Children's Home run by Wakefield Council in Wakefield

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 1 SC033808 Registered provider: Wakefield Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home offers a short-breaks service and provides care for up to seven children. who may have physical or learning disabilities and/or sensory impairment.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, the registered manager was not working in the home, and interim management arrangements were in place.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 19 and 20 December 2023. The inspectors found shortfalls and regulatory breaches. As a result, three compliance notices were issued under Regulations 12, 13 and 14. A monitoring visit took place on 1 February 2024, and compliance notices were found to be met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2023 Full Inadequate 20/02/2023 Full Good 19/01/2022 Full Good 27/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The positive changes in the running of the home since the last inspection have been sustained. This has led to improved outcomes for all children and a staff team that is happy and working well together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children were observed to be happy and relaxed during their visits to the home. Interactions showed that children feel connected to staff and look to them for their needs to be met. Children are cared for by staff who provide them with high levels of nurture and attention.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand how each child communicates and can read their nonverbal cues. Staff work with children’s schools and speech and language therapists to ensure children’s communication needs are met and that they have appropriate communication aids available to them in the home. In addition, all staff have now received training in the specific communication needs of the children they care for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know their opinions matter. Their views are regularly sought through children’s meetings and children’s council meetings. Where possible, children are given a choice of which room they would like to stay in. When children’s wishes cannot be followed through, staff support children to understand why. Staff advocate strongly for children and ensure that their voice is heard, for example when one child wanted to be cared for in a different way and this view was not supported by professionals or family members.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy taking part in activities in the home, such as going to the park and playing football. Children were observed to be relaxed and having fun during their short breaks and have developed positive relationships with children they stay with. One child wrote a letter to their friend and drew pictures about the positive things they experienced at the home. They told the inspectors that they would recommend the home to their friend because it is very good.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop their independence through targeted activities that increase their self-help skills, including making their own bed and visiting the supermarket as part of meal planning. Children are supported to identify their own targets and have a say in how they are achieved. Children’s achievements, both great and small, are celebrated in equal measure. Children are developing confidence and have increased autonomy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child lives with a fostering family. No one from the home has attended the child’s review meetings. This means that staff are not informed as to the child’s current needs or how best to meet them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who attend the home have a range of complex health needs. Overall, these needs are well understood and met, and the staff work in collaboration with health Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 4 professionals to ensure they know how best to meet children’s medical needs. However, one child who has a specific health condition did not have a relevant plan in their records informing staff how they should be cared for.

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

Children experience consistency because the staff team is stable and knows them well. Children have developed trust in staff because they are provided with consistent responses. Staff told inspectors how the changes in the home have made a positive difference to children.

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

Risk to children is well understood. Children’s risk assessments are individualised and cover all associated risks. They set out clearly what staff must do to reduce risks to children and ensure their safety. Staff take a balanced approach to risk and ensure that children are supported to take measured risks in line with their age and developmental stage. In addition, staff develop social stories to support children to learn about risk and how to keep safe, for example road safety and people we can trust. This is helping children to develop confidence in their own abilities.

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

Children are provided with a safe and secure physical environment. Children have not been missing from the home. Where risk is identified, for example where there are concerns about the security of doors, action is taken quickly to address this. One child’s plan had not been updated with their new social worker, and another did not identify the child’s communication needs. A lack of management oversight of these records means that children’s missing-from-home plans do not always contain current information.

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

Physical intervention has been used on five occasions where it was needed to ensure that a child was kept safe from harm. Staff record the holds in good detail, and the manager evaluates the effectiveness of the hold and considers any learning. However, children’s views and feelings are not always captured. This hinders the manager’s ability to fully understand children’s experiences of being held.

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

When serious incidents occur, staff are confident to raise the matter with managers. Managers act quickly, and thorough investigations take place. Effective evaluation is helping the manager to understand practice in the home and where changes are needed. Any learning is communicated well to all staff. However, for one serious incident, a notification was not made to Ofsted. This does not help the regulator to have effective oversight.

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

Children’s medication is now well managed, and this has led to a reduction in the number of medication errors. Staff are clear on what they need to do because they have had good-quality training that has driven home the risks of getting it wrong for children. Communication with parents in relation to medicine and medication is effective. Parents are supported to understand their responsibilities in ensuring their children visit the home with the correct medication. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 5 Fire safety is taken seriously. Children and staff take part in routine fire drill exercises, and each child has an individualised evacuation plan that sets out what support they need to get to safety should there be a need to evacuate the home.

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

The registered manager is not currently working in the home, and there has not been a consistent manager since the last inspection. However, there has been consistent oversight provided by the home’s operations manager who visits the home.

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

A new interim manager has been in post for less than one month. They have started to gain an understanding of the strengths and areas for development of the home and have put plans into place to address shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home. For example, they recently introduced a monthly audit of children’s records and management tasks. It is too soon yet to understand the impact of this work.

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

Management oversight is not yet consistently present across all areas of the running of the home. For one child placed outside their local authority, effective arrangements for reviewing the child’s experiences, information-sharing or partnership working are not in place. The manager cannot be assured that the child is receiving care that is consistent with the local authority’s expectations.

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

Staff are required to closely supervise children on computer games to prevent them accessing inappropriate or unsafe internet sites because sufficient internet safety mechanisms are not in place. While this action does keep children safe from harm, children who do not require such close supervision are experiencing a reduction in their personal space and freedom.

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

The most recent review of service report that was submitted to Ofsted is poor in quality and lacks evaluation. The review does not consider the impact of practice on children’s experiences. The interim manager demonstrates a good understanding of what is required from the review of service and has started work on the next report, which is not yet due.

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

Children’s plans are not always reviewed or kept up to date. For example, one child’s plan had not been reviewed for more than 14 months, despite there being significant changes in how the child presents. Although managers could say what the child needed, the child’s plans do not reflect the most up-to-date information. This could create confusion about what the child needs and lead to the child receiving inconsistent care.

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

Staff speak positively about the changes to the leadership and management of the home that have taken place since the last inspection. They say they feel well supported by managers and that the culture in the home has developed a learning culture based on transparency and open communication. Staff meet each month with managers and discuss relevant matters, including the children, plans for the home and areas for development. Those staff who are unable to attend receive detailed minutes of the discussions, which ensure all staff receive information consistently. Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 6 Staff receive regular supervision in line with the home’s procedures. Supervision helps staff to consider the impact of their practice in relation to individual children through reflective discussions. Supervision is also a time where staff can talk about personal matters and discuss their training and development needs.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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; and

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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;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s care plans are reviewed and amended as children’s needs change so that they remain relevant. Children who have specific health needs that are overseen by a health professional, such as an epilepsy specialist nurse, must have copies of the relevant plans in their records. 5 July 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— 5 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 8 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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; and

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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)(a)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are receiving care in line with their plans; that there are effective systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care that children receive; that the review of service report evaluates children’s experiences of staying at the home and the impact of the care they receive; that effective collaboration is in place between the home and children’s local authorities to ensure that children’s needs are understood and met; and that sufficient internet safeguards are in place to ensure that children are not experiencing levels of adult supervision that are excessive for their needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 5 July 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that when children experience being physically held by staff to keep them safe, they are offered the opportunity to talk about their experiences and feelings. For children who are pre-verbal or nonverbal, the registered person should ensure that staff use their knowledge of the child to understand what the child is communicating. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60) Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 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: SC033808 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Bond Street, Wakefield WF1 2QW

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Cheryl Whitehouse

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Inspectors

Rachel Walker, Social Care Inspector Gina Lightfoot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC033808 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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