Children's home run by Calderdale Council in Calderdale

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 1 SC035155

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is run by a local authority. It provides overnight breaks for up to five children with physical and/or learning disabilities at any one time.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 27 children were having a maximum of 74 overnight breaks per year. On the date of the inspection, two children were staying overnight.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager who registered with Ofsted in July 2013.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2024 Full Outstanding 28/02/2023 Full Outstanding 26/10/2021 Full Outstanding 17/12/2019 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff express genuine affection for the children and know their needs and vulnerabilities well. This helps to ensure children have enjoyable stays filled with interesting and fun activities. Where possible, staff support children to push the boundaries of their experience by seeing and doing new things.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are positive relationships between staff, children, families and professionals. Working together effectively promotes consistency for the children. Parents feel reassured that their children feel safe and happy in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children have complex health needs, so staff follow and implement medical care plans effectively. Additionally, some children have a complex medication regime. Medication errors have happened and sometimes staff have not followed medication policies closely enough. Strategies have not yet been effective in sufficiently reducing the number of medication error incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s voice is represented by staff at every opportunity. They act as strong advocates for the children, even when this means taking a stance against others. They strive to act in the children’s best interest.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Alongside enjoyable experiences, staff create learning opportunities to help children gain independence skills appropriate to their abilities. Staff are knowledgeable and work patiently at the child’s pace. They celebrate strengths rather than identify gaps in children’s abilities. This means children are encouraged to reach their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s initial and last stays at the home are well planned and managed. Both families and children are supported to adapt to move on from the service. Families are also given a photographic record of their child’s time in the home, which they value. Families say they appreciate the personalised relationships that they have developed with staff. One parent said: ‘I was initially scared about my child going into respite, but the staff put me at ease. The support is unbelievable!’

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

Children’s risks and vulnerabilities are identified and generally recorded well in the children’s documents. Team meetings provide an effective forum for discussing any new or re-emerging risks for children. One child’s plan had missing information, but this was an isolated example, and managers’ actions during the inspection ensured this was rectified.

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

Children do not go missing from the home and there have been no incidents of bullying. The high level of staff support and effective planning of children’s stays promotes compatibility and focuses on children’s safety. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 4 When children need to be physically held for their safety, or that of others, staff are appropriately trained. However, the quality of incident recording is variable and staff practice is inconsistent in this area. Some incident records lack evidence that discussions with managers have taken place. Managers had already noted the shortfall and steps have been taken to alert them to incidents sooner.

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

Managers liaise appropriately with the local authority designated officer if concerns about staff emerge. However, the registered manager has failed to notify the regulator. They have also failed to notify the regulator of the medication errors even when they have been significant, and potentially serious.

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

The home now has arrangements in place to lock one of the bedrooms if a child’s plan identifies this as a need. Staff have been trained to understand when this is necessary and lawful. The manager is also drafting a policy that will give further clarity for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers show excellent knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment. Their aspirations for children are high, and they advocate regularly and tenaciously. They also understand how to build resilience in families, and offer nurture, working effectively alongside parents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers know the children and routinely provide care to them to ensure they maintain this knowledge. This leads to managers being held in high regard by their team. One member of staff talked about having respect for the managers, and them being ‘the best managers’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A small number of staff are overdue some of their mandatory training. This training was carried out by staff as soon as managers became aware of this during the inspection. Staff feel great sadness that colleagues have left their jobs, and the staff have identified how they would benefit from training around their understanding of bereavement. The staff identify how losing staff has impacted on their team identity, and this has caused some emotional fragility.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The effect of unforeseen staff shortages has been minimised by creative arrangements for staff cover, including managers working directly with children. This has reduced children being cared for by unfamiliar adults, as well as providing an opportunity to boost team morale and observe staff practice. This has been an effective strategy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers temporarily moved a child into the home on an emergency basis. This demonstrated the quick-thinking and receptive response of the service, and the flexibility of staff. The team was given an award by their employer for their response in this emergency situation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are held in high regard by other professionals and families. One professional described them as being ‘such an intrinsic part of the learning disability community’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 5 There have been some regulatory shortfalls, but that does not diminish the commitment of staff and the love that children experience while in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 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 registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child.

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Requirement Due date

Paragraph (2) does not apply to medicine which—

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Requirement Due date

is stored by the child for whom it is provided in such a way that other persons are prevented from using it; and

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Requirement Due date

may be safely self-administered by that child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3)(a)(b)) 30 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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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 30 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 7 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 (1)(b) (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that physical intervention records are clear, and that staff have been debriefed by an authorised person to learn from incidents and amend plans accordingly.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 30 April 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, specifically with regard to safeguarding disabled children and understanding bereavement and loss. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC035155 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Princess Buildings, Princess Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 1TS

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Inspector

Rachel Ruth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035155 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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