Children's home run by Happy Group (UK) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 1 Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) Ltd

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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. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 1270393 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/04/2023 Full Good 30/08/2022 Full Good 28/09/2021 Full Good 11/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop caring relationships with children, who enjoy living at the home. Children have moved on from the home for a variety of positive reasons, such as returning to live with family or moving to supported accommodation. However, some children have left the home due to concerns for their safety and well-being. These decisions were made in the best interests of the children alongside their placing authorities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively seek to understand the children’s feelings and have meaningful conversations responsive to the children’s needs. Staff strongly advocate for children and promote their wishes and feelings in the home and share them with relevant others. One parent commented, ‘They listen to [name of child] and respect their opinion.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff ensure that children have quality time with their families. Close working relationships with parents help to bridge the gap for children when living away from their family home. When necessary, staff travel long distances to ensure that children can have face-to-face time with those who are most important to them. This has helped some parents develop trusting relationships with staff and change some of the negative views they hold about children’s social care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of helping children to overcome their educational barriers. However, children’s outcomes vary. For example, one child’s engagement with a home learning programme is minimal. Another child has been helped to remain focused on their future aspirations and complete school and their GCSE exams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides children with a friendly and welcoming environment where they feel happy and can relax. Bedrooms are well maintained, in keeping with the rest of the house.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s health needs are well met, and they have access to all the primary healthcare services. However, access to specialist services to support their psychological well-being has been challenging due to services being unavailable. Regular meetings with one child’s social worker and other relevant professionals did not help to overcome the lack of availability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy an abundance of enjoyable experiences and activities of their choice. Staff nurture the children’s interests and introduce them to new hobbies to promote their social well-being and create positive life experiences. Trips and holidays away from the home help children to build positive memories that are lovingly captured in personalised memory books.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The planning for when children are admitted to the home at short notice lacks attention to detail. The manager does not use the initial planning meeting with the Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 4 social worker to gather as much information as possible and ask pertinent questions to further support their assessment of the children’s needs.

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

Staff are determined and committed to work with children. Their input with one child and their family helped to alleviate concerns for the child’s well-being when they were away from the home. The positive relationships staff developed with the child assisted them to better understand the child’s experiences and share these with other safeguarding professionals. A coordinated approach to safeguarding helped to keep the risks under review.

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

Children are only held to keep them safe. Debriefs support staff to reflect and offload after incidents and are child-focused.

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

Children learn about the dangers of social media and online safety. When needed, additional measures are taken to reduce risks further and to promote children’s safety online.

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

Bullying does not occur at this home. Children learn to live together with the guidance and support they receive from staff.

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

The manager follows safeguarding procedures and takes appropriate steps to safeguard children when concerns are raised about staff or other people. Staff members are removed from work in support of keeping children safe while investigations are completed.

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

Staff work in partnership with the police to help children return home when they have been missing from home. Safety plans describe the actions staff must take when children are away from the home, and these are mostly followed. However, on one occasion, staff did not complete agreed checks when they were unable to contact a child. This was not picked up by the manager. Also, the manager is unclear if the return home interviews they request have been completed by the local authority. This could lead to missed opportunities to explore concerns children may hold.

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

The manager’s recruitment checks for new staff sufficiently support them to assess staff’s suitability before they come to work at this home.

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good

The manager is committed to their role and has led the team through a difficult period of time at the home. Her leadership and guidance have helped to maintain staff’s focus on the children’s needs. However, leaders have not always shown reflection and learning after children have moved on from the home due to staff being unable to meet their needs. This limits staff’s capacity to learn from such events and reduce the likelihood of them repeating. Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 5 Practice-related supervision sessions help staff reflect on the needs of the children and cope with the demands of the role. However, agency workers do not receive the same level of support, despite working at the home on a regular basis. The brief induction and lack of supervision do not prepare them to be effective in their role.

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good

Staff complete a variety of training courses relevant to the needs of the children. However, there was no follow up with a member of staff following recommendations about their learning from an allegation management process.

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good

The responsible individual rarely visits the home. Other senior leaders sometimes visit, although staff can contact them when needed. The responsible individual mostly maintains their relationship with the manager through regular phone and video calls. However, a lack of visible prescence limits their sense of the children’s experiences and the positive influence they can have over the team.

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good

The manager’s quality of care review lacks evaluation about the impact of staff’s care on the children living in the home. The brief consultation with professionals and family members means important feedback may be overlooked. Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff understand safety plans that are in place and adhere to them when children are away from home. 6 October 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;

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)) 6 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 7 In particular, the registered provider must ensure there is learning regarding children’s care experiences and staff’s practice when children move on from the home in an unplanned way and that agency staff receive suitable induction and supervision.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that agency workers receive an induction to the home and have ongoing practice-related supervision. 6 October 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when children are admitted to the home in an emergency, the 72-hour planning meeting is structured to effectively gain as much information as possible to help them plan for the child’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.7)  The registered person should take account of information provided by the local authority return home interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that the learning strategy supports staff to validate their learning using discussions and reflective practice about their training courses completed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 The responsible individual should ensure that they have capacity to visit the home on a regular basis to support the manager in their role and strengthen their understanding about the quality of care for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 60, paragraph 12.4)  The registered person should ensure that they consult with a broad range of professionals and family members to support their evaluation about the children’s quality of care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 8

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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: 1270393 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Walk House, 99 Princess Road East, Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 7LF

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Inspector

Aaron Mcloughlin, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1270393 10 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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Inspector

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