Children's Home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull

Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 1 Registered provider: Kingston upon Hull City Council

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a local authority. The home offers short breaks and emergency care placements for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in March 2018 and is suitably qualified.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2023 Full Good 04/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Due to the nature of the service, children can come and live at the home in an unplanned way and for different lengths of time. Children are aware that when they come to live here it is not a long-term arrangement and this can impact on the relationships that children form with staff. Staff do try and build these relationships in individualised and creative ways. They recognise that all children are different, and they use a trauma-informed approach to support the children during their stay. The child living in the home was spoken with during the inspection.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is not accessing education. It is recognised that they have been absent from any formal education for a prolonged period. The manager and staff are advocating for them to be in education within a setting that will meet their needs. Meetings with educational professionals are taking place, and a provision has been identified for the child. Plans are being made to support the child to attend.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are ready to move on from the service, even if they have only received respite care, the manager and staff support them with their transition. When appropriate, the manager and staff work with the children’s families to help connect the child with their family and resolve relationship problems. The staff also carry out independence work with children so they learn age-appropriate skills for when they move on.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is registered with all appropriate universal health services. However, the staff have not supported the child to ensure that all of their specialist health needs are consistently met. A recommendation from the child’s health assessment and looked after review has not been completed. This means that the child has not seen a health professional to discuss their issues and potential treatment has been delayed.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The voice of the child comes across strongly in documentation in the home. However, the child does not have an independent advocate, and the roles and functions of an advocate have not been discussed with the child since they moved in.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children have stayed living at the home for longer than initially planned. These extended arrangements are outside of the home’s statement of purpose and registration conditions.

p.3

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

The manager and staff support children with complex levels of need and high levels of risk. Risk assessments are created that are bespoke to each child. They guide staff as to the care they provide to ensure that any risks are militated against or reduced as much as they can be. Staff receive additional support from a clinician who informs their Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 4 understanding of behaviours, which enhances the quality of care they provide to the child.

p.3

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

The child frequently goes missing from home. There are robust plans in place to manage this and staff are confident in what they should do when this happens. Staff collate information from each missing episode to understand patterns and behaviours and establish locations to try and reduce the risks. The child is offered a return home interview following each missing-from-home episode to further understand their motivation for being absent from the home.

p.4

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

The child’s records are an important source of information. Several documents are used in conjunction to form the child’s full risk assessment and support plan. The plans are comprehensive and detailed. However, there are inaccuracies across records, and this affects the child’s and staff’s understanding of this information.

p.4

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

When incidents happen, these are generally well managed and well recorded by staff. However, any follow-up work to allow the child or staff to learn from what happened during the incident is not always completed or recorded. This means that the ability to reflect and develop following an incident is not always used effectively.

p.4

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

Staff will search the child’s room if they are concerned for the child’s safety. There are inconsistencies in the quality and detail of recordings when room searches do happen. It is not evident whether the child has been informed or what action was taken by staff during the search.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report that they feel supported and listened to by the leaders and managers. The registered manager and deputy manager are always available. They are visible and present in the home and staff can talk to them about any worries or concerns. Staff also value the support from their peers, which they have said is invaluable and very much appreciated.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers advocate for a therapeutic and trauma-informed approach to be taken with all children. They access support from a clinician, which helps the manager and staff to provide high-quality care. They understand that children’s behaviours can be the child’s way of communicating and expressing themselves, even if this is difficult and challenging for the staff to manage.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are encouraged to express their wishes and views. The manager and staff strongly advocate for this. Children’s meetings are held regularly and the manager reviews and responds to the child’s views from these meetings. This helps the child to know that they are listened to and their views are valued.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are inaccuracies across several documents that should have had sufficient management scrutiny, although these shortfalls do not individually have a significant Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 5 impact on children. Nevertheless, they do highlight that management oversight is not always as stringent as it should be.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not ensured that her staff have completed the relevant qualification in the time frame permitted in the regulations. The manager has implemented plans to support the staff to achieve the qualification and ensure they are suitably qualified. Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 6

p.5

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 with the given timescales.

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

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)(c)(h))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff complete the required qualification in the permitted time frame.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person should ensure that they use monitoring systems to ensure they have full oversight of the home. 4 October 2024

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

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; 4 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 7 have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.6

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, risk assessments need to be kept up to date. All of the separate documents used to form the risk assessment should be accurate and should complement each other.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In addition, following safeguarding incidents staff and the child should engage in any appropriate additional work to ensure staff understand how to keep the child safe. The child should also be supported to keep themselves safe.

p.7

Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.7

Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, children should have all of their health needs consistently met. Any appointments that are required should be made and the child encouraged to attend. 4 October 2024

p.7

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 4 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 8 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))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, children should only be admitted to the home if they meet the criteria as set out in the statement of purpose.

p.8

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a child is offered support from an independent advocate and that this is revisited with the child regularly. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16)  The registered person should ensure that if there is a need to search a child’s room this is handled sensitively and where appropriate with the consent of the child. The child should be informed of why the search happened and what items may have been removed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)

p.8

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: 2664883 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kingston upon Hull City Council

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AA

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered manager: Louise Taylor-Deville

p.9

Inspector

Gail McGann, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2664883 10 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.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

p.10

Inspector

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10