Children's home run by Homes 2 Inspire Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 1 Registered provider: Homes2Inspire 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

This home is run by a private company that is owned by a national charity. The home is registered to provide care for one child who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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good

Date of last inspection: 6 February 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2024 Full Outstanding 13/03/2023 Full Outstanding 18/08/2021 Full Outstanding 23/10/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 3

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improvement to be good

One child has moved into the home since the last inspection. The child enjoys positive and meaningful relationships with staff. Staff show emotional warmth to the child, and there is lots of fun and laughter. This helps the child to build a trusting relationship with staff, which supports the child to feel settled in the home and make progress. The child said there is nothing they would change about the home.

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improvement to be good

However, since the last inspection, there have been some significant incidents, one of which resulted in the child requiring hospital treatment. Staff support the child to live a healthy lifestyle and liaise with external health professionals, ensuring that health advice and guidance are followed. This helps to maintain the child’s physical and emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff have worked closely with education providers to help the child make good progress. Despite being out of formal education for a significant period of time, the child has successfully completed three GCSE examinations and has aspirations for their future education and employment. The manager and staff understand and are supportive of these aspirations and are actively seeking options to support the child to achieve their future educational and employment targets.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is homely and welcoming. The child’s bedroom is personalised, and there are many photos of the child enjoying different activities in their room.

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improvement to be good

The child is supported to spend time with people who are most important to them. Staff go above and beyond to make sure that the time the child spends with their family members is positive and consistent. This contributes to the stability of the child’s placement.

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improvement to be good

Despite the progress made by the child, there have been three serious incidents in which the child has suffered or been at risk of significant harm. The manager has updated the child’s risk assessments; however, these are not yet embedded in staff safeguarding practice. These shortfalls have led to a continuation of significant incidents, resulting in further risk of harm to the child.

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improvement to be good

Each incident has been investigated by the provider and learning has been identified, particularly to understand the child’s risks and behaviours. However, these Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 4 investigations have not been robust and have failed to identify actions to keep the child safe. Furthermore, the learning taken from the investigations has not yet been embedded in staff practice. Following the first serious incident, staff received updated guidance around the home’s medication storage policy. However, despite this, there have been continued shortfalls where procedures have not been correctly followed by staff, exposing the child to a further incident. Despite the manager having a process in place to ensure that all staff have reviewed and understood the updated policy and guidance, this has been ineffective. This has meant that the learning from serious incidents has not led to changes in staff care practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff do understand the risks the child can be exposed to. However, some risk assessments contain contradictory information. Therefore, staff are not always able to understand the most current information. Risks are managed and reviewed in collaboration with relevant external professionals, such as social workers and external therapeutic services. However, there have been occasions where staff have lacked vigilance in their approach to safeguarding. As a result, on one occasion, staff were unaware that a child left the home during the night. This was an avoidable incident where the manager and staff did not adhere to a court order that restricted the child’s liberty to keep the child safe.

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improvement to be good

The child understands how to make a complaint. When the child or a family member have made a complaint, the manager investigates these quickly. However, the outcome of these investigations does not fully address the concerns raised by the child. Additionally, identified outcomes are not completed, often due to the child not wishing to take part in mediation. Complaints have been made by the child and their family in respect of a member of staff. This member of staff has continued to work with the child, following the completion of internal investigations.

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good

Despite the shortfalls, the child is making progress and has developed a positive and meaningful relationship with the manager and staff. The manager is committed to providing a home where the child can develop and flourish. He and the staff are successfully creating a family home environment.

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good

The manager is ambitious and endeavours to support the staff to be equally ambitious for the home and the child. The manager is striving to implement additional training and oversight, specifically in relation to the risks to the child. However, this is not yet in place and remains an area for ongoing development.

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good

Staff report that they are happy and feel supported in their jobs. Staff benefit from regular individual supervision and team meetings. They have received the support they needed following incidents in which the child has been at risk of harm, which impacted the staff members supporting the child at this time. The manager and leaders have been sensitive to staff and made themselves available, together with providing the right support, to help staff through a difficult period. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 5 The manager has developed strong links with the local authority and key external agencies. This contributes to a network of support for the child. The manager attends and contributes to weekly safeguarding meetings in respect of the child, to ensure collaborative working to keep the child safe.

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good

The manager has robust recruitment procedures in place that ensure that staff working with the children are suitable to do so. The manager has effective systems in place to monitor and review their continued suitability. Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 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–

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action when there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with and act in accordance with the home’s child protection policies;

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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

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that relevant risk assessments are up to date and do not contain conflicting information. Staff should follow the child’s agreed care plan and relevant court order. This also refers to ensuring that staff are aware of and are following the home’s policy in relation to the 4 October 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 7 storage of personal belongings, including medication, and have completed mandatory and directed refresher training relating to the management of safeguarding incidents and the home’s policies. The registered person must also ensure that the oversight of the completion of staff training and safeguarding is robust and urgently identifies and addresses gaps in this oversight.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that–

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff and visitors’ storage of personal medication on the premises and ensuring that this is secured in accordance with the home’s policy. 4 October 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: 1278708 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes2Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lumonics House, Valiant Office Suites, Valley Drive, Swift Valley Industrial Estate, Rugby CV21 1TQ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Cherelle Robinson

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Inspector

Caroline Coop, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1278708 9 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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