Children's Home run by TS Children Services Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 1 Registered provider: TS Children Services 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 privately owned home is registered to provide care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties. One child was living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in January 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in January 2024 and is suitably qualified.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A suspension of registration notice was issued following the last full inspection. The suspension notice was removed following a monitoring visit on the 8 May 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/04/2024 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

During this inspection, serious safeguarding failings were identified, resulting in the child living at the home being placed at risk of harm. In response, Ofsted have issued an emergency notice to suspend the registration. The shortfalls identified are similar to those identified on the previous full inspection. This demonstrates that the necessary improvements to how children are helped and protected have not been made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager was absent at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

At the time of the inspection, the child living at the home was with family. This was after they had declined to return home after being reported as missing from home. The child said they liked the home and staff but did not want to return as they prefer to remain living with their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Before the child moved into the home, leaders and managers failed to fully consider the suitability of the location of the home against the risks of the child. The home is located near to areas in which the child had previously been at risk of harm. Despite this, local transport links had not been well considered or effectively risk assessed. Some information was not shared by the child’s placing local authority. However, leaders and managers failed to demonstrate a suitable level of curiosity around risks which were known. The lack of effective planning around the location of the home has impacted on the child’s overall experiences and placed them at potential risk of harm due to repeated and prolonged missing-from-care episodes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the shortfalls identified, the child has had some positive experiences while living in the home. Staff encouraged positive activities, such as ice skating, go-karting, rock climbing and more. Staff also supported the child to complete independence tasks and made efforts to understand and meet their cultural needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child moved into the home at the end of the academic year. Staff supported the child with on-site education. However, due to the timing of the placement and current situation no full-time education placement has been identified. As a result of the limited opportunity to demonstrate how is has been met, the requirement from the previous inspection relating to children’s education is restated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff make efforts to meet the child’s physical health needs. The child is registered with local health services and attends appointments where necessary. Staff have supported the child with their ongoing orthodontist treatment and appointments. Staff’s ability to fully meet the child’s physical health needs have been compromised because of the child spending long periods of time missing from care. As a result, the requirement from the previous inspection will is restated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 4

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

Safeguarding arrangements to protect the child from the risk of exploitation and going missing from home are inadequate. Staff and leaders do not fully understand the child’s risks and do not take effective action to reduce these risks. On one occasion when the child left the home and staff were aware of potential significant risk to them, a lack of planning meant staff were unable to take effective action to prevent them going missing from home. The child then remained missing for two days. On the child’s return, no preventative measures were put in place and this enabled the child to again go missing without the knowledge of staff. The child then remained missing from home for a period of four days. As a result of these failures, the child was at potential significant risk of harm.

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

Since the child has been staying with family, there have not been effective plans in place to ensure their safety. Safety measures in place are not consistent with child’s missing- from-care protocol, which states the child should be reported missing if they leave the home unsupervised. The child is now staying in an area near to where they have previously been at risk of harm. Despite this, plans have not ensured that staff are aware of the child’s whereabouts through the checks which are taking place. This places the child at potential significant risk of harm. In addition, the manager did not notify Ofsted of the most recent missing-from-home incident, affecting Ofsted’s ability to have effective oversight of the care being provided.

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

Staff have failed to ensure that the child is kept safe online. Staff have not implemented appropriate safety checks to monitor the child’s online activity and it is not known who they are communicating with while online. Staff do not understand the potential risks around the child’s online use or know how to access the child’s console to undertake checks. This fails to ensure the child’s safety.

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

Staff are not always safely vetted prior to working in the home. Although there are improvements from the last inspection, some shortfalls remain. For example, the manager has failed to verify reasons for leaving roles with children or vulnerable adults for two members of staff. This means staff have been working with children without the appropriate checks.

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

Despite the safeguarding shortfalls, staff have taken some proactive measures to support the child. A basic mobile phone was purchased, and details supplied to local police to allow for them to track the device while the child is missing from care. Furthermore, staff have carried out room searches to try and identify any clues as to the child’s whereabouts.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight and monitoring of the home is poor. Senior leaders’ and the registered manager’s systems have failed to identify shortfalls in staff practice following incidents which have potential to place the child at significant risk of harm. Appropriate follow up work has not been completed with staff as part of the reviewing process, Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 5 which means staff have missed out on opportunities for reflection and learning. Furthermore, the responsible individual has not picked up on the shortfalls with the registered manager. Ineffective monitoring systems do not support the protection of the child or improve the quality of care that they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff have the appropriate skills, experience, or knowledge to manage the child’s risks. There have been notable efforts to provide a more consistent staff team for the child. However, there are currently only two staff who hold the relevant qualification. A lack of experience and knowledge of the child has meant that staff were not able to prevent the child from regularly going missing. Consequently, this has left the child vulnerable and compromised their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Training systems fail to adequately equip staff with the knowledge and skills to keep the child safe. For example, staff have completed additional training to support them to meet the needs of the child in relation to criminal exploitation risks. However, this training has not had a positive impact on the decision-making of staff or supported a proactive approach to prevent the child from going missing from care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professional relationships are not always effective. Information from the child’s social worker at admission is conflicting with information in the child’s plans. In addition, leaders and managers have struggled to maintain positive communication and relationships with the social worker since the child moved into the home. Leaders and managers have raised concerns with the child’s local authority, but at present this has not had a positive effect on how effectively professionals are working together.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the last full inspection, the home received nine requirements. Managers have failed to demonstrate that they have met seven of these requirements. Four additional requirements have been issued from this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 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— that staff—

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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

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that documented risks within children’s plans are effectively considered and assessed when deciding on the suitability of children moving into the home. 20 September 2024

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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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manger ensuring that staff have the skills to identify when a child is at risk of harm and put in place measures to reduce any risk and keep the child safe. 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 7 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 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.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered manager ensuring that appropriate risk management plans are in place to manage any risk of children going missing. 20 September 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 September 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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 8 individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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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 any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 20 September 2024

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience, and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 September 2024

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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— 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 9 that each child’s relevant plans are followed.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services, and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding.

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment, and other services as the child may require.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(c)

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must ensure that children’s health needs are met in line with local authority plans, that professional advice is sought about children’s health needs, that children are provided with a healthy diet and that children are supported with their daily routines to promote their emotional well-being.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 September 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 10 The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training, and employment.

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement.

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(vi)(x))

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must ensure that education in the home is promoted, and children are supported to engage and attend education in line with their plans.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 September 2024

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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: 2729820 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: TS Children Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 11 Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 4DJ

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Inspector

Carl Wilton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2729820 12 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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