Children's home run by Happy Group (UK) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 1 Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) 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 is run by a private provider. It provides care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one young person was living in this home. The young person was spoken to during the 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 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: 26 September 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: 2589537 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/09/2023 Full Good 20/09/2022 Full Good 18/01/2022 Full Good 05/05/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have built a trusted relationship with the young person living at the home. The young person presents as comfortable and relaxed within the home. They feel that they can have open discussions with all staff and has a different relationship dynamic with each staff member.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aware of who the young person feels comfortable with talking about topics such as health appointments or their feelings and can utilise this knowledge to explore the young person’s thoughts in more depth. These positive relationships, combined with clear and consistent boundaries, have enabled the young person to develop an understanding of their emotions and engage in strategies to manage difficult feelings more effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s rights are respected and promoted, and they are given the opportunity to experience new things. Staff support the young person to participate in activities they enjoy, including meeting peers, going on holidays and engaging in celebrations that explore their identity when they wish to, such as Pride events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person had been in a stable educational provision and made good progress. When an education setting can no longer meet the young person’s needs, the manager ensures that the appropriate agencies are gathered in a timely way to identify a new education pathway.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the young person to develop their independence. Independent living skills are taught through education and are incentivised until young people turn 18 years old. This includes teaching them how to budget money and complete household tasks in preparation for living independently. The manager challenges the responsible placing authority when staff have concerns about the future plans for young people, including the timing of leaving care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s health needs are identified and addressed. They have access to local health services, including dentists, when needed. The manager ensures that access to healthcare continues when the young person transitions into a new service. Arrangements for managing medication are safe, effective and promote the young person’s independence wherever possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The complaints process is readily available and presented to children and young people in the children’s guide in a way that they can understand. The young person was aware of how to make a complaint in the event they were unhappy with something in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 4

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

The young person living at the home said that they feel safe. There is a stable and consistent staff team that supports them, and the young person feels able to raise concerns with any member of staff if needed.

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

Individual, up-to-date risk assessments effectively address any known vulnerabilities for the young person. There are plans in place that set out what action staff should take to manage the risks, and evidence that risks are reduced or managed well. Risks are regularly reviewed, and plans of care are adjusted accordingly to ensure that the least- restrictive practice is always being used. For example, when the young person has consistently presented as calm, staffing levels are reduced to promote a sense of normality.

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

Safety plans of care have been agreed with the young person to continue now that they have entered adulthood. The manager ensures that capacity is assessed appropriately before the young person turns 18, so that staff can support the young person to make informed decisions.

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

Missing-from-care incidents are well recorded, and staff continue with a well-coordinated response despite the young person having turned 18. Staff keep an ongoing log of places and people the young person may go to when they leave the home. Staff keep in regular contact with them and inform the appropriate authorities of any concerns.

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

The young person is protected and helped to keep themselves safe from bullying, homophobic behaviour, racism and other forms of discrimination. Staff challenge discriminatory behaviours, and education and support are given to the young person about how to treat others with respect. Staff report that they have seen the use of disrespectful language from the young person decrease.

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

Physical intervention is only used when necessary, and a consistent response from staff to unwanted behaviour has resulted in a significant reduction of restraint being used. All incidents are recorded, reviewed and monitored by management. The views of the young person are explored to help staff understand how to improve their approach in future incidents.

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

The physical environment of the home is safe for children and young people. It is secure and protects them from harm or the risk of harm. Health and safety risks are regularly reviewed. The process that is in place to ensure that the maintenance of the property is kept to a high standard is effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager lead by example and have a clear vision for the Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 5 service. Staff feel supported by both management figures stating that they ‘are always happy to help without hesitation’. There are positive working relationships in the home. The manager maintains these through ongoing discussions regarding the culture in the home during meetings with staff and staff supervisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular supervision takes place for all staff, including agency staff who are working for the home. Supervisions are reflective, with a focus on child and staff development. Managers identify staff strengths during supervision and agree with staff on how these can be used to develop and strengthen the service. However, the actions identified do not have specified dates for achievement, which affects the manager’s ability to monitor progress. Staff have an annual appraisal and probationary period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager strives to form working relationships with partner agencies, including education provisions, to ensure the best possible care, experiences and futures for children and young people living in the home. They are a strong advocate for the young person in the home, ensuring that they regularly, and sometimes urgently, challenge agencies and adapt their practice, where required, to ensure the best result and positive outcomes for the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records are stored electronically in a bespoke system. The manager dashboard allows oversight of all areas of the home, including care delivery, personnel files and health and safety systems. The system ensures that the manager approves staff actions, such as medication administration, and alerts them to necessary actions, such as training requirements, in a timely way. Case records for the young person reflect their everyday lives and demonstrate the positive impact and outcomes that living at the home has had on them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is supported by a stable staff team. The future direction is to expand the service, grow the staff team to enable this to happen and ensure that appropriate staffing levels are maintained based on the needs of children and young people living there. The staff are recruited through safer recruitment practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is regular consultation in place with partners, children and people who are important to them. However, these do not always have a focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the home, in order to drive improvement. The manager wants to develop the agenda for young people’s meetings to focus conversations on home improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is open and transparent with partner agencies but needs to ensure that the thresholds for notifications are defined to ensure that those deemed as serious are made consistently. Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40 occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 4.10)

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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: 2589537 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Happy Group (UK) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Walk House, 99 Princess Road East, Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 7LF

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Inspector

Vikki Thwaites, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2589537 8 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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