Children's Home run by Inclusive Children Services Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 1 Registered provider: Inclusive Children Services Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to six children aged eight to 17 with social and emotional difficulties and learning difficulties. The home provides medium- to long-term care on a planned basis and in an emergency.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in January 2024. The manager was registered at the same time.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, five children were living at the home.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 2

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can identify staff to speak to if they are unhappy about something. One child said that since living in the home they have seen progress in their behaviour.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff arrange a wide range of activities for the children. These include trips to museums and farms and building tents in the garden. Staff support children’s hobbies and interests. For example, some children are passionate about football. Staff have responded by taking them to visit football stadiums.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have regular meetings. This gives them an opportunity to share their feelings and concerns. Children create memory books that capture their time at the home. These include artwork and photos. Children engage in key-work sessions. This gives them a chance to think about why professionals are worried about them. Staff helped one child to discuss their cultural identity. This helped the child to have a better understanding of their cultural history.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence skills. For example, children learn how to cook, budget their money and to maintain their personal hygiene. One parent said that since living in the home their child’s personal hygiene has improved.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child is attending school and other children have tutors. For the children who are not in education, staff support them to do education worksheets, so that they are engaging in learning while waiting for a school placement.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are registered with health services. Staff arrange for children to see specialist health services when they need additional support.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a large and modern home. Their bedrooms are spacious and are decorated to suit their hobbies and interests.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain safe relationships with their family. One child who used to live in the home went back to live with their family. Another child’s family appreciates staff bringing their child to visit them.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Not all children’s health and education plans are up to date. Senior leaders have escalated this with the local authority, but this is not always effective.

p.2

improvement to be good

When children go missing from the home, staff look for them, contact them and inform professionals and the child’s family. When children return home, staff discuss with them their worries around them going missing. Senior leaders request return home interviews Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 3 but these rarely happen. On the odd occasion that they are held, senior leaders have not requested information from the interview.

p.2

improvement to be good

When incidents occur, the police are sometimes called to de-escalate the situation. Senior leaders do not always provide detailed information to the regulator when serious incidents happen. For some serious incidents, staff have not been able to adequately supervise the children to avoid the incident happening.

p.3

improvement to be good

Risks to children are well understood by staff. Staff work with external agencies to support children when there are concerns about their safety. Risk assessments are regularly updated, and include actions staff should take to reduce such risks.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff do not always make sure that consequences help children understand how to manage situations better. Some consequences are not proportionate. For example, some records mention substantial amounts of money that children should pay for property damage. Discussions with the child do not always help them understand the reason for the consequence. Some conversations with children lack insight into a child’s vulnerabilities. For example, one child was told that the police would be called if they displayed the same behaviour again.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow internal policies on the safe administration of medicines. For example, staff do not always sign the designated sheet when they witness or administer medication to children. Staff do not always properly record when a child refuses their prescribed medicine.

p.3

improvement to be good

All staff are safely recruited and suitably qualified to meet the needs of the children.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager knows the children well and is invested in providing children with a good standard of care.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by managers. One member of staff commented that they felt the home provides a family environment for the children.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions take place regularly. These sessions include discussions about the care of the children and staff’s personal well-being and training needs. Team meetings take place monthly and provide staff with a forum to discuss their practice and how best to safeguard the children.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are not always completed or stored properly. For example, when a child needs extra support with their education, their records do not capture the detail of the level of support. Some children’s logs are not available in the child’s file.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from external professionals is positive. One social worker said that staff are ‘child-focused and promote autonomy’. Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 4 Leaders and managers understand the home’s strengths and weaknesses and have plans to develop the service to improve practice in the home and staff experience. There are internal monitoring systems in place to manage the home’s weaknesses.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff in the home have received mandatory training and training specific to children’s needs. There is a workforce development plan in place. However, it does not include information about the experience and qualifications of staff. The statement of purpose does not include the experience and qualifications of staff or an up-to-date staffing structure. Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(c))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff follow internal policies on the safe administration of medicines. 6 August 2024

p.5

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

p.5

Requirement Due date

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 (c))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that they consistently escalate to local authorities when there are delays in receiving documents. This should continue to happen until the relevant documents and support are in place. 19 August 2024

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

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)(b)) 19 August 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 6 In particular, the registered person should ensure that children are well supervised and monitored in line with their plans to help avoid certain situations taking place. Also, they should ensure that the use and mention of police involvement is proportionate and beneficial to the welfare of the child.

p.5

Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The following measures may not be used to discipline any child—

p.6

Requirement Due date

imposing a financial penalty, other than a requirement for the payment of a reasonable sum (which may be by instalments) by way of reparation. (Regulation 19 (1) (2)(f))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the use of consequences is proportionate and effective. 19 August 2024

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when a child returns home after being missing, the local authority provides the child with an opportunity to have an independent return home interview. Information from the interview is important to ensure that risks are reviewed and that measures are in place to protect the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that regulation 40 notifications include details of the action taken by staff to respond to the event. The notification should also provide clear details of the incident to avoid any confusion. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)  The registered person should ensure that children’s care records are kept up to date and are properly completed and stored. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations,

p.6

Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce development plan and statement of purpose include details of the experience and qualifications of staff, as well as an updated staffing structure. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10) Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 7

p.6

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: 2748215 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inclusive Children Services Ltd

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 46 The Ridgeway, North Harrow, Harrow HA2 7QN

p.8

Inspector

Chelsea Agyeman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2748215 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9