Children's Home run by Mercia Children Services Limited in Cheshire West and Chester

Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 1 Registered provider: Mercia Children 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

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. They spoke to the inspector about their experiences living in the home.

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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: 25 January 2024

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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: 2587763 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/01/2024 Full Good 21/09/2022 Full Good 27/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, three children have moved out of the home in a planned way, and two children have been welcomed into the home. Children say they are happy in the home and are supported to develop positive and trusting relationships with each other and with staff. Children are making good progress from their starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with their education. Staff are child centred and ensure that children are supported to access education that meets their needs. One child is currently not in education, and the staff are in regular discussion with the headteacher of the virtual school. This helps children to develop the skills they require to achieve their future ambitions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with people who are important to them. Family and friends are welcomed into the home. One parent said, ‘It’s all been very positive, and I have no worries.’ Children that move on from the home remain in touch. This ensures that children have a strong sense of identity and support outside of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are registered with relevant health services. When children require additional professional support, this is prioritised. There is a therapist who visits the home on a regular basis who supports both the children and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy new activities and are encouraged to pursue their own interests. Children are supported to be active.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed positive working relationships with other professionals and keep them informed of children’s progress. One independent reviewing officer said, ‘There are not enough positive words. [Name of child] is absolutely flourishing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has ample space for the children to relax and enjoy activities both inside and outside. However, some areas of the home, including the children’s bedrooms, the gym and the games room, are in need of redecoration, and hazards such as blind cords and a broken wardrobe need to be replaced. Paint also needs to be stored safely. Locks on external door limit children being able to access the outdoor area. However, the locks were swiftly addressed. This does not ensure that the children live in a comfortable and safe environment.

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

Children say that they feel safe living in the home. Staff support the children to better understand and manage their emotions to enable them to develop better coping strategies. Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 4 Staff understand the risks associated with children going missing from the home. Staff take appropriate action, including looking for the child and working with other professionals to ensure the child’s safe return. After each incident, children are spoken to by an independent person to seek their views on why they were missing from the home. This helps to support children to reduce the risk of further incidents.

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

Relationships between staff and children are positive. Staff talk about children in a caring way. However, children’s records are not always written in ways that are helpful to children.

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

Professionals are complimentary about the care the children receive. Staff have developed professional relationships with external agencies and are able to appropriately challenge others to ensure that children’s needs are being met.

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

Staff undertake bedroom searches when required. However, children have not been spoken to after the searches. This does not help children to feel included and is not in line with the home’s policy.

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

Children are only held when it is necessary to keep them or others safe. However, on one occasion, a child’s debrief was undertaken by the staff involved in the hold and lacked manager’s oversight and evaluation. This was raised as a requirement at the last inspection and is restated.

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

Safer recruitment practices are in place to ensure that only adults who are safe to work with children are employed in the home.

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

There is a suitably experienced and qualified manager. Staff are positive about the manager and state that he provides support, advice and guidance.

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

Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff have supervision sessions on a regular basis. This includes the registered manager, and not all staff have had an annual appraisal. This does not help staff to have formal opportunities for reflection and professional challenge.

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

Training is undertaken to ensure that the staff have the right skills and knowledge. However, for some staff, there is training that is out of date, which has been identified to meet the needs of the children.

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

Team meetings are held on a regular basis, and staff have access to regular therapeutic consultations with a qualified psychotherapist. This provides the opportunity for staff to reflect on the children’s care needs and risks.

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

The manager has completed quality of care reports to review children’s experiences. However, the opinions of children, staff and parents are not considered in the report. Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 5 This reduces opportunities to ensure that the feedback is being used to develop practice in the home.

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

Leaders and managers have effective external monitoring systems in place, but internal monitoring systems for evaluating practice in the home are not robust and therefore not effective. This does not ensure that there is continuous improvement. Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 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 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; and

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Requirement Due Date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

enable each child to participate in daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard throughout, which includes the children’s bedrooms, the games room and the gym. Blinds and wardrobes are to be replaced when broken. There also needs to be safe storage for paint. 23 April 25

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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

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Requirement Due Date

promotes their welfare. 23 April 25 Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 7 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

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)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all staff have access to training to meet the needs of each child. In addition, ensure that internal monitoring systems support ongoing development in the home.

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Requirement Due Date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due Date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due Date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due Date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due Date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and 23 April 25 Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 8 allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are able to access communal areas of their home.

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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;

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Requirement Due Date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due Date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice that allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children. This also includes an annual appraisal. 23 April 25

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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

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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a description of the measure and its duration;

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

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the name of the person who used the measure, 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 23 April 25 Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 9 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

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Requirement Due Date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due Date

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)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are spoken to by staff not involved in the physical intervention and that the child’s voice is acted on.

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Requirement Due Date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due Date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due Date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due Date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due Date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due Date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due Date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due Date

The registered person must— 23 April 25 Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 10 supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due Date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due Date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due Date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the report includes the views of those referred to in paragraph 2 and how those views have been considered when evaluating the service.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records reflect the home’s policy when undertaking bedroom searches. (Guide to Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that staff complete records in a way that is helpful to children and write in a non-stigmatising way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2587763 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Mercia Children Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3AT

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Inspector

Michelle Snape, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2587763 12 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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