Children's home run by Derbyshire County Council in Derbyshire Dales

Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 1 SC062536

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Registered provider: Derbyshire County 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

The home is operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to six children with social, emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has recently resigned from their post. An acting manager has been appointed and has been in post since mid-April.

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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 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: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A compliance notice was issued following the last inspection. At a monitoring visit on 1 November 2023, inspectors judged that compliance actions had been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/07/2022 Full Inadequate 09/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This inspection follows a previous inspection in May 2023, during which significant safeguarding concerns were identified. Children have become safer. This is because of the actions taken by leaders and managers in response to the safeguarding concerns. The improvements achieved need to be developed and fully embedded to ensure that all children remain safe and have consistently positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is registered to care for up to six children, and at the time of the inspection, only one child was living there. Three children have moved into the home and five children have moved out.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and staff have excellent relationships. Staff use humour and have a playful manner, which the children clearly respond to. Staff know and understand the children very well. They talk warmly and positively about children’s strengths and achievements. Children trust staff and seek physical interaction and affection from them. The home provides a calm, settled environment in which the children are happy and relaxed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is prioritised for children in the home. Staff work in partnership with education professionals to ensure that children attend their education establishment on a regular basis. The manager strongly advocates for the children to ensure that they access a provision where they feel comfortable and happy to attend.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to participate in a wide range of activities, including activities that are local and further afield. Children have lots of fun and laughter, creating wonderful memories that are captured in photos. Activities have included trips to a theme park, going on bike rides and climbing. This enables children to have different experiences that promote social inclusion in their wider community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been a number of lessons learned regarding children moving into and out of the home. As part of that, a new process has been developed. The children remain central to the overall process, and time is allowed for a planned and child-led transition. This has provided children and staff with opportunities to forge meaningful relationships with each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have actively supported the children to develop their own way to manage their feelings and emotions. For one child, this has meant that they have gone from not wanting to talk about incidents when they have happened, to now being able to identify what made them upset and act in the way that they did. This is significant progress for this child. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 4

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

Staff understand their safeguarding role well. They have undertaken relevant safeguarding training and are focused on keeping children safe.

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

The mismatching of children has caused a child to suffer harm from another child. The staff were quick to respond to this and ensured the child was comforted and protected. Time was also spent with the child causing the harm to explore their actions. Subsequently, this child moved out. This enabled the other child to feel safe in their home once more. Staff are very mindful of the impact of the incident on the child and continue to nurture the child and provide a loving environment.

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

There has been a high number of missing-from-home incidents, mainly relating to one child. Staff remained proactive during the missing-from-home episodes and tried to keep in touch with the child. All professionals involved remained updated. The manager had to undertake some restorative work between a professional partner and a child to ensure that it was the child, rather than their actions, that remained at the centre of the discussions. The oversight of incidents is not as robust as it could be. There is some scope to develop this through reflection with staff and to explore lessons learned that can then be shared with the wider staff team.

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

There have been some unsettling times in the home that have resulted in incidents occurring. All professionals involved with the child are updated about the incidents. The child and staff are debriefed after the incidents. These are predominantly well managed by staff, and they follow the procedures to ensure the children are as safe as possible.

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

The child’s individual risk assessments are of good quality. Risk management and safe care plans identify all known risks and provide detailed guidance to staff on how to manage identified risks and vulnerabilities. When these are updated, they are shared with the staff so they know the right approach to use with the children.

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

Staff fully understand the risks faced by children online. For this reason, a new online security system has been implemented. The age of the current child living in the home means that they do not have a personal internet-enabled device. All devices are in communal areas, where staff have direct oversight. This ensures that children access the appropriate online content according to their age.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has recently resigned. There is a new manager in post who oversees the daily running of the home, and they have been in post since mid-April. They work alongside two deputy managers and together have led the team through a difficult period of time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership response to the requires improvement judgement in May 2023 has been positive. The manager and senior staff have been reflective and eager to learn Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 5 from the identified shortfalls. They have reviewed the purpose of the home, training needs of the staff and systems in place. They have concluded that the statement of purpose is to change and the age and number of children they can provide care for will be reduced accordingly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a solid understanding of the home’s strengths and further areas for improvement. The leadership team conducts regular audits of the work undertaken in the home. This process alone does not assure the manager that work is being undertaken to the required standard and that all necessary tasks are completed. To support the manager in their role, it would be advantageous to develop a system that provides her with greater oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported in their roles by managers. They receive regular supervision, and appraisals have been completed. Team meetings provide a forum for staff and managers to discuss and plan for children. Reflective practice is key to understanding the children and providing staff support. Furthermore, it assists staff to continue to develop their skills and knowledge so they are better able to respond to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works hard to develop and maintain positive relationships with external agencies. She recognises that partnership working is key to effective care planning. Professional feedback shows that the children are progressing. This is attributed to the good care and support provided by staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 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 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.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The matching of children needs to be robust so that children are compatible with each other when living in the home. 2 September

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 2 September Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 7 This specifically refers to ensuring that robust quality assurance and monitoring systems are in place, used regularly and recorded.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they evaluate missing-from-home incidents to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)

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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: SC062536 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Derbyshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Matlock DE4 3AG

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Inspector

Lizette Watts, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC062536 9 regulates 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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