Children's home run by Hennessy Living Group Limited in Kirklees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 1 SC482418 Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group 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 and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to four children who may have physical and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

There were four children living in the home at the time of this inspection. All the children were present during the inspection.

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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 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: 8 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2023 Full Outstanding 22/08/2022 Full Good 06/12/2021 Full Good 12/11/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have lived in the home for a long time, so they develop a sense of belonging. Staff know each child’s specific needs and what is important to them. Children form positive relationships with staff and one child said that they feel comfortable discussing any worries with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff engage some children in discussions about their care plans. This means that only information the child wishes to share is contained in the plan. Staff support children to share their views through regular discussions about activities they wish to do, their views of the home and family time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children to access a range of activities in line with their individual interests. Children are encouraged to be part of the wider community, for example taking donations to a local food bank. Staff enable the children to experience different cultures and traditions, such as Valentine’s Day and celebrating Chinese New Year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s preferred methods of communication. The manager promotes staff accessing training to enhance their skills in communicating with the children. This includes communication methods such as Makaton. This enables children’s communication to develop from their starting points. However, staff do not always record children’s actual comments, such as following a physical hold or guide. The manager shared ways of addressing this shortfall, but this is yet to be implemented in practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children go to school or college. Staff liaise with partner agencies to ensure that children have education plans. One child is not currently accessing education, training or employment. However, staff know the specific barriers preventing the child from attending. To support the child’s learning, staff provide them with in-house training opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence skills in line with their individual needs. This enables children to make progress from their starting points, for example accessing shops independently or making improvements in their personal care tasks. Staff capture the children’s progress and experiences in memory books. The children enjoy viewing these cherished memories that are also displayed within the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time and develop bonds with loved ones. This promotes increased time for the children with their family members. Staff encourage parents to be part of their child’s daily life. For example, staff facilitate the recording of a parent reading to a child, which the child adores. Furthermore, staff complete personalised books for each child about their family. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 4

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

Staff support children to attend health appointments. They work with partner agencies to ensure children’s health needs are met. Staff have a good understanding of children’s epilepsy needs. One healthcare professional said, ‘Staff are proactive and if the slightest changes occur, they will ring for advice.’ Furthermore, staff ensure that children access a balanced diet. Staff also support children to make progress in trying new foods.

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

Staff use effective de-escalation, as they have a good understanding of the children’s individual needs. When staff need to hold or guide children, it is proportionate to the situation occurring.

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

Staff engage children in discussions focusing on their risks and worries. Staff respect the children’s identity. Staff support children to make informed decisions about their identity by giving them advice and guidance, while ensuring that the child leads these discussions. One child said that they feel able to discuss worries with staff.

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

Staff use natural consequences, which supports the children to understand the impact of their behaviour on others, for example returning early from activities due to a child’s unsafe behaviour, although, in this instance, staff offered the child alternative creative activities in the home. The manager provides challenge to staff if the consequence is not appropriate or proportionate to the behaviour.

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

Children have received unexplained injuries that staff are unable to account for. This is despite a high level of supervision by staff. The child had to have a child protection medical and further investigations were needed to determine the cause of the injuries. This resulted in one child being supported by unfamiliar independent adults while the enquiries were conducted.

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

It is not clear from the provider’s recordings, discussions or observations what the level of supervision for each child should be, or what this supervision entails, for example whether children can be left alone in a room when a plan states that staff supervision should be a minimum of one-to-one support. It is also not clear whether supervision levels are followed consistently. On one occasion, recording indicates that a member of staff was caring for two children during an incident when one child assaulted another child.

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

Staff ensure that children have individualised risk assessments. The assessments capture current risks. However, there are gaps in information. For example, it is not clear how often staff should complete a body map for one child. This prevents staff from having accurate information to follow. However, during the inspection the manager took some steps to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by an enthusiastic and experienced manager. Staff say that they value the support they receive from the manager. There is an open-door policy for staff, and Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 5 the manager is open to discussing new ideas. Furthermore, staff feel supported by the manager regarding personal matters that may arise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager strongly advocates on behalf of the children. The manager and staff challenge the local authority when plans for children do not progress. Furthermore, the manager ensures that the children have access to an advocate when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring systems and review tools in place. They cover a range of aspects including a review of children’s files, incident reports and medication audits. The manager utilises these to understand areas for development or where action is needed. As a result, she made changes to the recording and administration of medications. The manager is aware and is taking action when the quality of recording is not always accurate, and when staff do not always use language that cares.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager takes complaints and allegations seriously. She liaises with the relevant partner agencies to ensure that investigations are carried out in a timely manner. The manager ensures that the outcomes and identified actions are clear. Furthermore, the manager effectively addresses shortfalls in staff practice, such as making sure that staff do not use mobile phones while they are working directly with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions and benefit from regular team meetings. The manager also ensures that staff receive additional learning and development opportunities. This enables the children to be cared for by skilled adults in line with their specific needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager develops positive working relationships with other professionals. When partner agencies raise issues, these are quickly resolved by staff and the manager. This enables children’s needs to be met by staff alongside other professionals effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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.

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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.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)) 15 May 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should 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 on 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)

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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: SC482418 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hennessy Living Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hennessy Living Group, 1b Rickleton, Bowes Offices, Lambton Park, Chester Le Street DH3 4AN

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Inspectors

Jess Elliott, Social Care Inspector Gina Lightfoot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482418 8 regulates and inspects to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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