Children's home run by Carbrey Care Ltd in Gloucester

Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 1 Registered provider: Carbrey Care 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

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to three children. The provider states in the home’s statement of purpose that care is provided for children who have experienced social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2023. The manager is also registered as the manager of one of the provider’s other homes.

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Information about this children’s home

Following an inadequate judgement at the full inspection in May 2023, leaders and managers took strong action to address the vulnerabilities that were raised. As a result, a monitoring inspection in June 2023 found that there was sufficient evidence to change the home’s overall judgement to good.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2023 Full Inadequate 11/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/10/2021 Full Good 30/04/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy in this home and that they get on well with the staff. Children say that the staff listen to them and help them, and that they would not change anything about their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to share their views and wishes about the care that they receive. Children’s thoughts and requests are discussed during staff team meetings, which allows staff to provide children with prompt feedback to demonstrate how they have been listened to. Children say that they are treated fairly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress from their starting points. Children are supported to attend school and achieve well. When children struggle to attend school, staff introduce flexible timetables to help children to gradually increase their confidence in the classroom environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are mostly being met. Children are supported to attend their health appointments and follow the medical advice of professionals. This has led to some children achieving some positive health outcomes. However, there have been some delays in health needs being met due to the unresponsiveness of external professionals. Leaders and managers have taken some action to address this but more is required to ensure that the child gets the support that they need. Children are supported to spend time with their friends and family. Family members can identify the progress that their child has made since living in the home. They say that ‘staff take the time to help [their child].’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has moved out of the home and one child has moved into the home since the last inspection. The child who moved into the home was supported to visit and meet the children and staff who live there. This was a successful move. However, leaders and managers are reviewing their processes for how they assess that staff can meet children’s needs to ensure that it is robust.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is warm and homely. It is clean and tidy, well-furnished, and decorated to a high standard. The home has clearly benefited from ongoing refurbishment and development. Children’s artwork is proudly displayed and there are photos of children on the walls having fun with each other and the staff. Children’s bedrooms are nicely decorated and personalised to children’s tastes.

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

Restraint is rarely used in this home, as staff use a range of strategies to help children to express themselves in safer ways. However, when restraint has been used, it has been necessary and proportionate to the risk of harm to others, and as least intrusive as possible. Following the use of restraint, children are helped to reflect on what happened Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 4 and what they could do differently in the future. Similarly, staff are helped to reflect on the support that they provide so that learning can be identified and shared to inform future practice.

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

When children harm themselves, staff respond with care and compassion. Specialist therapeutic guidance is used to inform staff’s approach when they are faced with these behaviours that they find challenging. Staff seek to understand children’s feelings and offer them alternative strategies to express their emotions. As a result, the frequency of these incidents has reduced.

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

Staff follow the agreed safety plans when children go missing from home. They look for the child in the local area and the places that they may go to. Staff try to contact the child and their friends and report the incident to the police. When children return home, staff are welcoming and curious about the reasons why they ran away.

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

Staff help children to think about the likely consequences of their actions in the wider world. As a result, children are supported to develop socially acceptable behaviours and safe ways to express their emotions.

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

Medication is stored securely and administered safely. However, no consideration has been given to supporting children to develop their understanding of medication, how it is safely managed, or how it should be taken. This is particularly important for children as they approach adulthood.

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

Staff and managers do not fully understand one child’s care arrangements and risk management plans. As a result, it is unclear why some supervisory arrangements are in place. Staff and managers have not thoroughly considered the impact of these arrangements on the child. Furthermore, the child is not being helped to understand the concerns of professionals and how they can reduce risk and build healthy relationships. Leaders and managers have not yet supported the child to access advocacy to ensure that their voice is heard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have taken action to address the requirement and recommendations that were raised at the last inspection. Regular internal audits help managers to maintain oversight of the home, monitor what is going on for children and staff, and take action to address any concerns. Leaders and managers are currently exploring the usefulness of some external audits, as they would like to increase their rigour to help them to identify further areas for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings provide staff with the opportunity to explore children’s individual needs, progress, the barriers to progress, and how staff can support them to achieve positive outcomes. Leaders and managers are in the process of introducing practice workshops for staff to attend with their specialist therapeutic service. It is hoped that this will further develop staff’s understanding of children’s needs and how to respond to them effectively. However, the manager’s workforce plan and staff appraisals do not robustly Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 5 assess staff’s skills or knowledge or identify how staff can be supported to develop their individual practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they enjoy working in the home and feel supported by their colleagues and managers. They say that the environment is homely, and that children benefit from positive relationships and genuine care. Staff highlight that this helps the children to thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Safer recruitment checks are in place. The registered manager has oversight of all checks so that they can determine that staff are suitable to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When the responses from external professionals about the care of children have not been adequate and are adversely impacting children, leaders and managers have not taken sufficient action to challenge professionals and escalate their concerns. Although some external professionals have been contacted to try and ascertain the answers that children need, leaders and managers have been passive when the information has not been forthcoming. As a result, one child remains unsure about how their complex health needs will be met. Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child's placing authority effectively in the child's care, in accordance with the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child's needs; and

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority's or a relevant person's performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child's needs are met in accordance with the child's relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that they challenge and escalate concerns when they consider that the responses from external professionals are insufficient and are detrimentally impacting children's care. 5 August 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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 5 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 7 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(a)(f)(g)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that they listen to the feedback from children and seek a clear rationale from external professionals when children's care planning is not in line with children's views and wishes.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should support children to keep and take their own medication if they are safely able to do so. In particular, the registered person should work with children and external professionals to help children to develop an understanding of their medication and how to safely store and administer it for themselves, in line with their age and ability. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 35, paragraph, 7.16)  The registered person should have a workforce plan that outlines ongoing training and the continuing professional development needs of staff. In particular, the registered person should ensure that the workforce plan and staff appraisals are used to identify when staff would benefit from increased training and guidance to develop their skills and knowledge about the individual care that they provide. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph, 10.8)

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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: 1155761 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Carbrey Care Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3 Ambrose House, Meteor Court, Barnett Way, Barnwood, Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL4 3GG

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Inspectors

Martin Brown, Social Care Inspector Min Sims, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1155761 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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