Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 1 SC035543 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire 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

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to six children who may have social and emotional difficulties. There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Three children were spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified, and registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/06/2023 Full Good 25/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/12/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/08/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel safe and have trusting relationships with staff. Staff are knowledgeable and speak passionately about the children. One child said that they feel safe and know that staff will always help them. Another child does not feel safe in the community and will only leave the home if staff support her; this child trusts staff to keep them safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to enjoy activities and new experiences. Children benefit from the wider opportunities, which include learning experiences. These are captured in photos, which are put in the child’s files as memories that they can reflect on in the future. The purpose of these activities is for each child to experience new opportunities or develop their hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is promoted for all children although not all children are in full-time education. The registered manager and staff challenge the education offer when it is not meeting the needs of the children. Staff are ambitious for children to achieve their potential in education supply learning opportunities to support educational activity and advocate for a return to full-time education as soon as possible. To promote this, staff maintain effective communication with education professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to be healthy and manage health conditions. Children’s health needs are identified when they are admitted to the home. Children are registered with, and have access to, local healthcare provisions to ensure that their needs are addressed. The arrangement for managing medication is safe and effective. Children and staff benefit from the support of a clinical professional who works directly with each child in the home. This means that children receive care provided by staff who are informed about the impact of trauma and can support the children’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment needs repair. The registered manager and staff regularly challenge the providers to secure the repair work needed. However, repairs are still outstanding. The outstanding work is having an impact on the warm and nurturing feel of the home. This means that children are living in a home with visible damage, which is not being repaired promptly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children cannot always access all areas of the home. There are doors in the home that are locked, which prevents children from accessing their bedrooms independently. This is not an assessed need in the children’s risk assessments.

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

Children feel safe and are supported to build positive relationships with staff to enhance the quality of care. Staff have made multi-agency links and built relationships with professionals. The feedback from professionals is positive. Children and their family Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 4 members say that children feel safe in the home. One family member said that their child is safe, and they have no worries at all.

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

Children’s safety is promoted through robust risk assessments, which are updated regularly. Missing-from-home plans are detailed and give guidance to staff. Staff act in line with the plans to find children who are missing and ensure that a return-home interview is completed by an independent person. However, some written missing-from-home records lack detail and oversight from the registered manager, and some records are not fully completed by staff. Not all return-home interview documents can be found easily. This could cause a delay in effective information-sharing.

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

Children are supported to understand risk. Link sessions are completed to help children to gain knowledge and understanding of risks to make informed decisions that will help to keep them safe. Incentives are used to promote and reward safe decision-making and celebrate individual success for each child according to their starting points.

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

Staff are skilled at de-escalation strategies to support safety. Physical interventions are used only when necessary and proportionate. There have been no physical interventions during this inspection period. Children’s behaviours are understood, and consequences are not extensive. However, there is no evidence of a restorative approach, which would support a level of learning. The consequences that are recorded are more punitive.

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

Some fire doors in the home are not fit for purpose. This means that not all the fire doors are effective. In the event of a fire, children and staff in the home could be put at greater risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A permanent and qualified registered manager manages the home. There is a consistent staff team who are knowledgeable in the model of care to meet the needs of the children. Staff feel supported by the visible registered manager. They describe a culture of high aspiration and high challenge that is led by the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager uses regular audit tools to monitor the quality of care. The registered manager reflects on challenges and feedback, which is used to develop the care provided. The learning is used to make improvements to benefit the experiences and quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision is completed regularly and is child focused. However, not all supervision follows the supervision format. This means that some topics are not explored. Staff are not offered reflective oversight or supported to use reflective discussions in their supervision. There is a missed opportunity to have exploratory discussions and develop understanding within the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training is promoted for all the staff. The training offer has been extended to ensure that all staff can access knowledge and learning in different formats, including face-to-face and online learning. Staff are expected to complete qualifications to support them in Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 5 being knowledgeable in their role. Not all staff have completed a recognised qualification in the expected timescales. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)) 6 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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 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)(c)(h)) 11 October 2024

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Recommendations

 Children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 7 be properly recorded, and be kept under regular review. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative, to help children to recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it

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Recommendations

out. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (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 for children’s home: SC035543 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Cross Street, Beverley HU17 9BA

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Inspector

Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035543 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 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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