Children's Home run by Golden Care Estate Ltd in Barking and Dagenham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 1 Registered provider: Golden Care Estate 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 privately owned children’s home provides care for one child with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in September 2024. The manager was registered with Ofsted at the same time. This is the home’s first inspection since its registration.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, no child was living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be 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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 2

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improvement to be good

Since the home was registered with Ofsted, two children have moved in and out of the home. One child experienced steady progress and positive outcomes, while the other child, who had a significantly shorter stay, did not share the same positive experience. Both children were under deprivation of liberty orders, which restricted their movement and access to the community at times. Children tend to make steady progress the longer they remain in the home.

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improvement to be good

Children do not always benefit from the home’s placement planning processes. For example, one child’s placement aims were not clarified from the outset, leading to a misunderstanding between the manager and the local authority about the nature of the child’s placement. The situation was compounded by there being no clear recording of the placement planning meeting.

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improvement to be good

Children’s support plans lack sufficient detail and are often incomplete. They do not offer staff clear guidance on targets, actions to be taken and timelines. This shortfall prevents a comprehensive understanding of the children’s needs. Additionally, the support plans do not hold all the known needs of the children that have been identified by the placing local authority.

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improvement to be good

Staff’s support plans pay little attention to children’s identity needs. For example, one child’s support plan did not highlight that the child had learning difficulties. The plan offered no guidance to staff about considering the child’s particular vulnerabilities and how care practices might address these.

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improvement to be good

Although children had during their time at the home received help from counselling provided by an external therapist to support their mental health and well-being, care plans did not consistently comment on the children’s healthcare needs or how these needs were to be met.

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improvement to be good

Children’s learning outcomes improve the longer they stay at the home. Staff actively work with education professionals to ensure that children receive suitable learning resources, including home tuition.

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improvement to be good

One child was able to engage in a variety of social, educational and leisure activities both in the home and in the community. However, due to initial court-imposed restrictions, the other child did not have access to the community. Managers were unable to successfully renegotiate these restrictions, resulting in the child staying inside the home without community access for the duration of their stay.

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improvement to be good

Both children received help by completing independent life-skills workbooks that were supplied by their placing local authority. The children learned skills such as food Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 3 preparation, completing CVs and money management. One child then gained employment and has started their own clothing business.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to protect children who are found by the court to be at high risk of, or have been exposed to, significant harm and abuse. Both children who have lived at the home have been subject to deprivation of liberty orders to help protect them from harm and to keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete child protection and safeguarding training to support their practice in keeping children safe. However, some staff are yet to complete training that is focused on key safeguarding issues, such as child criminal exploitation, gang affiliation and mental health.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are of poor quality. They do not consistently highlight known or anticipated risks and they are not kept up to date. Risk assessments do not provide staff with strategies that help to reduce risks to children. Despite stringent safeguarding measures, one child had continued to regularly go missing from the home by exiting through their bedroom window.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of, and adhere to, the home’s policies and local protocols when children are missing from care. Staff work with other safeguarding professionals to promote children’s safe return home. Staff ensure that records are clear about the action taken if children’s whereabouts are unknown.

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improvement to be good

For the two children who have lived at the home, staff made sure to keep their parents and relatives well informed. Additionally, staff regularly engaged in conversations with the children about risks and how to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff encouraged the children to adhere to structure and boundaries. As a result, no critical incidents occurred. For the two children who have lived at the home, staff devised behaviour management plans that promoted positive behaviour. For example, both children were given incentives if they completed agreed tasks, such as clearing up after themselves.

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improvement to be good

There have been no instances of staff restraining children. Staff have completed bedroom searches when they believed that a child’s bedroom might have objects that may pose potential risks to children and others.

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improvement to be good

The two children who have lived at the home have not raised a complaint or made an allegation against a member of staff.

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improvement to be good

The staff are recruited and vetted in line with safe staff recruitment procedures. This ensures that staff are suitable to work with children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 4 The home’s premises are comfortable and secure. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks to confirm that the building is safe. Currently, external CCTV coverage does not include a view of the area around a child’s bedroom window. Staff were not aware that a child had managed to dismantle their window restrictors and exit the home on several occasions through the window.

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improvement to be good

Staff work effectively with other safeguarding professionals to promote children’s safety. Staff’s communication with partners is frequent, and they highlight placement issues as soon as they arise. Managers take part in regular professional network meetings that explore safeguarding concerns and how to best to resolve them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager is permanent and suitably qualified. The home is properly staffed and well resourced. The provider confirms that the home is financially viable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Monitoring and review systems are not yet effective to drive improvement. This is particularly the case for the review of children’s key records, such as support plans and risk assessments, which are of poor quality. These are insufficiently detailed or incomplete and do not provide staff with clear guidance about the work to be completed with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers do not routinely make records of children’s meetings that they attend, such as strategy meetings, looked after children reviews and placement planning meetings. Managers are therefore reliant on the receipt of records from other professionals, which are sometimes not sent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Independent quality assurance monitoring reports completed by the independent visitor are not completed monthly and reports are not consistently shared with Ofsted. It is not clear whether monitoring reports are shared with managers, as requested reports were not produced for review during the inspection. Monitoring reports do not include feedback from children or others.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The support of staff is good, and staff induction and supervision processes are sound. Staff and managers receive supervision monthly, and managers ensure that they keep clear supervision records. However, staff training records are less clear. Central records of staff training are not easily accessed by managers as this information is kept on different electronic platforms and, in some instances, exclusively on managers’ phones. This makes it difficult to accurately figure out which training has been completed by which staff, or ensure that staff development needs are met. The home’s IT and recording systems do not support staff and managers’ record-keeping well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have an ambitious vision for the development of the home and high aspirations for children’s achievements. Managers and staff share an effective working relationship with other professionals. Communication between staff and external professionals is regular and effective. Staff provide social workers with monthly progress summaries, and staff and managers contribute to children’s key meetings. This ensures Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 5 that all parties are aware of children’s progress and of any concerns for children’s safety and well-being. Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 1 March 2025

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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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, managers should ensure that key records, such as support plans, risk assessments, meetings with key professionals and placement planning meetings, are reviewed to ensure that records are clear, available and updated. Children’s 1 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 7 care plans should highlight children’s identity needs and how staff will meet these needs.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5)) 1 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff complete training that is focused on child criminal exploitation, gang affiliation and mental health. 1 March 2025

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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. 1 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the home’s external CCTV includes an appropriate view of the child’s bedroom window to prevent children leaving the home through this window.

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered provider should ensure that electronic records can be easily accessed by anyone who has a legitimate need to view it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

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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: 2765662 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Golden Care Estate Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Broadway Chambers, 1 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 4DU

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2765662 10 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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