Children's Home run by Consensus Support Services Limited in Suffolk

Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 1 SC386258

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Registered provider: Consensus Support Services 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 privately run home provides care for up to 11 children with autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection eight children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified and has been registered with Ofsted since 2015.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2023 Full Good 14/02/2023 Full Good 02/02/2022 Full Good 26/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 3

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improvement to be good

At this inspection, five children spoke to the inspectors. One child was away during the inspection and the two other children were busy during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

The manager does not have consistent management oversight of staff. This has resulted some significant gaps in staff training and oversight. Despite these gaps, social workers and parents agree that the children are safe, and staff have safeguarded children effectively.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not seek children’s wishes and feelings in a meaningful or consistent manner. Children’s feedback is sought by staff in monthly reviews. This process is not agile or personalised enough to reflect the complexity of children’s needs. Only three children have an advocate. As such, this vulnerability cannot be mitigated by an outside agency seeking feedback. This fails to evidence that staff understand children’s daily lived experiences. It also fails to provide a culture of professional curiosity that is relevant to working alongside children with such complex needs and vulnerabilities.

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improvement to be good

Staff speak of children with warmth and care. However, their recording of this time is poor and not consistently child centred and accessible to children. Staff use institutional words, the records are factual, and process driven. Staff do not consider how these records are a part of children’s life stories. This does not accurately reflect the warmth of staff relationships with children.

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improvement to be good

Children make progress in several areas. One child’s social worker said that staff had supported a child towards a goal of living more independently. She said that staff were good at maintaining clear boundaries and helping the child to understand safe relationships. She attributed the child’s progress to the care provided.

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improvement to be good

The manager understands the importance of education for children. She has established strong relationships with the headteacher of the virtual school and other headteachers.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are met well. Staff work alongside psychiatrists and other specialist professionals. One child’s social worker discussed an acute mental health episode their child had experienced. They said that this could have resulted in the child being admitted to hospital. However, ‘due to the dedication from staff and the care they were given’ the child was able to stay at their home safely.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to maintain meaningful and safe relationships with their families. The manager carefully considers this aspect of children’s lives when they move into the home. She supports children to look around the home with their Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 4 parents when appropriate and choose their bedrooms. Children’s parents are appreciative of the effort and care that staff show to them. One parent said, ‘I couldn’t be more pleased with the home’.

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improvement to be good

Staff have taken the time to understand what children like and dislike. They work hard to make the home welcoming and cosy.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not update children’s risk assessments consistently. There is a lack of management oversight in identifying gaps in these assessments. At times, risk assessments lack evidence that staff have fully considered the levels of risk in children’s lives. One child’s risk assessment noted that, ‘there was no risk around transitions’. This child was due to move out of the home within the next year. This does not adequately evidence that staff have considered the potential needs of the child, any barriers they may face and the emotional impact of moving out for this child.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow children’s plans when communicating with them. There is an overreliance on verbal communication when spending time with children. One child’s plan clearly set out that they needed to be spoken in short sentences. However, a member of staff was seen speaking with the child using complex and lengthy sentences. This could be confusing and fails to meet children’s diverse needs or support their meaningful involvement. Other children use specific communication aids and key fobs with prompt phrases. Staff do not always use these with children and the fobs were stored in the staff office. While there have been no incidents of children going missing from the home, staff have noted incidents of children trying to run away when outside the home. The protocol which staff follow if children go missing from the home is not explicit enough in when staff should eslcate this to police. Two members of staff could not

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improvement to be good

specifically identify what number they would call. This could be confusing at a time of crisis and has the potential to impact children’s safety. Staff recordings of holds and restraints are poor. There are no timescales around the holds and some staff have restrained a child when they had no training in how to do this safely. Staff’s records of these are not detailed enough to evidence that the restraint was proportionate and allow for regulatory oversight. One significant incident involving a child had not been notified to Ofsted. While the actions taken to safeguard the child were proportionate and safe, this reduces regulatory oversight. The local authority designated officer (LADO) said that staff were good at liaising and reporting allegations and concerns to them. There has been one allegation this inspection year. This was managed well by the manager through a disciplinary process, which was followed up in a supervision session.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 5 Children can identify a trusted adult. Children ask staff to spend time with them and staff are responsive and caring. Staff and children often enjoy activities such as visiting horses and taking pictures of them, baking, visiting farms and going for drives. This shows children that they matter to staff and are cared about.

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improvement to be good

Children’s social workers unanimously said that their children are safe living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Some children were able to say that they felt safe and show a clear understanding of what this meant. Other children were observed with staff and their interactions suggested that they felt safe.

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good

Senior managers have recently changed to an online recording system. The transition is still not complete. This has meant that some records are held in paper form, others are online, and some are difficult to locate or written on pieces of paper. This has reduced the manager’s level of oversight. She feels that the processes have not worked well. Consequently, there are significant gaps in recording and management oversight. The manager has not identified the lack of timescales on restraint records and was unaware that a safeguarding notification had been missed. She has failed to challenge staff when they have not undertaken monthly feedback with the children. Although there is a plan in place to identify many of these areas, the impact of these is yet to be seen.

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good

Staff are not up to date with their training. Staff have not received restraint training before holding a child. Two members of staff were two months outside the timeframe for their safeguarding training. This was not identified as a gap by the manager. The independent visitor did not visit the home on one month this year. Although this was due to sickness, there was no attempt to reschedule this visit. This visit was undertaken virtually and is of poor quality. Additionally, the independent visitor does not routinely speak with all of the children.

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good

The home has been led by the same manager since 2015. This has afforded staff and the children a level of consistency. The manager is suitably qualified, she knows the children well, and cares deeply about her staff group.

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good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions that are further enhanced by regular team meetings. This helps staff to feel fully supported in their roles. New staff receive an effective induction and say that they feel part of a team. Staff are appreciated and valued and consequently staff morale appears high. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 6 The manager has developed good relationships with the children’s social workers. They generally say that the manager is good at communicating with them. Staff say that they feel well supported and cared about by the manager. They speak of her always being available to them and the importance of time taken to ‘talk to us after a difficult shift’. One member of staff said the manager was ‘amazing and has been instrumental in turning the home around, I wouldn’t be working here if it wasn’t for her’.

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good

The manager has met one requirement from the previous inspection and three recommendations. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 7

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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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(a)(c )(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) 31 January

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

engage with them; and 14 February Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 8 take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

is given appropriate advocacy support; (Regulation 7(1)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(b)(i)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 31 January

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the child; 3 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 9 details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

Within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person— to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44(1) (2)(a) (7)(a)) 31 January Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 10

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children who cannot or choose not to verbalise, have the right to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and respected in the same way as other children. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.24)  The registered person should ensure that records relating to children are written in child-friendly language and that language used to describe children is appropriate. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home. In particular, the policy should be clear on whether staff are expected to call 999 or 101. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

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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: SC386258 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Consensus Support Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 The Courtyards Phoenix Square, Wyncolls Road, Colchester CO4 9PE

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Inspectors

Majella Russell, Social Care Inspector Natalie Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Syvanna Matthew, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC386258 12 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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