Children's home run by Potensial Limited

Inspection report children's home: SC489820 1 SC489820 Registered provider: Potensial Ltd

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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 home is operated by an independent national company. The home provides care for up to four children who have learning disabilities. There are currently three children living in the home. All three children were seen and spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2024.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC489820 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/01/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/09/2022 Full Good 04/08/2021 Full Good 15/01/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC489820 3

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improvement to be good

The implementation of improvements required in this home is too slow. Continued staffing challenges impact on the progress the manager makes. New staff are getting to know children and their interests, which takes time. Inexperienced staff require training and upskilling from the manager and others. This detracts from the time the manager spends on improving and developing the care children receive.

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improvement to be good

Staff carefully plan the time that children spend together. Children have their own spaces within the home and enjoy time apart as well as more organised time together. Two children recently enjoyed a trip to a local museum. One child attends a local drama group and enjoys practicing for pantomime performances. In the home, children enjoy time on their technology devices or playing. Staff help children to make progress towards identified targets.

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improvement to be good

The manager helps children to spend time with their families. One child enjoyed a holiday with their family for their birthday, with support from staff. Another child has regular sleepovers at their family home. Staff recognise and understand the importance of children’s lifelong relationships with family. One parent shared that she feels staff support her child well, and is appreciative of the way their support enables her to spend quality time with them.

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improvement to be good

Two children attend school. Staff support and promote this as a positive activity for children. The manager works closely with school staff to ensure children have good experiences. Effective communication means that staff know when a child might have had a tricky day at school. Staff then help the child to talk through anything they need to. Plans are in place to identify a college locally for the third child.

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improvement to be good

One child has moved into the home. This was carefully planned, involving the manager meeting with social workers for the two children already living in the home to discuss how the children might get on. This child has made significant progress in a short space of time. The manager also prepares for children moving on as they get older. She encourages staff to think about how to adapt support to best prepare children for the next stage in their life.

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improvement to be good

The manager has introduced new sensory and colourful items on the walls in the lounge. While this is an improvement on the previously bare space, the home does not offer a welcoming and homely environment. Curtains are not properly fitted on the rails in most rooms, and walls are scuffed. Several decorative jobs are in progress but are not completed. Inspection report children's home: SC489820 4

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to be safe. Staff intervene when necessary to reduce the risk of them harming each other. When incidents do occur, staff generally record the narrative of the event effectively. Staff use de-escalation techniques to avoid the need for restraint when possible. Staff speak with children after incidents that occur in the home, looking for opportunities to teach them about safety and respect for others. When necessary, staff use communication tools to help children’s understanding.

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improvement to be good

Restraint has been used for one child, on 32 occasions since the last inspection. The manager monitors incidents and has identified that restraint is in the early stages of reducing in frequency. This child’s support plan is regularly updated. In addition, a protocol is in place which outlines specific support the child needs. However, these two documents to not read cohesively, or refer to each other. An agreed script is in place to help the child manage their expectations of staff, but this is not recorded well. As a result, it is not clear that staff all know and follow the same guidance. Similar concerns about inconsistent plans are seen with another child. Following an incident during medication administration, one child takes their medication alone in a quiet part of the home. However, this is not reflected in the child’s plans and it is not clear that this practice is followed.

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improvement to be good

After incidents, staff and children have conversations about what happened. However, these conversations are not always recorded in sufficient detail, or clearly located. After incidents of restraint, children are not always asked how they felt about the restraint. Some conversations only record what staff said to children and not the responses. Conversations with staff overly focus on exploring the potential cause of the incident. As such, staff do not always explore how they felt about their intervention, or what support they might need. These limited conversations mean the manager does not fully understand the impact of incidents, or wholly identify the learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff receive training in safeguarding. However, processes in the home to record and report concerns are unclear. Staff record observations of concern in daily records, but it is not then clear how that information is escalated, and what action is taken. A similar lack of clarity is seen when practice issues are identified. Following a medication audit, concerns were seen about staff practice. The manager could not detail any conversations that took place about the incident, and did not identify whether there was a further learning need for the member of staff involved. Because processes are not clear, it cannot be seen that the manager has full oversight of concerns in the home, and that they take appropriate action.

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

The manager is child focused and provides sound leadership to prepare children for the next stage in their lives. However, other areas are less developed. . Support for new, inexperienced staff is lacking. New staff do not have regular opportunities to meet with senior staff for supervision. As such, they are left experiencing challenging situations Inspection report children's home: SC489820 5 without sufficient support to reflect on this and strengthen their resilience. Bespoke training has been organised to help build staff skills. However, this is not embedded and requires consolidation. The manager has not reviewed the effectiveness of this training to know whether staff understand what is expected of them.

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

The manager ensures recruitment of temporary staff is thorough and completes relevant checks. However, recruitment of permanent staff is not robust. The manager does not record a rationale for recruitment decisions, such as why they have employed someone who was previously dismissed. The manager failed to risk assess the circumstances before allowing a member of staff to start working when their disclosure and barring check had not returned. Recent interviews have been conducted by the manager alone, which is not in line with safer recruitment practice.

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

Management oversight of incidents and concerns in the home does not offer professional challenge or scrutiny. The manager does not use curiosity to draw out all learning, and it is not always clear what action has been identified in relation to concerns that arise. This limits the learning for all staff. The managers monitoring systems for incidents in the home, including restraint, does not provide a clear picture of overall practice in the home.

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

Organisational gaps in record keeping means that information about children is not always concise and clear. Care plan files are out of order, and key information about children is not readily accessible. For example, information about their daily plans and routines. Old information is still in files, which creates confusion, and it is not clear what information is still relevant. Children’s plans fail to outline information about children’s culture and identity and how staff can support this.

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

The manager builds positive relationships with professionals who support the children. One social worker commented on the effective joint working to create plans for their child.

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

The manager has support from the wider organisation. This includes unannounced visits to review the quality of care in the home. While well intentioned, these visits have not identified all of the areas for improvement. Leaders and managers recognise the weaknesses in the home and are in the early stages of developing plans to address them. Inspection report children's home: SC489820 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, 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 promotes their welfare.

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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 work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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

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;

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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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that management oversight of incidents in the home critically reflects on the actions taken and are used to understand where improvements are needed. In addition, ensure that learning from incidents is reviewed with staff, to support the promotion of a positive and supportive working culture. The registered person should ensure they review the effectiveness of the learning they provide to develop staff skills.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is partially restated. 2 August 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC489820 7 The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children's home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person has taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about each of the matters in Schedule 2 in respect of the individual, but the enquiries in relation to any of the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2;

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the circumstances are exceptional; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered person ensures that the individual is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual's duties, pending receipt of any outstanding information on the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2, which is then considered satisfactory by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d) (7)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure there is a clear rationale and consideration of risks in line with the regulations when a person starts work without all of their checks being completed. 5 July 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC489820 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they review children's plans and paperwork to ensure they are current, relevant and cross referencing is clear when this is necessary. They should ensure that plans contain information about a child's culture and identity. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure recruitment is robust, with clear rationale for decisions made when concerns are identified. The registered person should ensure safe recruitment practices are considered. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the home environment is warm, welcoming and well maintained. They should address the scuffed and marked walls, and the window dressings to ensure a homely, well cared for environment. ('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 conversations after incidents offer children the opportunity to talk about what has happened, as well as why. The registered person should also ensure staff conversations reflect on the child's experiences as well as the behaviour. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 50, paragraph 9.60)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there are clear processes in place for staff to highlight and record concerns about children. These should also identify the action taken in response. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.10)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure all staff receive supervision which helps them to reflect on their practice and experiences of caring for children. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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 children's home: SC489820 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Potens, 68 Grange Road West, Birkenhead, CH41 4DB

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Bettina Jeppesen

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Inspectors

Clare Nixson, social care inspector Katie Ratcliffe, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC489820 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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