Children's home run by Manuel Cornwall Ltd

Inspection report children's home: 2662998 1 Registered provider: Manuel Cornwall 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

The children’s home provides care for up to three children. At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 15 May 2023

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2662998 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/06/2023 Full Good 29/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/05/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report children's home: 2662998 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector spent time with the children during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made good progress, and in some areas this progress is significant. Staff provide care that stretches the children’s abilities effectively enabling them to succeed. For example, one child, who has been out of education for many years, is now enjoying attending an education provision and they have career aspirations. Staff have supported their aspirations by helping them to access a relevant voluntary work placement over the summer holiday, and they are now employed during term-time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and understand their complex needs. Joined up working with one child’s school has provided staff with the knowledge and skills needed to communicate with the child effectively. Staff use visual aids with the child in a meaningful way. This helps the child to communicate their needs to staff and to be involved with decisions about their daily life, including making choices about their daily routine, meals, and activities. Since living in the home, the child’s use of words and their ability to communicate with staff have increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs have improved. This includes the children’s immunisations being completed and staff supporting them to attend dental appointments and to have necessary treatment. Staff have helped one child to learn how to manage some aspects of their personal care independently. While staff consider the child’s rights for privacy and dignity when supporting the child at bathtime, there is not a consistent understanding between managers and staff about the level of personal care support required. The child’s plans do not provide clear guidance to staff to promote the child’s safe care at these times. A requirement is made relating to this aspect of care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to access activities in the community. This includes shopping, cadet groups, trampolining lessons, and trips away. Their experiences are captured in photo books. When one child enjoyed a trip away staff created a story book for them that reflects the fun and enjoyment had by all. In the home, staff support children with their interests. This includes staff ensuring that one child has the materials and time needed for their artwork, and their drawings of staff team members are framed on the living room walls. One child’s enthusiasm to construct remote-controlled vehicles is encouraged.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are regularly consulted on their wishes and views to guide their care in the home. In addition, independent advocates meet with the children and write to them with the outcome of local authority meetings. Goals and agreements that are set for the children, are often led by them. One child described living in their home as ‘fun’. They said that the best things about living in their home were the ‘house’ and ‘staff’. Inspection report children's home: 2662998 4

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

Since the previous inspection, care arrangements for two children have ended. Managers did not apply sufficient due diligence to ensure that children’s complex needs were fully understood and could be met by the team’s skills before they moved into the home. Staff were increasingly challenged by the children’s needs and there was an increase in significant incidents.

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

Staff responded to children going missing-from-home promptly, but on another occasion when a child attempted to harm themselves using a household substance, swift action was not taken to reduce the potential for physical harm. Following this incident, managers implemented measures, including restricting the child’s access to household items, to increase the child’s immediate safety. A review is needed to consider how restrictions can be reduced to support the child to use household items safely in the future.

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

Managers have applied learning from these events to inform more comprehensive planning processes for children to live together successfully and safely. There have been no significant incidents over a sustained period and no restraint used since February 2024. When restraint was previously used, records show staff taking time to talk to the child after incidents to understand their experiences, to repair relationships, and to promote the child’s right to make a complaint about their care.

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

Children respond to staff approaches that encourage positive behaviour. They accept guidance, support, and reassurance from staff when they feel overwhelmed. One child is learning to use strategies to resolve conflict positively. Staff invest time in talking to them to help them to learn how to keep themselves safe, including in the community and online.

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

Children’s support plans provide clear guidance to staff about how to support children at times of distress. In the main, preventative measures to keep children safe are reviewed and reduced where possible. This has informed day-to-day arrangements for one child to have short periods away from staff when riding their bike, and to have increased time on their mobile phone without staff supervision.

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

Recruitment procedures are in place that reduce the risk of unsuitable persons working in the home.

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

Arrangements for the storage of medication and the recording of administered medication has improved. Medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place to keep children safe. There has been one medication error that did not cause any adverse effects for the child. Managers took appropriate action to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report children's home: 2662998 5 The home is led effectively by the registered manager. They are supported well by the experienced deputy manager and the responsible individual. Their oversight ensures that levels of care and supervision are proportionate to each child’s needs. There are suitable interim management arrangements in place for the registered manager’s imminent planned period of absence from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children benefit from continuity of care from a permanent and stable staff team. There is little turnover of staff at this home. Children were observed as happy to see managers and staff on their return home from school, and there was much laughter and emotional warmth seen.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about working in the home. They feel supported by their managers. Their training is kept up to date and they benefit from additional training relevant to the children’s specific needs. The independent visitor has highlighted the need to improve language used across the children’s records. While additional staff training has supported some progress in this area, the use of language in records and in discussions is not always child-friendly, or in keeping with a home environment. A recommendation is made relating to this area of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular formal supervision. The child’s needs and safeguarding scenarios are discussed to improve individual practice. When concerns about practice are raised, these are addressed in supervision sessions, and wider learning is disseminated at team meetings to promote consistent approaches.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s social workers are positive about the care provided. They receive regular communication about the children’s progress and any concerns. They described the children as ‘happy and settled’ and ‘blossoming’, and one child’s parent described their child as ‘thriving’ in the home’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have met the requirements made at the previous inspection. Inspection report children's home: 2662998 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, 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

protect and promote each child's welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child's needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child's background;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child's relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iv)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

This directly relates to the registered person ensuring that they understand the child’s personal care support needs. The support required from staff should be recorded clearly in the child’s relevant plan to inform the day-to-day arrangements for the child and to promote their safe care. 01 November 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that language used in all documents and in discussions is developed to be child-friendly and to reflect language used in a home environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children's home: 2662998 7

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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 children's home: 2662998 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Manuel Cornwall Ltd

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Inspector

Louise Bacon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2662998 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 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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