Children's Home run by Sans Soucie Children Services LTD in Surrey

Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 1 Registered provider: Sans Soucie Children Services 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 operated by a private company and is registered to provide care for up to four children who have emotional, social or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the home’s first inspection since registration.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was only one child living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since April 2024.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

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

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be 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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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 2

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improvement to be good

The child has made little progress in relation to their starting points. Some staff have established positive relationships with the child, while others have not found the means to develop such constructive relationships.

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improvement to be good

Children are not helped to lead healthy, positive lifestyles. The child has a poor diet and does not engage in any activities beyond shopping. Managers state that the child is offered opportunities for other activities, which was acknowledged by the child’s social worker. They have sought support from specialist services such as substance cessation teams and child mental health services but have not been successful in supporting the child to engage with these services. Staff have not been able to deliver care consistently as set out in the child’s care and support plans. This has hindered the child from making progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to engage with education. However, the child living in the home has not been able to access any full-time education. They are being supported to attend home tutoring sessions to help prepare them for when a place becomes available. Managers have appropriately escalated their concerns to the professional network to find a school place.

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improvement to be good

When children come to live in the home, managers carefully consider information to help them understand the risks and vulnerabilities of each child and to ensure that they feel that they can meet each child’s individual needs. When a child previously left the home, this was done in a planned way to help the child have a positive ending and to move successfully.

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improvement to be good

Staff know the children well and have a good understanding of children’s individual vulnerabilities. They intervene to help children become safer. However, when children are missing from the home, staff do not always take timely action or follow procedures to ensure that they return safely. There have been occasions when children have not experienced good support, and managers have not demonstrated that they have taken time to try and understand the child’s reasons for going missing. More recently, responses have improved, and children have been offered opportunities to speak to staff when they have returned.

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improvement to be good

Managers have worked to ensure that the home has sufficient staff in place. Generally, managers follow safer recruitment principles. However, on one occasion, managers did not explore concerns raised on a reference. This is a missed opportunity to explore all the information available to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 3 Staff are clear on their responsibilities to share any safeguarding worries. When concerns arise, these are dealt with appropriately and in collaboration with safeguarding partners such as the police or social workers. Records are clear and detail the steps taken in response to these concerns.

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improvement to be good

When children experience difficult feelings resulting in distress, staff work carefully to support them to talk about these feelings and to find agreeable solutions. This has meant that there have been no incidents where physical intervention has been used, although on occasion, the police have been called to support staff to manage behavioural incidents. No children have faced any criminal charges or cautions in relation to this police involvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers are ambitious about the future of the home and are steadfast in their commitment to make improvements to ensure that children receive good-quality care. They have a good understanding of the strengths of the home but often don’t have sight of the shortfalls. There is a newly appointed manager who is working hard to learn their new role and has applied for registration.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff speak warmly about the home and the support that they receive from managers. They value the supervision process as they feel this helps them to improve on their practice. However, records of these sessions often do not show how staff are supported to reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff benefit from a variety of training that helps them to feel confident in their roles. They have appropriate induction training to prepare them to work in the home. When staff have not achieved the required level 3 qualification in residential childcare within the appropriate time frame, managers have not put in place any action plan to manage this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

When there have been concerns regarding discrimination within the home, they have not been managed effectively. This has had an impact on staff turnover.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Independent visitor reports are well structured and provide some valued feedback to managers, which has helped them to start to make some changes to practice. However, these reports do not consistently provide sufficient detail as to make clear the basis for their opinions. Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 4

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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 enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills. (Regulation 9 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are provided with regular opportunities to enjoy a range of activities that support their social skills. 27 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children are helped to maintain a balanced, nutritious diet and that children are given the support that they need to cease using drugs. 27 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those 27 August 2024 Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 5 expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have the skills to support children and challenge all forms of discrimination, so that children can develop safe social behaviours.

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff understand and follow procedures when children are missing from the home and that they provide timely support to enable children to return safely. 27 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)) 27 August 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d)) 27 August 2024 Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 6 In particular, ensure that all references are appropriately explored when determining new staff’s suitability for their role.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, risk assessments must clearly identify details of the steps that the home will take to manage these risks on a day-to-day basis. In particular, ensure that risk assessments are updated with all relevant risks in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person must ensure that all staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, must have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). In particular, ensure that where staff do not hold the relevant qualification within the required timescales that there are clear action plans to address this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)  The registered person must ensure that a record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). In particular, ensure that the records of supervision clearly evidence how managers are supporting staff to reflect on their practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person must ensure that the independent person makes a rigorous assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. In particular, ensure that reports from the independent person are clear. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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 children’s home: 2745551 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sans Soucie Children Services LTD

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 5 Paris Parklands, Railton Road, Guildford GU2 9JX

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Inspector

Jay Shekleton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2745551 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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