Children's home run by Central Bedfordshire Council in Central Bedfordshire

Inspection report children's home: SC391464 1 SC391464 Registered provider: Central Bedfordshire Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

A local authority operates this home. It provides short breaks or longer-term stays for up to eight children with disabilities. At the time of this inspection, three children were living at the home under shared care arrangements and three children were accessing respite care on a rotational basis.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager left the home in July 2024.

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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 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 provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 27 February 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children's home: SC391464 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/02/2024 Full Good 25/07/2022 Full Good 27/05/2021 Full Good 05/09/2019 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC391464 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The inspector spent time with two of the children during the inspection. This included individual discussions and participation in children’s daily routines. Other children were with their families in line with their shared care living arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences and make measured progress from their starting points. Staff provide skilful and individualised care to meet children’s needs. Parents spoke about the positive difference that staff have made to children’s social and emotional development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff facilitate a wide range of exciting activities that reflect the children’s interests. These include visits to a sensory theme-park attraction, trips to the coast and regular outings to children’s favourite restaurants. Staff were instrumental in supporting one child to contact and meet their favourite celebrity clown. Some children enjoyed a short holiday at a caravan resort. Well-planned experiences greatly improve children’s well- being and provides them with new opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have access to an independent advocate who visits the home regularly. Children take part in well-planned house meetings and one-to-one sessions with staff. Staff are skilled at using children’s preferred communication systems. Consequently, children’s views are understood and explored by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaging well in education and have high attendance at schools. Staff have effective communication systems and working relationships with school staff. If children are experiencing difficulties attending school, staff provide additional practical support to reduce any barriers to learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide personalised support for children who move on from the home. Staff are proactive and influential in ensuring the children’s moves are supported at a pace that is comfortable for them. As a result, three children’s moves to their adult homes were successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children work towards achievable targets that help them to gain independence and important life skills. Staff help the children to develop these skills using tailored approaches throughout daily activities and self-care routines. However, the monitoring of targets for children is not consistent. Some of these children’s targeted work is outdated and not matched to their current abilities. Inspection report children's home: SC391464 4

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

Staff are nurturing, kind and committed to children’s care. Interactions between children and staff are warm and based on mutual respect. Children’s relationships with staff are an important protective factor in children feeling safer.

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

Staff have an informed understanding of children’s additional learning needs and vulnerabilities. Further training has been attended by staff in line with recommendations from a recent national learning review of children’s disability services. This has further enhanced staff’s skills in being alert to and responding to any emerging risks for children.

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

Children’s risk assessments and behaviour support strategies are detailed, regularly updated and followed by staff. This has provided staff with a range of personalised strategies to support children when they are distressed. As a result, children improve their ability to manage their emotions over time.

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

Staff use physical interventions infrequently and only as a last resort. Leaders and managers review the use of these interventions to support safe practice.

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

On one occasion, a staff member failed to report concerns about the practice of another staff member without delay. On receipt of the concern leaders and managers took appropriate action. They sought external oversight from the local authority designated officer and thoroughly investigated the concerns. This issue was addressed with individual member of staff and there has been no reoccurrence.

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

Leaders and managers have ensured that most recruitment checks are completed as required for new staff. However, in one instance, a written explanation for a gap in employment for one staff member was not obtained. At the time of the inspection, leaders and managers had not noticed this.

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

Generally, there are appropriate systems to record and respond to potential safeguarding concerns. However, on one occasion when bruising was identified for a child, staff did not promptly explore the potential causes for these marks. Leaders and managers concluded that this bruise was self-inflicted. However, the records and documented action taken to support leaders and managers evaluation are not in place.

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

There has been no registered manager at the home since July 2024. A new manager was appointed. However, they have recently left without registering with Ofsted. In the interim, a manager from another home in the organisation, two deputy managers and a senior leader are overseeing the management. There is an active recruitment campaign in place to find a permanent manager.

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

There are decorative issues at the home that need attention. This includes two shower rooms that require refurbishment, worn paintwork on walls and some furnishings that Inspection report children's home: SC391464 5 need to be repaired. Despite some of these shortfalls being raised at the last inspection there is still no agreed date for the scheduled work to take place. This does not create a consistently well-decorated home that is tailored to meets children’s needs.

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

Leaders and managers have not effectively monitored the garden. A crumpled paddling pool is damaged. Some of the children’s bikes and go-karts are unprotected from inclement weather and are rusting. Disused and rusty barbeques have not been removed. This demonstrates a lack of attention by leaders and managers to identify hazards and poses potential hygiene risks to children.

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

Staff attend well-developed and bespoke training that equips them with the skills to meet the children’s individual needs. A large proportion of staff have the required level 3 qualification. However, one staff member who should have achieved this has yet to do so.

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

Staff are positive about the support that they receive and enjoy working at the home. Staff value their personal development discussions and supervision sessions. Annual appraisals provide staff with opportunities to reflect on their goals and practice. Regular staff meetings ensure that effective communication and support are embedded.

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

Leaders, managers and staff have very good relationships with the children’s families and external professionals. Positive feedback from parents, social workers and educational professionals was provided. The quality of these relationships is instrumental in supporting a unified approach to meeting children’s needs. Inspection report children's home: SC391464 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, 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and has been restated. 25 April 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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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

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, leaders and managers must:

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Requirement Due date

ensure that they monitor the environment to identify and resolve or remove potential hazards; 25 April 2025 Inspection report children's home: SC391464 7 ensure that children’s independence and skill-building targets are updated and regularly reviewed when required.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children's home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 25 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b)) 25 April 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure staff skills for safeguarding enable them to identify signs that children may be at risk. Specifically, they should ensure that all incidents of identified bruising for children are promptly acted on and reasonably explored. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 43, paragraph 9.10)  The registered person should maintain good employment practice. In particular, they should ensure that written explanation of gaps in employment are obtained. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report children's home: SC391464 8

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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 children's home: SC391464 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Central Bedfordshire Council, Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford SG17 5TQ

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Inspector

Mark Anderton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC391464 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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