Children's home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in St. Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 1 SC482410 Registered provider: Inspire Childrens Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties and have learning disabilities.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

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

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2024.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/08/2022 Full Good 01/02/2022 Full Good 25/02/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/09/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children living in the home were spoken to as part of the inspection.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they like living in the home. Both children have made progress from their starting points. The registered manager and staff team have a good knowledge and understanding of the children’s individual needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have settled into the home since moving in. The children’s bedrooms are personalised to their taste and what is important to them. For example, children have gaming devices and photos of their family. The home is a warm and welcoming environment and is well decorated.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s education. Both children are enrolled with a school or college. When there are barriers to children attending education, staff encourage and support them to engage with home learning and carry out independence tasks. The staff use rewards to praise children for education attendance and acknowledge their successes.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to take part in charitable work and work experience to make a positive contribution to the community. This has built the children’s confidence in working with others outside of the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to become more independent and develop new skills, depending on their age and understanding. Staff support children to carry out tasks around the house, which helps them to develop their independence skills and prepares them for adulthood.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are offered a range of activities in line with their hobbies and interests. When children spend time outside of the home, they keep staff updated about the area they are in and the friends they are spending time with. When there are concerns that children may be at risk when out in the community, staff act quickly and share information with relevant people to review children’s plans.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff understand the progress that children make and their achievements in detail, reflecting from their individual starting points to the current day. However, this is not clearly documented for children to be able to read and understand. A recommendation has been made to improve this.

p.3

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

The staff are proactive and confident in the actions to take to keep children safe. The registered manager and staff team understand children’s needs, risks, and vulnerabilities. Risk management plans are detailed, and staff follow the strategies in place to keep children safe. However, on one occasion, plans have not been followed to Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 4 support one child’s behaviours. Staff kept the child safe but techniques to de-escalate the incident were not followed. A requirement has been made to reflect this shortfall.

p.3

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

The registered manager raised concerns with relevant agencies when they observed a deterioration in a child’s mental health. This enabled the child to access the right support. Relevant information is shared with relevant professionals when safety plans need to be implemented. This means that all agencies are involved and informed in decision-making and carefully consider the safety of the children.

p.4

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

The registered manager and staff deal with behaviours that challenge safely and effectively. Physical intervention is used as a last resort. The interventions used since the last inspection have been appropriate to keep the child safe.

p.4

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

Consequences are used to support children to understand unacceptable behaviours. Positive consequences outweigh the negatives. As a result, children are learning to manage their own behaviour through praise and proportionate rewards.

p.4

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

Incidents of children being missing from the home are rare. When they occur, staff look for children and liaise with safeguarding professionals to locate them. Plans are in place which provide guidance for staff to follow if children are missing from the home.

p.4

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

The recruitment of new staff to the home is safe. This means that only those recruited to work in the home and with the children are suitable and appropriate.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has worked in the home for six months and is supported by a deputy manager. They both know the children well and demonstrate a good knowledge of their needs. This is embedded in the staff team’s knowledge and practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Flexible working arrangements are available to those who need them when working at the home. However, staff rotas do not include the exact hours that the registered manager works. This is necessary because it could impact on the day-to-day arrangements in the home. A requirement has been made to reflect this shortfall.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly and are child focused and informative for staff.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

During supervision sessions, staff can discuss their practice and development. Most staff say that they have support to do their roles and that they enjoy working in the home. Staff say that they spend a lot of time recording information and think this is a missed opportunity to be spending quality time with children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Records are detailed but the same information is often duplicated in other records. Some records are not supportive of children and include punitive language. Leaders and managers are aware of this matter. A recommendation has been made to improve this situation. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 5 The registered manager adopts a strong multi-agency approach to caring for the children and has developed good relationships with professionals involved in their care. A child’s social worker said that there are positive working relationships with the staff and the registered manager, detailing their advocacy for the child and their level of insight into the child’s needs as a strength. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 6

p.4

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.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

p.6

Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

p.6

Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(v))

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff follow children’s plans to support and promote positive behaviour. 9 April 2025

p.6

Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a))

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there is a record of the actual hours worked by staff and the registered manager. 9 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 7

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person and staff should be familiar with, and ensure that staff are familiar with, the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information about individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion, and third- party information. 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 person should ensure that the home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life and clearly demonstrate their progress and achievements. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.5)

p.7

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: SC482410 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Childrens Services Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Inspire Childrens Services, Unit 3, Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens WA10 1GJ

p.8

Inspector

Nicola Rutherford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482410 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 children looked after, 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