Children's Home run by Enhanced Young Persons Care Limited in Gateshead

Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 1 Registered provider: Enhanced Young Person’s Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It offers care for up to six children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living at the home at the time of the 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 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: 27 November 2023

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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: 2602558 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/11/2023 Full Good 12/09/2022 Full Good 05/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers speak positively about the children. They adopt a nurturing approach and seek to get to know each child. Staff understand the difficulties the children have experienced in their lives. This means that the children receive care from adults who care about them and who know them well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are comfortable talking to staff about concerns and sensitive subjects. Staff ensure that children feel listened to, while also offering advice. As a result, children learn to manage their emotions better. These open discussions support children to make progress while living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers embed the importance of children accessing education. Staff have regular discussions with the children to understand the barriers they face. Staff offer advice, which has led to one child’s attendance and engagement improving. When children do not attend school or college, staff offer daily encouragement. This includes highlighting opportunities and discussing how to achieve aspirations. One education professional said, ‘Staff are really supportive about trying to get [name of child] into school. They are doing everything they can to support them.’ This supports and encourages children to meet their academic potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager carefully considers the needs of each new child who is due to move into the home, alongside the needs of the children who are already living there. Staff and managers discuss these changes with each of the children, which helps to reduce any anxiety. Most children have a planned move out of the home unless the manager identifies that the children need to move sooner due to the risks identified. The manager liaises with partner agencies to ensure that a suitable alternative home is sought for the child. Where possible, staff support the child to visit and move to their new home. This includes staff keeping in touch afterwards.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the home is decorated and maintained to a good standard. One child helps with improving the home decor, and staff ensure that he is praised for this. The manager has plans to further utilise the garden spaces to make areas more homely.

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

Each child has a detailed and individualised risk assessment and care plan. The plans identify the child’s known behaviours and risks. These plans give staff clear guidance about children’s triggers and the strategies to use to support them. Managers support staff when the children’s needs change or behaviours escalate. This means that children receive consistent responses to the presenting worries.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the risks for each child. Staff speak to the children about worries that they have about them. These discussions help to reduce the known Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 4 risks and support the children to make better informed decisions. Staff recognise the signs when risks may be escalating, such as when a child may be using illegal substances. Managers discuss concerns with partner agencies. This results in staff implementing new strategies to safeguard the children.

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

The need for staff to hold the children has reduced. Staff use de-escalation techniques in line with the child’s individual plan. The managers have oversight of all incidents and address any concerns about staff’s practice. As a result, managers support the staff to learn from incidents to improve the quality of care for children.

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

When a child leaves the home and does not return when planned, staff take a proactive response to locate them. They actively search for the child and communicate with others. This supports children to be safely found and returned to the home.

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

The managers ensure that bedroom searches and consequences given to children are proportionate. They support staff to recognise when consequences are not suitable. This supports a consistent approach to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff describe the managers as ‘supportive’ and ‘approachable’. Staff value that the managers understand their role. One member of staff said, ‘[Name of manager] used to work with us. Being on shift with [name of manager] is all structured and when she took over as manager it is the same.’ This means that staff trust the managers and in turn enjoy supporting the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers ensure that staff receive regular supervision sessions and team meetings. These sessions are reflective and address any staff practice issues. This ensures that the team has a focus on learning from incidents to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff access a range of training. Monitoring takes place to ensure that training is up to date. The manager is proactive in identifying training in line with the children’s needs, for example to equip staff ahead of a new child moving into the home who has a health need. This means that staff have the relevant knowledge and skills to best support the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have auditing systems in place. Despite this, one child’s statutory documents were not acquired in a timely manner. This prevents staff from having the most up-to-date information to care for the children. The provider has plans to implement an escalation policy so that staff know who to approach and when, although this is not yet in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers have addressed all the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. They value feedback, for example, from the independent person. This means that managers have a focus on service improvement to provide a high level of care to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 5

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs.

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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 (b)(c)) 30 July 2024

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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: 2602558 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Enhanced Young Person’s Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Fox Street, Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE10 OBD

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Inspector

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2602558 7 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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