Children's home run by Heartwood Residential Services Ltd in Barnet

Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 1 SC423959

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Registered provider: Heartwood Residential Services Ltd

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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 privately run home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 1 March 2011. The registered manager post has been vacant since 20 September 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of this 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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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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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good

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/03/2023 Full Good 12/08/2021 Full Good 16/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 3

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improvement to be good

Children’s overall experiences and progress vary.

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improvement to be good

Senior leaders do not always consider how new children’s moves into the home may impact on children already living in the home. For example, two children’s influence on each other resulted in them having to move out of the home because of concerns for their safety.

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improvement to be good

Care plans are missing essential information about a child’s cultural and religious needs and their ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, children’s records are missing the most recent local authority plans and education and health plans. Senior leaders have not been quick in escalating delays to secure these plans from the placing local authority.

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improvement to be good

One child is making progress with their education and has completed their exams. Staff find it hard to support another child to engage with online learning. As a result, this child is missing out on receiving essential learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff make referrals to specialist agencies to support children with specific needs. However, staff do not always follow up on the referrals to ensure that children receive support in a timely manner.

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improvement to be good

One child will be moving into semi-independence living soon. Staff have supported the child to learn essential life skills, including cooking and budgeting. However, the level of progress has been impacted due to the child rarely being in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children’s meetings sometimes take place. Children feel comfortable to talk about things that make them happy or worried. During these meetings, staff will encourage the children to talk about how the home can be improved. This level of engagement helps children to feel valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance of family relationships. Staff have worked with one child to help improve their communication with their parent so that family time can take place.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from the home, staff are quick to contact the police and social workers. Although return home interviews are requested, these do not always happen, and senior leaders do not escalate this with the placing local authority. Staff Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 4 talk to the children when they return home. However, these discussions are not always helping the child to think about their safety.

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improvement to be good

The police also comment that staff need to improve their response when children go missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

When incidents happen, there is an inconsistent response from the staff. Senior leaders do not always comment on incident forms. On one occasion, the police were called to help the staff de-escalate a situation.

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improvement to be good

Senior leaders do not always update children’s risk assessments. This means that staff are not always updated on children’s changing vulnerabilities or the context around this.

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improvement to be good

When safeguarding concerns for a child are raised, staff are quick at requesting a strategy meeting. However, when delays occur, senior leaders are slow to escalate this with the placing local authority.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not use consequences to manage behaviour. Instead, they prefer to discuss with children why professionals are worried about them. Children are rewarded for positive behaviour, and they respond well to this.

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improvement to be good

Senior leaders ensure that safer recruitment policies and procedures are followed. This provides assurances that staff have been appropriately vetted before they provide care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior leaders care about the children. However, there is not enough focus on monitoring and oversight of children’s files. This creates a missed opportunity to help them fully understand the practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is no registered manager in post. This has destabilised the leadership and management in the home and has an impact on the children’s quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff meetings take place. However, minutes of these discussions are not always completed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff receive supervision sessions. However, records of these discussions are incomplete. Senior leaders were unable to evidence that all staff have had supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When staff have their yearly appraisals, not all appraisals include feedback from children or other professionals. This is a missed opportunity for staff to understand how they can improve their practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 5 Staff training records do not show that they have all completed training that is specific to the needs of the children. The workforce development plan does not include information about the current staffing structure. The statement of purpose does not reflect the experiences and qualifications of staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff receive the appropriate support and have effective appraisals and relevant training specific to children’s needs and risks. This is so that they can provide the quality of care that is stated in the statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 12 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and 28 October Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 7 the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a) (2)(a)(b))

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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

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

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; and

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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)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that children’s risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated. This is to ensure that staff are up to date on children’s vulnerabilities and how to manage and reduce children’s individual risks. 12 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 12 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 8 In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that they have a copy of children’s local authority care plans so that home care plans can meet the individual needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must also ensure that all potential risks to children are thoroughly considered and assessed at the point of referral and that consideration is given to whether staff have the knowledge, skills and experience to meet the needs of children placed in their care.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must also fully consider the needs of new children living in the home and the needs of children who are already living there.

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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

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all staff receive regular and effective supervision. 12 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

(include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;)

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers should ensure that all children’s case records are available on inspection and are accurate, include important information about the children and are well completed. 12 August 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; 12 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 9 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 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the leaders and managers should ensure that they challenge the placing authority when they are concerned with children’s care plans and the local authority’s lack of communication. Leaders and managers should also raise concerns with any other relevant professional involved with the child’s care when support is needed in a particular area.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that those with a management role are able to deliver their management responsibilities and access all required records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)  The registered person should ensure that they have a workforce plan which fulfils the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1. This particularly refers to having updates around the current staff group. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that the statement of purpose includes information about the experiences and qualification of staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10)

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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: SC423959 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heartwood Residential Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 416 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG3 9TH

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Inspector

Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC423959 11 and inspects to 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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