Children's Home run by Shropshire Council in Shropshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 1 Registered provider: Shropshire 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

A local authority operates this children’s home. The home provides care and support for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties and who may also have had adverse experiences.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2022 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was one child living in the home. Another child, who had been living at the home, was staying at the organisation's short-break provision due to an ongoing investigation. One child was present during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspectors were aware, during this inspection, that the appropriate authorities were investigating serious child protection allegations. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate allegations of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the allegations were considered alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform the inspectors’ judgements.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 2

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 14 June 2024, following specific concerns that Ofsted had been notified of.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/04/2023 Full Good 03/05/2022 Full Good 27/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Significant shortfalls in leadership and management affect the quality of care provided to children. This has impeded children’s well-being and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inadequate care planning for children by managers, when admitting a child to the home, has resulted in poor experiences for children. Important information, in one child’s referral, was not fully considered. As a result, care is not planned or delivered in a way that adequately mitigates risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers and staff do not respond effectively when children tell them they do not feel safe. On more than one occasion, one child has clearly expressed feeling unsafe with another child. Managers have failed to take decisive safeguarding action in response to this. As a result, the child has experienced harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers and staff lack professional curiosity in respect of children’s experiences. One child, who was previously very settled, has experienced significant deterioration in their progress and well-being. The reasons for this have not been adequately explored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Overall, the home is a comfortable space for children to live. Areas of the home have been damaged. Following these instances, repairs and redecoration are undertaken. Children’s bedrooms reflect their hobbies and interests. However, areas of one child’s bedroom are dusty and unclean.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff ensure that children attend health appointments for routine care and when new health matters arise. Staff have assessed that one child is able to safely manage their own asthma care ‘This promotes their independence. Staff have helped one child to vastly improve their sleep patterns since living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff help children to attend school. As a result, children have excellent attendance levels, and they like going to school. Staff take children out to enjoy activities, in accordance with their interests. For example, staff regularly take a child out to the local park to play football. Children enjoy staff company at the home and going out with them.

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

Leaders and managers do not effectively assess or manage risks for children. For example, when there has been evidence of risks about fire setting and self-harm, managers have failed to assess and plan for this. This leaves children exposed to risk of harm.

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

Managers do not provide staff with effective guidance to safely manage children’s complex needs. When staff have shared new information with managers about risk to Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 4 children, managers have failed to implement any additional safeguarding measures. As a result, children have been harmed.

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

Staff do not consistently follow children’s plans. For example, children have been left unsupervised, which is not in line with their care plan. As a result of this lack of supervision, one child has made a serious allegation. This allegation is currently under police investigation.

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

Staff talk to children about their emotions and behaviours to help them understand the impact of these on others and themselves. Staff are proactive in finding the right time to hold these discussions; this maximises children’s engagement. However, managers have failed to follow up an action for the children to be spoken to by the police community support officer. This is a missed opportunity to help children to understand the potential criminal consequences of their behaviour.

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

Managers have taken prompt action following an allegation at the home. Measures are in place to safeguard the children. Managers have ensured that the home is suitably staffed to safeguard the child who remains at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight and monitoring of the home are ineffective. Leaders and managers fail to identify the shortfalls in the quality of practice and children’s plans. As a result, children’s care planning remains poor. Managers do not take sufficient safeguarding action to promote children’s welfare. While the manager has oversight of individual incidents, there is insufficient overarching oversight to understand children’s full experiences of living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor and inconsistent record-keeping compounds weaknesses in the quality of care that children receive. There is not a clear or consistent audit trail of decision-making and actions being followed up. For example, when incidents occur, debriefs with staff and children, and for allegations consultation with the local authority designated officer, are not always documented clearly or effectively. On one occasion, the manager failed to identify an allegation that a child had made. As a result, there was a significant delay in a response being made to this. Senior leaders took this seriously and conducted a full investigation into this error, once they were aware.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not advocate effectively for children. For example, one child was unable to go to youth club, pending an investigation. Managers have not escalated any meaningful challenge to this decision. As a result, the child is isolated from this social group and highly valued activity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have recognised that some staff are not confident in carrying out the home’s physical intervention strategies. Refresher training has been arranged to address this. All staff have a development plan that is implemented following their annual appraisal. This promotes their professional development. Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 5 There is a permanent staff team, and there have only been minimal changes of staff. Staff from other homes and some agency workers have been used to cover staff absences. The risks of this are mitigated, as these staff work alongside the permanent staff. A small team of familiar agency staff are used. As a result, children know the staff and have built some good relationships with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

As an outcome of this inspection, Ofsted has issued a notice of restriction of accommodation. This means that the manager will not be able to admit any further children to the home until the restriction has been lifted. Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 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

*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

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; 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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s care planning fully considers all the information about their needs and risks, 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 7 and that there are clear strategies in place to safely manage risk to children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that the staff have the required skills to provide safe and effective care to children; that staff are professionally curious to understand children’s experiences; and that there are effective monitoring and review systems in use.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff understand and adhere to children’s plans, in particular their levels of supervision.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that staff have the skills to assess risks to children and take action to keep children safe; that managers have effective oversight of care arrangements to 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 8 ensure that children and staff are safe; and managers ensure that the home’s policies are reviewed for effectiveness.

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the views of each relevant person are taken into account, as far as reasonably practicable, before making a decision about the care or welfare of a child. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(b)(i)(iii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff acting in response to children’s wishes and feelings. This includes sharing information with relevant others to safeguard children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers and staff advocating for children to ensure that they are accessing all the services they need. 20 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 9 positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; and

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(xi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff having the skills to de-escalate children’s behaviours to prevent conflict and harm to children and staff.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that there is no delay in seeking external support to help children’s learning about positive relationships.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. This includes ensuring that children are helped to keep their rooms clean and hygienic. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 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: 2558682 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6ND

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Inspectors

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Carl Wilton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2558682 12 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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