Children's home run by Northridge Care Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 1 Registered provider: Northridge care group 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. It provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in July 2021. The home does not currently have a registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/08/2022 Full Good 23/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusting relationships with staff and feel listened to. Staff promote positivity in the home and are aspirational for the children’s future. The children enjoy a wide range of activities with the staff inside and outside of the home. Both children say that they are happy living in the home. One child said, ‘It’s nice to know what good care feels like.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. There are clear plans in place with guidance for staff to follow. Staff support children to attend regular, routine and specialist health appointments. Staff support the children to cook healthy, balanced meals and encourage them to take part in physical activities outside of the home. This supports the children to lead a healthy lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are not attending education. The interim manager is working with external professionals to find a solution that works best to meet the children’s individual needs. There are clear, planned activities in place to support children’s educational development while an appropriate provision is sourced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been occasions of peer bullying in the home. Staff have been quick to respond to conflict between the children to reduce incidents of bullying. Staff support the children to understand difficult emotions and identify positive strategies to manage these. Consequently, incidents reduced prior to one child moving on from the home. There have been no further incidents of bullying in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a warm and welcoming environment. Staff help children to personalise their bedrooms according to their individual tastes and interests. There are photos of the children and the people who are important to them throughout the home. However, a whiteboard containing confidential information about the children can be seen by children and visitors to the home and does not maintain confidentiality.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move into the home, they are welcomed sensitively and with care. Where possible, children have the opportunity to visit the home and meet staff beforehand. However, there is limited progress being made to prepare children to move on from the home and develop life skills that will be required to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can identify staff who they would raise concerns with, but do not know how to complain confidentially. Staff do not remind children of procedures for making a formal complaint. This means if children want to make a complaint confidentially, they are unable to do so.

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

Children’s needs are known and understood. The children’s care plans are clear, detailed and have guidance for staff to follow. Children are encouraged to attend multi-agency Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 4 meetings about their care to share their views and wishes about the care that they receive.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff immediately follow the children’s individual missing-from-home plans. Staff are proactive in trying to find the child. Records of the missing incident are detailed and include the actions taken by staff to locate and return the child safely home. Staff talk to the children about their experiences of going missing from the home, and they use this information to understand and reduce the risks that the children face. Missing-from-home incidents were a significant concern for one child in their previous home. Since moving into this home, the child has not gone missing.

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

Children have individual positive behaviour support plans in place, with clear guidance for staff to follow. Staff implement appropriate boundaries and routines, and reinforce positive behaviour using incentives and rewards. When consequences are used, these are appropriate to the behaviour displayed. However, staff do not ensure that children understand the detail and duration of any consequence imposed.

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

There have been occasions where children have self-injured. Staff complete searches of the children’s bedrooms and respond quickly and appropriately to remove any items that the children could use to harm themselves. However, the records do not always demonstrate that consent for this has been provided by the child.

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

Children say they feel safe. Children’s individual risk assessments are detailed and have clear guidance for staff to follow. However, for one child, the individual risk assessment omits one known potential risk to them within the community. Although there has been no impact to the child as a result, this means that staff do not have access to accurate records to inform their care and monitoring of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has not had a registered manager since July 2024. There is an interim manager in post. She understands the children’s needs and is child focused.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they ‘love’ coming to work and feel supported by the manager. Staff describe the manager as being approachable and say that they feel valued. Staff communicate effectively with each other and are enthusiastic about offering consistent, good-quality care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Many of the staff are new to working in the home. The manager ensures that staff are recruited safely and that they receive a quality induction. The manager is passionate about the staff’s learning and development. Staff are provided with a wide range of training that they need to attend, including specialised courses to meet the children’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular, good-quality supervision. Staff have opportunities to discuss and reflect on their care of the children. The manager completes regular quizzes with the staff within supervision or on an ad hoc basis to test their knowledge and staff are given Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 5 scenarios to think through and discuss. Any shortfall in practice is raised in supervision and staff are given clear guidance on their tasks to complete.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partner agencies say that they are happy with the care provided to the children by staff. The manager advocates on the children’s behalf and shares relevant information to keep professionals well informed of the children’s progress. One social worker said, ‘I am thankful for what they have done for [child’s name]; they go above and beyond.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Complaints are managed efficiently and appropriately. Recordings of complaints demonstrate the actions taken by the manager to resolve issues, and evidence clear rationale for decision-making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Prior to the children moving into the home, the previous registered manager completed an individualised risk assessment for each child. This identifies the potential impact of known risks on the children already living in the home as well as on the child coming to live in the home. However, the evaluation from the manager does not clearly evidence the rationale for decision-making. While there has been no impact of this shortfall, it means that the matching considerations were not appropriately evaluated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 28 September 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that the design of the home environment does not allow for children’s confidential information to be on display for other children or visitors to see. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.13)  The registered provider should ensure that the child’s bedroom is only searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered provider should ensure that staff help each child to prepare for any moves from the home. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience and learn practical skills they will need when living independently.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 17, paragraph 3.27) Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 7  The registered provider should ensure that children are aware of the complaints procedure and reminded of this where necessary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 22, paragraph 4.13)  The registered provider should ensure that staff have the necessary knowledge and skills to recognise and be alert for any signs that might indicate a child is in any way at risk of harm. This includes ensuring that children’s individual risk assessments contain all relevant information pertaining to risk posed to children, which includes guidance for staff to follow. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 43, paragraph 9.12)  The registered provider should ensure that any consequences imposed to address

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Recommendations

children’s behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. The registered provider should ensure that children are made aware of the duration and detail of the imposed measure. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: 2640099 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Northridge care group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Richard House, 9 Winckley Square, Preston PR1 3HP

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Inspector

Leanne Carr, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2640099 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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