Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 1 SC439535

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Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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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 home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2013.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with all three children 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 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: 11 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: SC439535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2023 Full Good 29/06/2022 Full Good 20/01/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/02/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s experiences of moving into the home are positive. The manager carefully considers the children’s circumstances and vulnerabilities to ensure that they can live safely together. Staff provide the children with a welcome pack, and they enable children to personalise their bedrooms. This helps the children to settle quickly, and it helps the staff to develop positive relationships with them. As a result, children live in the home for long periods of time until they move on to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that the care they give to children is of high quality. They are aspirational for the children to achieve good outcomes. This includes a focus on the children to achieve in education, employment or training. One child, who has moved out of the home, is now in further education. Another child who will be moving on now has a part-time job, and staff are helping to secure an apprenticeship for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health, and staff support their emotional well-being. Staff work closely with the home’s therapy team and other clinical teams who support the children. Staff encourage the children to have a healthy diet and engage in social activities to keep fit and healthy. Professionals reported on the remarkable progress that children make when they come to live in the home. They speak highly of the therapeutic parenting that staff provide to the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children maintain relationships with their families, friends and those people who are important to them. One parent said that staff genuinely care for their child and encourage their child to attend time with their family. Staff enable children to talk about family time, and when this is not working well, staff support children to communicate this with lead professionals. This has had a positive effect, with some of the children looking forward to returning to their family home.

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

The children have comprehensive risk management plans. The manager completes risk formulations plans with the support of the home’s therapy team. These provide staff with a good understanding of the support that children need. Furthermore, this helps the children to feel that staff understand what matters most to them and what affects them.

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

When risks increase, staff use individualised safety plans to keep children and staff safer. These are working documents that the manager keeps under regular review. One member of staff did not follow the safety plan in relation to a child who has now moved on from the home. The member of staff spoke to the child alone in a way that could have influenced the child’s complaint. On this occasion, the manager did not consider the company’s disciplinary procedures regarding the employee’s Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 4 responsibilities and performance in their role. However, further training was put in place for staff about this issue.

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

Children feel safe and said that they feel happy and well cared for. One child, who lives a long way from their family home, has struggled to settle but speaks positively about the care that they receive from staff. The manager wrote a personalised letter to the child that was compassionate and reassuring. This made the child feel loved.

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

Children feel able to talk to staff and said that staff listen to them. Staff spend time with children in one-to-one chats about their care, their interests and their lived experiences. Staff maintain warm and trusting relationships with the children, which enables the children to talk about their histories of trauma. Staff record the views, wishes and feelings of the children in a language that they can understand. The manager understands that staff need to continue to improve on the quality of case records.

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

The manager uses safe recruitment practice and works with the recruitment team, which verifies all references. This makes sure that children are cared for by safe adults. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding and how to respond to incidents when they occur. Staff receive appropriate training to manage unwanted and negative behaviours. They are also alert to the impact of incidents on the other children in the home, and they take steps to mitigate this. This creates safety for all the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is very experienced and demonstrates child-focused leadership. She is very enthusiastic about the care the staff provide to children. The manager is supported by the deputy manager, who is new in post. They understand the strengths of the staff team as well as areas of development for the home. The manager shares a vision for staff to be highly trained and motivated to provide a high quality of care to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work well with professionals to ensure a joined-up approach to safeguarding and meeting the needs of the children. Professionals speak about the progress that children make as being remarkable and positively life-changing for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective reviewing systems in place. This includes the regular input from the independent visitor. The manager completes a regular review of the home’s quality of care, which highlights good oversight of the home. The workforce development plan includes a review of staff training and recruitment and evidence of the timeliness of the regular reflective staff supervisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. The manager has retained the use of two agency workers to provide additional cover, and the staff are well known to the children. This ensures continuity of care. Staff understand their Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 5 responsibilities, which includes keeping the home clean and tidy. One bedroom is often damaged when the child experiences very big emotions and behaviours that are difficult to manage. Staff ensure the safety of the child when this happens, and they report repairs quickly to maintain a homely and safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers hold team meetings monthly, and these are well attended. Meetings are focused on the needs and progress that children make. Children’s views are considered in staff meetings to ensure that arrangements for the home include their input. The manager uses this opportunity to review safeguarding practice and health and safety aspects of the home to ensure that the home is meeting its targets as indicated in the home’s statement of purpose. Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. There should be clear lines of accountability. In particular, staff should adhere to the safety plans that are implemented. This also relates to the registered person following the arrangements in place to manage performance. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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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: SC439535 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pebbles Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspector

Tenji Wesa, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC439535 8 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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