Children's Home run by Progressive Futures Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 1 SC061924 Registered provider: Progressive Futures 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

A private company owns this home, which provides care for up to three children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/07/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/03/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There were three children living in the home at the time of the inspection. Since the last inspection, two children have moved in. They have settled in well and have developed good relationships with staff. Plans were made for one child to visit the home prior to his move. However, plans changed, and the child moved in more quickly than anticipated. As a result, the child became upset and subsequently went missing from care. The manager did not challenge the local authority effectively to ensure a more robust plan was put in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

More recently, when another child moved into the home, they were not given an opportunity to visit the home beforehand. However, staff ensured that the child was welcomed sensitively, and they gathered as much information as possible on the child’s arrival. Additionally, the needs and feelings of the other children living in the home were fully considered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to see their families. The manager considers how best to plan and manage arrangements in the interests of the children. One parent said: ‘I was really pleased with at the support from the staff to help facilitate a trip to the zoo and we had a fantastic family day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been some staffing changes since the last inspection. However, the team is now stable. The inspector observed nurturing, warm relationships with each child. Children said they were happy living in the home. One child said: ‘I love living here. Staff have really helped me with my emotional well-being, they care and listen to me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are doing well with their education. One child who has lived in the home for a few weeks is attending school on a full-time basis. Another child is making good progress after not attending any formal education for several years. One professional said: ‘This is the most settled I have seen [name of child] and he is engaging well.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s bedrooms are personalised, and they say they have everything they need. However, there are areas in the home that require attention. For example, there is a hole in the kitchen flooring and a stain on the lounge carpet. Additionally, the bathroom requires updating. This detracts from the homely ethos the staff are working hard to achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that all children are helped to have their health needs met. They are all registered with general health services. One child has recently attended a medical review. Staff work collaboratively with specialist services, such as the child and adolescent mental health team, to support children with their emotional well-being. They regularly visit the home to provide staff with guidance and strategies.

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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 4 Safeguarding practices in the home are good. Staff know the children well and understand their risks and vulnerabilities. Children have risk assessments in place that are regularly reviewed. These provide staff with the necessary guidance to follow. There have been occasions when children have gone missing from the home. However, staff ensure they have liaised with all relevant professionals to share information. They search for the children and support them on their return. Children said they can go to staff with any problems that they may have.

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

Overall, staff manage incidents well. They are skilled in de-escalating situations by showing they care, and following incidents they encourage children to share their feelings. As a result, restraint practices have not been required. There have been significant improvements in the recording of incidents. These are now much clearer and more detailed. Furthermore, there is good management oversight across all records.

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

Good-quality key-work sessions take place and the use of online training resources for children helps them understand dangers in the community, how to make positive relationships with others and how to stay safe online.

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

Robust recruitment procedures are not in place. Some records of recruitment do not demonstrate that staff have a full employment history. Where there are gaps in their employment, the manager has not taken sufficient action to explore this. This means that potentially unsuitable adults could be employed at the home.

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

The staff know how to whistle-blow and whom they should contact should they have safeguarding concerns. However, not all staff were clear on the role of the local authority designated officer (LADO). The manager has plans in place to revisit this through team meetings. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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

There is safe storage and robust procedures in place for all medications. This ensures that children have the appropriate and correct medication that they need to maintain their emotional well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last full inspection, a new manager has been appointed. She is suitably experienced and is currently working on a level 5 diploma in residential childcare. The new manager has had a positive impact on the home. Staff say that she is supportive, and they have seen improvements in the day-to-day running of the home. The manager is dedicated, passionate and child-focused. She strives to drive improvements and wants the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, improvements have been made in the quality of records. The new manager has robust oversight across the internal monitoring systems. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 5 The manager recently produced a report about the quality of care at the home. However, this lacks analysis, evaluation and an action plan. Additionally, the report was not sent to the regulator within the required time frame. This reduces the capacity of the manager to have a thorough understanding of the strengths and areas of development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures she notifies and updates the regulator when a serious incident occurs. However, there was one occasion when a notification was delayed. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good transparent relationships with professionals have been developed. Professionals were complimentary about the excellent levels of communication. One professional said: ‘Staff have gone above and beyond to support [name of child] for independence and moving on into adulthood.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monthly team meetings provide a good forum to share information about the children’s plans and progress. All new staff receive a good-quality induction. They familiarise themselves with policies, procedures and children’s case records. New staff are given opportunities to shadow team members when they first join the team. Furthermore, staff receive regular good-quality supervision. Records capture reflective discussions of staff’s performance and what has gone well and what actions are required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have opportunities to receive training that develops their understanding, knowledge and skills which is relevant to needs of the children they are supporting. Training is also discussed in supervision sessions and team meetings. Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 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

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.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the manager challenges the local authority effectively when children’s moving-in plans are not sufficiently robust. 12 July 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

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

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Requirement Due date

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

This specifically relates to ensuring that the kitchen floor is replaced and that walls are painted to freshen up the decor. The lounge carpet should be cleaned to remove a stain. Additionally, the bathroom requires updating as it looks tired and worn. 12 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 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, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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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

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff have a full employment history on file, and where there are gaps that these have been fully explored by the manager. 12 July 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”). 12 July 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 8 The registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff working in the home undertake a refresher course on their understanding of the role of the LADO in line with their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.21)  The registered person should ensure that all notifications under regulation 40 are sent to the regulator in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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: SC061924 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Futures Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 55 Hoghton Street, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0PG

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Inspector

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC061924 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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