Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who have experienced social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home. One of these children has remained living in the home since the last inspection. The children were spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The homes manager has been registered with Ofsted since January 2023. They were absent at the time of this inspection and an interim manager was supporting the home.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2570055 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2023 Full Good 14/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say they enjoy living in the home. They have positive and trusting relationships with a core team of experienced staff who know them well. Children enjoy spending time with each other, and staff encourage them to take part in activities based on their interests. This helps the children to build on their friendships, while enjoying activities such as trampolining and swimming.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved into the home and two children have moved out. One child moved out due to concerns that their individual needs could not be met safely in the home. Their move was managed well by managers. Another child experienced a well-managed move to independent living after they had made good progress in the home. This child remains in touch with staff to share updates about their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to stay healthy and well. Children attend routine and specialist health appointments. One child has been working with professionals to talk about their emotional well-being. As a result, this child’s self-esteem and resilience are improving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school regularly. One child has been helped by staff to communicate their needs when they get frustrated in school. This has helped them to remain settled and to make good academic progress. The other child has struggled to manage their behaviours in a mainstream school. They continue to attend school, with support from staff, while they wait for a specialist education assessment to be completed. This child’s teachers were complimentary about the way the staff promote education for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s diverse needs and identity. Children spend time with their family members. One child has been helped by staff to understand their wider family network, in line with their care plan. This child’s religious and cultural needs are well supported.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and welcoming. The communal areas are comfortable and children spend time together with staff, relaxing and playing games. The children’s bedrooms are clean and comfortable, and personalised. Some areas of the home have been redecorated after being damaged during challenging incidents involving the children. Plans are in place to replace a door at the back of the house that has been damaged.

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

Clear routines and boundaries are in place for children. Staff use the home’s therapeutic approach to parenting well. They are supported by the organisation’s therapist in monthly clinical meetings. This provides staff with the opportunity to speak about the children’s development. They also develop their knowledge about the children’s evolving vulnerabilities. Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 4 Risks to children are identified and understood well by staff. There are personalised assessments and plans that provide guidance for staff about how to keep children safe and well, which they implement. On occasion, risk assessments are not reviewed and updated quickly following incidents, but this has not had a negative impact on children to date.

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

When children are not happy or they feel worried they share this with staff. When children make complaints, they are listened to and action is taken to investigate these promptly. On a few occasions, outcome letters to children about their complaint have not been given to them in a timely manner. The responsible individual acknowledges this and has made changes to improve this.

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

Staff work closely with relevant professionals. For one child, they have acted swiftly to manage and monitor the child’s phone use to help them use their phone safely. They have also supported the child to explore their actions and how these affect others. This is enabling children to learn and make safer decisions, with support from staff.

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

The management of incidents between children in the home has been mixed. One child who recently moved out struggled to manage their emotions and behaviours. When staff have physically intervened to keep children safe, this has been done appropriately by trained staff. However, children and staff involved in the incident have not always been spoken to afterwards in a timely manner. This means children and staff have not been regularly encouraged to reflect and learn from these situations. This lack of oversight has been identified by the responsible individual and she is working with the interim manager to carry out a learning review of all incidents. They plan to share this learning with staff to support their practice and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager had been absent from the home for a few weeks before the inspection. The responsible individual has been proactive in managing this situation to reduce the impact on children. She has taken decisive action, including appointing an interim manager to support the deputy manager and the children. As a result, staff morale has been improving and children remain happy and continue to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Aspects of monitoring by managers require improvement. For example, some reports and children’s records contain language that is not always child-friendly. In addition, risk assessments have not always been updated adequately or in a timely manner following incidents. The responsible individual has a detailed plan in place to address these areas of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers are strong advocates for children. They actively challenge relevant professionals when required. One child does not agree with their care plan and has been clear that they wish to remain living in the home. The responsible individual has secured an independent advocate for the child to help them share their views. This helps children to feel valued. Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 5 Staff benefit from regular team meetings. This helps them to share their experiences and to learn about developments in the home. However, staff do not receive regular supervision in line with the organisation’s policy. This is a missed opportunity to support staff, particularly recently when there has been an increase in challenging incidents. The interim manager has prioritised supervision meetings for staff going forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

External professionals, including school staff and social workers, have shared positive feedback. One child’s social worker said, ‘This is a nice home with a nice environment for children to live in.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 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 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—

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to risk assessments being consistently updated following incidents and the manager disseminating learning from incidents to keep children safe. 19 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

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

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; 19 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 7 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that they provide consistent oversight of staff practice.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 19 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the supervision of all staff and the frequency and recording of all supervision.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the previous inspection and is restated. 19 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 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: 2570055 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Limited, Suite 1 & 5, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Nurul Kabir, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2570055 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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