being fitted in all the rooms, garden furniture being available for use by children and that repairs are done quickly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities both inside and outside the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. This includes children having opportunities to make and display their artwork around the home, and having access to a variety of books, board games and garden games. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.5)  The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice, as set out in regulations 31 to 33. This relates to ensuring that the manager has access to all employment records and can evidence that employment checks, including interview records and references, are completed in full before staff start working at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 8

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: SC409851 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited

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Inspector

Thobekile Bandama, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC409851 10 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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