Children's Home run by Esland North Limited in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 1 SC478986 Registered provider: Esland North 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

This home is operated by a large national provider. It is registered to provide care for up to five children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager in post since March 2024. The proposed manager has resigned and will be leaving in September 2024. The responsible individual supported this inspection and was present throughout.

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Information about this children’s home

Children were spoken to, and their views have informed this report.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC478986 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/05/2023 Full Good 05/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/07/2021 Full Good 08/05/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved into the home and one child has moved out. There are currently three children living in the home, with one child living in a separate house on the same site.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have started to make progress in the home and are becoming more settled. All the children said they liked the home and felt happy and safe there. Children have positive and trusting relationships with the team and are provided with consistent boundaries. Staff spoke fondly about the children and enjoy spending time with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress within education and all the children have education provided that is tailored to their individual needs. This approach has supported children to re-engage with education and make progress. One child is preparing for a transition from home tutoring to a school provision that is more tailored to their needs. This is good progress for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with opportunities to engage in activities in the home and community, and one child is enrolled with the local cub scout group. Staff are supporting children to be more active and to live healthy lifestyles. Children are helped to stay in touch with people who are important to them and staff work well in supporting families to visit and spend time with the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the children have a keen interest in gaming and the internet but have been placed at risk of harm because not all risks were adequately assessed. Some children have accessed age-inappropriate material on the internet and through television streaming services. Steps have been taken to improve internet and television safety, but children have yet to receive specific guidance on how to keep themselves safe online. This means that children could still be at risk if their internet use is not monitored closely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met, and they are all registered with relevant health professionals, including a dentist. Additional support is in place from the home’s clinical team who have monthly meetings with staff to discuss the children’s emotional health needs. When required, additional support is provided to the children in response to identified needs and concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a clear voice in the home and their views are captured in several different ways. Some children have advocates or guardians to further support them. Children know how to make a complaint. However, action taken in response to concerns has not always prevented incidents and has led to a child making a further complaint. Some language used in response to complaints is not child friendly and apportions blame on the child. This does not provide children with assurances that their concerns have been acknowledged or validated. Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 4 Children’s care plans do not consistently contain current information and have not been regularly reviewed and updated when there have been changes. In one plan, there is factually inaccurate information recorded that could be harmful to the child if they read this. There was no evidence to support a statement made around safeguarding within

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

the plan, and this could be misleading. One child’s care plan provided by their local authority is inaccessible to staff as it is saved on the manager’s laptop. This means that the child’s plan may not reflect what has been agreed with the social care team.

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improvement to be good

Incidents in the home have started to reduce and the use of physical intervention, such as restraint, is rare. This is a significant improvement for children who are now more settled and secure in the home. There have been no missing-from-care episodes, but children’s plans provide guidance on how these would be managed if they occurred.

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improvement to be good

Allegations against staff have been well-managed and relevant external safeguarding professionals have been informed. On one occasion, staff failed to report or respond to a safeguarding concern when a child was injured. This was investigated, but the manager has failed to complete all the actions required in response. This has prevented reflection and learning for the staff involved and does not provide reassurance that a similar incident would not occur.

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improvement to be good

There have been some bullying incidents, and these have led to physical aggression on occasion. The risk assessments in place do not provide staff with guidance on how to prevent similar incidents from occurring by intervening earlier to minimise risk. Leaders and managers have not completed a ‘lessons learned’ exercise in response to bullying. This prevents both further learning for the team and the implementation of more effective management strategies.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments do not accurately reflect all known risks, the severity of those risks or the possible impact those risks would have on children’s safety and well-being. For example, one child’s risk assessment identifies internet safety as a low risk despite known concerns. This means staff are not being provided with sufficient guidance and strategies on how to manage and reduce risks.

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improvement to be good

The fire risk assessment for the home does not adequately assess risks associated with locking fire escapes or the means of leaving the home in an emergency. Staff only have access to two sets of keys between the two homes, which further elevates the risks. Some internal doors now have key locks, which means staff, visitors and children could be locked in communal rooms such as the lounge and games room. This could lead to unauthorised deprivation of liberty and prevent evacuation in an emergency. Senior managers acted during the inspection to address these concerns.

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improvement to be good

The home uses agency staff to cover staff shortfalls, and they receive a comprehensive induction into the home. All relevant recruitment checks have been completed to provide assurance that these staff have been assessed as safe adults to work with children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 5

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

Leadership and management of the home has been ineffective because the home has been without a registered manager for several months. The current manager has resigned and will be leaving shortly along with the deputy manager. Senior managers have yet to finalise arrangements for a replacement manager but do have interim plans to provide management oversight to the home.

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

The manager has not had good oversight of the home, which has led to several shortfalls in the standards of reporting, recording, care planning and risk management. These shortfalls have not significantly impacted on the children but have the potential to do so if improvements are not made. Leaders and managers have not provided sufficient scrutiny, oversight, or challenge to make improvements in some of the standards in the home.

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

The staff team is stable and provides consistency to the children. Its members have regular supervisions and appraisals which cover a range of agenda items, such as safeguarding and children. Staff have not been provided with opportunities to reflect and learn following some incidents. This is a missed opportunity to improve staff knowledge and understanding of their responsibilities towards safeguarding.

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

Staff have engaged in a wide range of mandatory training, including health and safety and safeguarding. They have been provided with additional training and guidance around the children’s complex needs. Further support is available through the clinical team, whose members play an active role in supporting staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; and

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to children’s risk assessments being updated to contain all known risks, including the use of internet in the home. It also relates to staff reporting any safeguarding concerns or concerns about staff practice in a timely way. In addition, it relates to leaders and managers assessing health and safety risks, including the practice of locking fire exits and internal doors. 30 Sep 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 30 Sep 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 7 promotes their welfare.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on –

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(a)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to management oversight and quality assurance of the home particularly around care plans and risk assessments. It also relates to ‘lessons learned’ exercises being completed following incidents and supporting staff to reflect on their practice and make improvements.

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Recommendations

 Children must be able to make a complaint with support and without any fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. This includes language that may apportion blame or shame onto a child when responding to complaints. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  Children must feel safe and be safe. Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both inside and outside of the home, and staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves from significant harm. This includes guidance on internet safety and awareness for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9.)  The registered person should keep all children’s case records (regulation 36) up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 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: SC478986 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1 & 5 , Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC478986 10 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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Inspector

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