Children's home run by SEVA CHILDCARE LTD

Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 1 Registered provider: Seva Childcare 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

This home provides care for up to five children with social and emotional difficulties and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is composed of individual flats to allow children to live in solo placements. Staff work across each of the flats, and children socialise with each other in the communal garden.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted on 12 June 2023. The registered manager post has been vacant since 30 June 2023. A new manager has been in post since November 2023 and has not submitted a complete application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living in the home, and two were spoken to during this 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

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2023

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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: 2719705 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience consistent care and are settled in the home. Since the last inspection, no children have left and both of the children who previously stayed on the weekends now live in the home full time. Staff speak knowingly of the children, their needs and the positive changes that they have made. Children are valued and their achievements are celebrated with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress, particularly in their education. Two children are now attending school and achieving academically after significant periods of absence before they moved into the home. Although one child has been out of education since February 2024, the manager has worked well with professionals in efforts to ensure that their educational needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are understood, and they are supported by staff to attend regular health appointments. The manager has advocated for one child, who has complex needs, to access the appropriate services and is in regular communication with specialist health services. Two children who were reluctant to attend their health appointments before moving into the home now attend all of their appointments. Children also have access to private health assessments when there are delays in the regular health services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well with children to plan a variety of activities that reflect their specific interests. For example, staff research activities for children with hearing impairments, which has helped one child build friendships and confidence. Children’s views are regularly gathered through house meetings and key-work sessions. However, children’s views are not represented well in their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s physical environment is safe for children. Children’s individual flats are homely, well maintained and personalised. Leaders and managers promptly complete repairs.

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

Children are safeguarded in the home. The relationships that children develop with staff help to increase children’s safety and improve their experiences. Two children present at the time of the inspection said that they feel safe at the home and can speak to staff if they are worried. The interactions between children and staff are familiar and playful.

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

Safeguarding practice is strong. Staff have a good understanding of whistle-blowing procedures. Leaders and managers take allegations of harm seriously and act promptly when issues arise. Feedback from social workers and the local authority designated officer is positive. Two allegations have been investigated appropriately, Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 4 and managers took appropriate actions to keep children safe. Communication with other agencies is well coordinated when concerns are raised about children’s welfare.

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

Staff support children to understand the risks posed to them when accessing the internet. Staff use individual key-work sessions with children to help them develop their knowledge and understanding of the risks. There are effective strategies and monitoring systems in place to address any concerns raised. As a result, one child is now able to access the internet and is kept safe online.

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

Staff understand children’s risks and vulnerabilities. Children benefit from a high level of supervision from staff. Incidents requiring physical intervention are rare in this home. Staff work well with children’s professional networks to understand the risks posed to children. However, children’s risk assessments do not show clear evaluation of the risks to individual children.

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

Staff are proactive and curious if children’s behaviour changes. Staff set firm boundaries and routines for children that promote and encourage positive behaviour. The consistent approach to behaviour management is reducing the number of incidents in the home. Incidents are managed well; however, staff do not always promptly record serious incidents, and children’s records lack sufficient management oversight. This compromises the accuracy of all events that have an impact on children’s welfare and safety.

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

Safer recruitment and employment practices ensure that staff are safely recruited. However, managers have not ensured that all references from previous employers are on headed paper or have a company stamp to satisfy themselves of their validity.

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good

Leadership and management of the home are undermined by the absence of a permanent registered manager. The home has not had a registered manager since June 2023. An experienced deputy manager is now in place to support the day-to- day management of the home.

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good

Leaders and managers do not have effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care provided to children and identify areas for improvement. For example, managers do not always check that significant incidents are recorded and review the records to understand staff practice. In addition, the requirement raised at the last inspection in relation to monitoring systems has not been met and is restated.

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good

Staff undertake a range of online and face-to-face mandatory training. However, some staff have not completed additional training to help them meet the children’s specific needs, such as training on autism spectrum disorder or British Sign Language. Additional training would help staff to gain a broader understanding of the children’s needs and how to communicate with them effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 5 Leaders and managers do not consistently notify Ofsted of all significant incidents as required. This failure to report serious incidents compromises the regulator’s external oversight of the home.

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good

Children’s case records do not include important information. For example, children’s files do not include their most recent placing authority plans, education plans or the contact details of the relevant people in their lives. This limits the effectiveness of care planning for children.

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good

Social workers and parents are positive about the care provided to the children and the communication they receive from staff. Overall, partnership working with professionals and parents is good. However, two parents reported having difficulties contacting the home during the weekends. Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 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—

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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

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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff are suitably trained and that there are effective monitoring systems in place to review the quality of care provided to children, in order to take action to address any shortfalls identified.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was issued at the last inspection and is restated. 24 October

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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

that staff— 24 October Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 7 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that all incidents are recorded promptly and risks to individual children are thoroughly evaluated when updating risk assessments, to demonstrate a clear understanding of the risk levels and strategies to manage identified risks.

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the person in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b)(i), a person has the appropriate experience and qualification if the person has—

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Requirement Due date

within the last 5 years, worked for at least 2 years in a position relevant to the residential care of children;

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Requirement Due date

worked for at least one year in a role requiring the supervision and management of staff working in a care role; and

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Requirement Due date

the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 5 Diploma”); or 4 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 8 a qualification which the registered provider considers to be equivalent to the Level 5 Diploma. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the provider must ensure that the appointed manager submits a complete application to register with Ofsted.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 4 October 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should encourage children to regularly contribute to their records in a way that reflects their views and opinions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice as set out in regulations 31-33 and that all references from previous employers are on official documentation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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: 2719705 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ

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Inspectors

Dorothy Thompstone, Social Care Inspector Rachel McIntyre, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2719705 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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