Children's Home run by G B A Care Limited in Calderdale

Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 1 SC462591 Registered provider: G B A Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and run by a private company. It offers care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home. All three children were spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The post for a registered manager has been vacant since 29 February 2024. A manager has been appointed, who has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/06/2023 Full Good 13/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/10/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress from their individual starting points in this home. The foundation for this is the relationships that children have with staff. These are warm, friendly and supportive. The children say that they like the staff. They say that staff have ‘got their back’ and do a good job.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child has recently come to live at the home with no local school provision arranged. The manager and staff are keen to provide learning opportunities while a school is found. They provide educational activities and have sourced academic online learning for the child as an interim measure. They are supporting the child to increase the amount of time that they spend each day engaging in education. This is to prepare them for attending school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When a child comes to live at the home or moves on, transitions are planned for them so that they have a positive experience. Should the plans have to change, the manager and staff support this, even at short notice. The manager has adopted a flexible approach to best meet the needs of the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides care for children who are not from the local area. The manager and staff encourage and support children to visit their families, which helps to maintain relationships. This is important to family members and to the children. One family member said that the staff ‘go over and above’ to ensure that family time happens.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have memory books created for them that document their time at the home. Staff and children contribute to these, and the children take them with them when it is time for them to move on.

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

Children rarely go missing from this home. When this happens, the staff are proactive in utilising the missing-from-care protocol. Staff are knowledgeable about what actions they should take to help to find the child. Information is shared with the relevant professionals, and the child can speak to an independent person when they return. This discussion can help the staff to understand the child’s experience while they were away and help them to adapt and create the right support to help to prevent further incidents.

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

The use of physical intervention in this home is rare. Staff are clear that this would be the last resort. They feel that this can be avoided due to their relationships with the children. When a child is held, it is proportionate to the level of risk and is evaluated effectively afterwards. Children and staff discuss the hold and can reflect on the incident and learn from it. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 4 The manager has sought specialist training for staff to help them to understand and respond to emerging risks for children. The staff and the manager have support from independent therapists to enhance their skills and support their understanding of the children’s needs. Refresher training is organised when staff require further guidance in a specific area of practice.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the model of care used in the home. This helps staff to provide clear and consistent boundaries for the children, which children respond to positively. One parent feels that the quality of care, routines and boundaries that the staff provide is the reason why their child has ‘thrived’ living in the home.

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

The home’s child protection policy has not been adhered to following a child’s allegation against staff. The steps taken to investigate the matter were not fully documented in the records, and the child’s wishes and feelings were not fully recorded. Therefore, it is unclear whether the child understands and agrees about the action taken by the manager. Nevertheless, action was taken to manage the risk at the time of the allegation and the child was safeguarded appropriately.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that the manager and deputy manager are friendly, approachable and supportive. The manager is liked and respected by staff and professionals. They have improved the systems in the home and the communication between staff, the children’s families and the wider professional network. The manager is keen to become the registered manager of the home and has submitted her application to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager can recognise the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They are implementing processes to make things more streamlined, which makes it easier for staff to provide good care to the children. They acknowledge this is work in progress and there are further improvements to be made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a plan for staff development. They are eager for staff to be developed in their roles so that they can progress and feel valued. The manager has implemented and reinforced the roles and responsibilities for staff so that they can take a more active role in all aspects of caring for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager will challenge professionals and escalate matters when needed. However, they need to ensure that this is consistent and in line with the provider’s escalation policy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has oversight of some documents in the home, which is evident by the management footprint. However, there are several documents that require further management scrutiny to ensure that they are accurate and that they are reviewed effectively. The manager’s monitoring and reviewing systems have not picked up these shortfalls. Therefore, they have not been addressed effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 5 One member of staff is outside of the time frame permitted to attain the relevant qualification. The manager is aware of this and has put support in place for the member of staff to complete the qualification in a timely way. Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons 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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vii)) 8 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

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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure that they have systems in place to monitor the accuracy of documents. They should have scrutiny over the way documents are reviewed and how changes are implemented. They should also monitor the receipt of documents and escalate accordingly if they are not received in a timely way. 8 August 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff attain the relevant qualification within the required time frame. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: SC462591 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor Brian Royd Mills, Saddleworth Road, Halifax HX4 8NF

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Inspector

Gail McGann, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC462591 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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