Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Walsall

Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 1 SC038526 Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Ltd Full inspection 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 organisation. The home provides care for up to nine children who may have learning disabilities, physical disabilities and/or sensory impairments.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection there were seven children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a permanent manager appointed the home. They have applied to become registered.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/06/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/06/2022 Full Good 01/03/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/07/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 3

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improvement to be good

There are some shortfalls in the care provided to children. There was an interim manager at the home for a brief period of time, and now a permanent manager is in post. These changes have led to shortfalls in the management oversight at the home. However, overall children living at the home have a good day-to-day experience and they are being helped to make progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff meet children’s health and care needs well. Staff have a good knowledge of children’s health needs and understand the signs and symptoms of ill health. As a result, staff act fast and help children to access urgent medical care when necessary. There are some instances when poor communication with health agencies has caused delay in children attending appointments.

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improvement to be good

Staff embed routines at the home for children. As part of their routine, staff help children to attend school. For one child, who is not currently attending school due to recovering from surgery, staff provide activities in the home. There have been several instances of the school complaining about poor communication from staff. However, school staff have recently reported an improvement in this.

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improvement to be good

Managers have not ensured that children’s care plans sufficiently support their cultural identities. For example, for one child, there was some initial exploration of an accessible church for them to attend, this has not progressed. Another child has limited exposure to her family’s native language. As a result, children’s opportunities to engage in their culture have been hampered.

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improvement to be good

Managers were unaware that there are some important documents missing from children’s records. This may inhibit the ability of the staff and the manager to fully understand the child’s history and needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff are enthusiastic and nurturing in their interactions with children. They can adapt their approach to each child’s preference. For example, staff know children’s favourite songs or the games they enjoy. As a result, children thrive and delight in spending time with staff. Staff help children to enjoy activities in the home, often based around sensory play. Children do also go out for occasional trips.

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improvement to be good

Staff are skilled in understanding children’s method of communication. Staff respond to children’s preferences and choices. For example, for a child who uses facial expression to communicate, staff can identify which cartoon they may want to watch. As a result, children are helped to make choices. Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 4

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improvement to be good

Children have plans that provide staff with information and guidance about how to care for children and keep them safe. However, on some occasions staff have failed to supervise children according to their plans. As a result, children have been harmed.

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improvement to be good

The manager has updated children’s plans and has acted to remind staff of the supervision levels children require. However, staff still do not understand how many staff are required for some tasks for some children. For example, hoist transfers and going out of the home. Managers do not provide clear or consistent guidance for these matters. This could increase risk to children.

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improvement to be good

Staff have been unable to consistently manage or de-escalate situations when children have competing needs. For example, staff have failed to prevent children entering another child’s bedroom on two occasions. This has the potential to cause harm and distress to children.

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improvement to be good

The home provides a safe living space for children. The developments at the home have created a pleasant and safer environment. Managers ensure that children’s specialist equipment is suitable and safe to meet their needs, such as bath seats and wheelchairs.

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improvement to be good

Overall, staff are very attentive to children, and they respond promptly to their needs. Staff help children to understand what is expected of them, through clear communication and routines. In the main, staff do recognise the significant vulnerability of the children living at the home and provide care that keeps children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight and actions in response to serious incidents for children, has been insufficient. Managers have taken some action to investigate staff practice following incidents. However, managers have been disorganised in their oversight. For example, managers cannot accurately account for who has been informed, or what their response has been. This includes children’s parents and social workers. Managers have not communicated effectively with staff in a timely way the actions they must take to reduce the risk of further harm to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a core permanent staff team at the home. However, there are also significant vacancies. As a result, on most days half of the staff are agency workers. Whilst these are usually familiar agency staff, this does reduce the overall continuity of care for children. Furthermore, agency staff do not have supervision in line with the organisations policy, this is a missed opportunity to identify any concerns and develop their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Permanent staff receive supervision and have had their practice appraised. This is supportive of their well being and development. Staff receive training in a range of topics, and they are assessed for competency for undertaking healthcare-based tasks. This Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 5 equips them well for their roles. However, staff who sleep in at the home are routinely disturbed to complete some specialist care tasks because agency and new staff cannot undertake these. This could result in tiredness and impede staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight has failed to identify some serious incidents. This is exacerbated by staff not understanding how to record and report information. There are some occasions when the quality and tone of children’s records is poor. The manager has recognised this and has begun to address this with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Shortfalls in leadership and management at the home have reduced the quality-of-care children receive. However, staff and external professionals report that there has been an improvement since the new permanent manager has been at the home. Managers are motivated and know what needs to be done to improve the standards and quality of care for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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 the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that children’s information and incidents are reviewed in a timely way, which follow up actions are completed and that any learning is shared with the staff team. 27 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 7 This also relates to ensuring that staff are provided with clear and consistent guidance to provide safe care to children.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that the home is staffed to ensure continuity of care to children.

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff understand and adhere to children’s plans, in particular 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. 27 September 2024

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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 involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; 27 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 8 seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that they have a copy of and understand the children’s Local Authority care plans, to inform the care of children at the home.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to having effective communication with professionals including local authorities and education staff.

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

develop the child’s interests and hobbies;

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Requirement Due date

participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences. (Regulation 9 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children are helped to participate in activities that support their cultural and religious needs and identity. 27 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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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

The specifically relates to casual staff as well as permanent staff.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 27 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 9

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non- stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion, and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC038526 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progress Children’s Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progress House, 127 Millfields Road, Wolverhampton WV4 6JG

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Inspectors

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Laura Norcop, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC038526 11 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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