Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

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

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 17 January 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2024 Full Good 28/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children were spoken with as part of the inspection.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are actively promoted by staff. They are registered with a doctor, dentist and optician and are encouraged to attend routine health checks. Children have detailed health plans in place. This helps staff to understand children’s specific medical needs and ensures that their health needs are well met.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend school daily. There is strong partnership working between staff and education professionals. As a result, children’s attendance at school has improved and they are making progress from their starting points. A teacher said, ‘There is excellent communication with the home.’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have pets which they enjoy taking care of and spending time with. This gives children a sense of responsibility and belonging, and it supports their emotional well- being.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager advocates for children and supports time spent with loved ones. This ensures that children spend time with people who are important to them and maintain these relationships.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy living in the home. They can identify trusted adults who they can rely on to support them if they have any worries.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last full inspection, five children have been welcomed into the home and six children have moved out. Managers and staff ensure that children’s experiences of moving into and out of the home are mostly positive. For example, children are given the opportunity to say goodbye and are given personalised gifts and memory books.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Following two children moving from the home in an unplanned way, managers have carried out reflection and learning reviews. Managers have identified shortfalls in compatibility assessments when considering new children moving into the home. They have reviewed systems to improve this to reduce the risk of children leaving in an unplanned way in the future. For the two children who moved on earlier than anticipated, staff worked hard to provide the support they needed to move on positively.

p.3

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

Managers and staff are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities. They are confident in raising concerns and understand how to escalate concerns should they need to, including using the whistle-blowing procedure. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 4 Incidents of self-harm are well managed. There are detailed behaviour risk management plans in place, which helps staff to respond appropriately. Children are supported to seek medical advice, and referrals are made to child and adolescent mental health services when required.

p.3

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

Staff understand children’s risks and talk to the children about these. For example, staff have spoken to children about the dangers of vaping. This support enables children to learn about risks and encourages them to make safer choices.

p.4

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

When physical intervention is required, this is used by staff as a last resort to ensure children’s safety. Managers have oversight of all incidents, and opportunities are provided for staff and children to reflect and learn from these.

p.4

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

When children go missing from home, staff follow the child’s individual agreed plans. They actively look for children and support them to return home. Staff talk to children about why they went missing and try to reduce the chance of this happening again.

p.4

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

Managers have robust safer recruitment processes in place. This helps them to be assured that the children are cared for by safe adults.

p.4

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

When children raise concerns about staff, these are taken seriously. Managers share information and work with other professionals to ensure that concerns are investigated. This helps to keep children safe.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child focused and suitably experienced. She is supported by two deputy managers, and staff feel supported by them. One member of staff said, ‘I am grateful to them, I have had an amazing journey and feel really supported.’

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is effective partnership working with other agencies. Managers are strong advocates for the children and challenge other professionals when necessary. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘They are clear about challenging when needed, to get the best support for children.’

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide staff with regular supervision. These sessions are supportive in nature and provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and discuss the children’s needs.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is suitably staffed. However, managers recognise that the staff team has undergone several changes. These changes have had some effect on the continuity of care for children. One child said, ‘I like the new staff, but it’s just hard when staff leave and having to get to know new people.’

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a good-quality induction programme in place for new staff, and all staff have completed mandatory training. A wide range of training courses are available to the Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 5 team, which are specific to the children’s needs. This helps to equip staff with the knowledge and skills they need to provide good standards of care.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has monitoring systems in place which help her to review the quality of care in the home. She has made improvements to the quality of key documents. However, not all records are easily accessible due to archiving systems not being effective. Furthermore, one child’s placement review meetings are not on file. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 6

p.5

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 must comply within the given timescales.

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child . (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to the registered person ensuring that children are cared for by a consistent staff team. 6 March 2025

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the following items, which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner—

p.6

Requirement Due date

children’s case records (see regulation 37). (Regulation 38 (i))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that managers and staff keep and have access to all relevant records relating to children, including the dates and results of any reviews of the child’s placement and care plan. 6 March 2025

p.6

Recommendation

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans. In particular, ensure that systems around care planning and compatibility are fully embedded when considering new children to come and live at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 7

p.6

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: 2694819 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Platform Childcare, Suite 2 Millennium Court, First Avenue, Burton-on-Trent DE14 2WH

p.8

Inspector

Kirsty Truesdale, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9