Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 1 SC056259 Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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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 owned and managed by a private provider. The home provides care for children with social and emotional difficulties It provides care for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of inspection, three children were living in the home. Three children were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2021 and is suitably skilled and qualified.

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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: SC056259 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2023 Full Good 24/01/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/01/2022 Full Good 06/03/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff frequently seek children’s views and provide them with opportunities to be involved in improving the home and their own experiences. Children’s views are captured in a range of ways and recorded in detail. The children’s voices are important to the manager and staff and often underpin much of what their experiences look like, such as engaging in activities of their choice and meeting educational goals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to access a range of activities. Children are asked what activities they would like to engage in. One child has started horse riding lessons, which she is enjoying. The children frequently enjoy activities together with the staff, which promotes relationships in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with one another, with one child describing her peer as ‘like my brother’. The children have been engaging positively with each other and enjoy spending time together in and out of the home. The children have good relationships with staff and frequently want to spend one-to-one time with them. This shows that staff are working hard to maintain positive relationships which will benefit the children’s overall well-being and sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been previous struggles to obtain school places and educational support for the children, which has had an impact on the children’s education attendance. However, the manager has evidenced her consistent challenge of agencies to obtain support for the children and has held the children’s best interests at the centre of these challenges. The children are now engaged in education. One child aspires to become a paramedic and has been motivating herself to complete self-directed learning at home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has some areas of disrepair and structural damage which impact on the overall feel of the home’s environment. The manager is aware of these issues and has been pushing for maintenance work to be completed as well as relocation of the home. However, there have been some delays with this being planned by the provider.

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

The home holds monthly consultations about each child with the in-house psychologist. This provides staff with the opportunity to share concerns about the children’s emotional well-being and behaviours and for the psychologist to provide therapeutic recommendations to support the child. The staff are using the techniques within the children’s care planning and therapeutic activities, which embeds their learning and supports the overall understanding and well-being of the children.

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

There have not been any restraints since the last inspection despite some significant incidents occurring. The recordings of incidents show staff are using the home’s therapeutic model and their relationship with the child to de-escalate episodes of Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 4 challenging behaviour without the need for restraint. This promotes the emotional and behavioural progression of the children.

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

Children rarely go missing from home and when they do, there is a coordinated response from staff to ensure the safety of the child. Staff understand and follow the missing-from-home procedures and understand the risks for each child. Recordings are detailed and include a chronology of events. Debriefs with the children and staff take place after the event. Return home interviews are offered to the children. This promotes the overall safety and well-being of the children.

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

One child in the home was at risk of contextual safeguarding and substance misuse Since living at the home, these risks have largely diminished partly due to the work of staff in building relationships with the child and helping her to understand the risks she was exposed to. The child told inspectors that since coming to the home ‘she feels respected’ and this has brought about positive change.

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

Some staff have not been trained in areas that relate to the children’s specific risks. This may have an impact on their knowledge of keeping the children safe concerning risk and have an impact on the children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monthly monitoring tool is a detailed recording document and demonstrates that the manager has good oversight of the home and care of the children. The children remain at the forefront of the process and exploration into how things can improve for them, often using the child’s voice within this. Action plans are created as a result of this monitoring to drive forward improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and other professionals speak highly of the manager and staff feel well supported in their roles. The manager feels her staff team are the home’s biggest strength and is proud of the work they do to support the children. Supervision sessions and appraisals take place within appropriate time frames and staff use this to reflect with the manager. This promotes an open and positive culture where professional relationships can flourish and further benefits the children in the home to live in a cohesive environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable, with some staff members working for the provider for over 12 years. Staffing is consistent and children know who will be caring for them each day. The home does not use agency staff. The home employs a bank care worker; however, she is regular, and the children know her well. This promotes a sense of stability for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite attempts from the home, communication with the local authority is inconsistent and often calls are left unreturned. This has an impact on the effectiveness of multi-agency working and information-sharing. The children in the home spoke about poor relationships with their social workers and feeling unheard by them. Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 5 There is some difficulty with the recording systems used in the home due to numerous online systems alongside paper-based files. The manager and staff have said they find this hard to manage. This has created some confusion when locating records and may have an impact on information-gathering and the understanding of the children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 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— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(c)) 31 August 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the home environment is maintained and decorated to a good standard, ensuring that all outstanding disrepair is addressed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that records can be easily located and accessed by staff and those with a legitimate need to view them by reviewing and streamlining where these records are kept. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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: SC056259 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspectors

Ladean Wilson, Social Care Inspector Lisa Finch, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC056259 8 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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Inspectors

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