Children's home run by 4TH Care Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 1 Registered provider: 4 th Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private organisation. The home provides residential short breaks for children with learning disabilities. Children can attend for short breaks in groups of up to three children.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a newly appointed manager at the home, they have submitted an application to become registered.

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Information about this children’s home

There are a total of four children using the short break service. At the time of the inspection two children were accessing a short break at the home. They spent time with the inspector.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/07/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 3

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improvement to be good

There has been an increase in the number of children who access short breaks. However, this remains relatively low, so the home operates on an ‘ad hoc’ basis. When there are no children accessing short breaks, the staff work at the organisation’s other homes. Alongside shortfalls in leadership and management, this has hampered the overall development of the home, reducing the quality-of-care for children.

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improvement to be good

Children have been introduced to the home by having visits, building up to staying overnight. As a result, children have settled into their short breaks well. However, they have not been provided with the children’s guide, and this document is not current. This reduces the information the child has about the home, including how to make a complaint.

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improvement to be good

Children make some basic choices during their short break, for example, about food and what toys to play with. There is an emotions and feelings chart displayed on the wall; however, children cannot access the communication aids to make use of this. These resources are stored away in a cupboard on a high shelf. As a result, children’s wishes and feelings are not actively sought or fully understood by staff.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy some activities in the home and in the garden including water play. Staff take children out for local walks and, on occasion, to the local park or for a drive in the car. However, staff are not confident in taking children out of the home for a wider range of activities. The home has a car but there is currently only one authorised driver, who is very new to the home. There is a lack of structure and planning for children’s time at the home. This restricts the experiences that children have during their short breaks.

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improvement to be good

Staff safely manage children’s medication, in terms of storage and administration to help children sustain good health. One child attends short breaks during the week, and staff take them to and from school. Staff are very attentive to children’s needs. Staff interact with children in a playful and respectful way. As a result, children are content in staff company.

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improvement to be good

Children’s plans outline their risks, and the actions for staff to take to keep them safe. Staff are responsive to children, and this helps them to manage their emotions. As a result, there are a very low number of behavioural incidents, and there has been no use of physical intervention.

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improvement to be good

Staff give children guidance and boundaries ‘in the moment’. However, there is no planned or purposeful work to help children learn about keeping themselves safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 4 Furthermore, staff are somewhat risk averse, for example, repeating the same activities in the home and not venturing to new or different places. This restricts children’s opportunities to enjoy new experiences as part of their short breaks. The manager has swiftly recognised this and is upskilling the staff to build their confidence to increase children’s activities.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently promote children’s independence. For example, they are swift to do things for children rather than encourage them and promote development of skills. For some children, their initial care plans had independence targets to work towards. These plans have not been consistently followed or reviewed.

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improvement to be good

Staff have had some training to upskill them in safeguarding matters. However, ligature training has not been completed by all staff, despite being identified as a key risk for one child. They have been having short breaks at the home for nine months. Staff are aware of the measures in place to manage this risk.

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improvement to be good

The first time there has been more than one child at the home, was during the inspection. The suitability of the two children spending time together was assessed by the manager. As a result, the children were well suited to safely spend time together during their short break.

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

There have been significant changes in leadership and management over the last few months, with a change in home manager, regional manager and responsible individual. There was no manager at the home for a period between January and March this year. This has led to drift and shortfalls in leadership and management.

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

There are a high number of documents awaiting management oversight and approval, dating back to January this year. This means that these documents do not yet form part of the child’s electronic records, preventing access by those who need it, including staff and the independent visitor. Children’s records are currently very disorganised due to a transfer from paper based to an electronic system. This prevents timely access to information, for example, contact details for children’s social workers.

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

Parents have highlighted that communication with the manager and staff has been inconsistent, and contacting anyone at the home has been difficult. They do note that there have been improvements since the new manager has been in post. Feedback from parents or professionals is not captured or recorded.

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

There has been no quality-of-care review since September 2024. This is a missed opportunity to identify the shortfalls and plan for the improvement of the quality of care for children.

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

Managers do not have effective oversight about the gaps for staff training. There is a new system in place to improve this by use of a ‘manager’s dashboard’. However, this is not yet fully embedded. The new manager has made efforts to get supervisions up to Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 5 date, as there were some gaps prior to their arrival. However, staff have not had an appraisal.

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

There is a consistent staff team at the home, due to the nature of the service they have been working at other homes when there are no children accessing short breaks. The manager is working towards staff being back in the home and developing them as a staff team. The home’s statement of purpose is not up to date; it does not reflect the current staff team.

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

The new manager started at the end of March 2025. Staff now feel better supported. The manager has begun to establish some much-needed structure at the home and understands the areas for development. Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 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 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

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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that staff are provided with training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to meet children’s needs in a timely way.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers having a good understanding of the training and development needs of their staff, and that effective action is taken to address any gaps.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers having effective and timely oversight of children’s experiences and progress at the home. This includes managers having timely oversight of children’s records. 19 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 7 In addition, that management monitoring and review systems are effective in identifying and addressing any shortfalls and areas for improvement.

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers and staff ensuring that children can always access their communication aids to enable them to share their wishes and feelings.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers and staff actively consulting with children to seek their wishes and feelings. 19 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 19 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s short breaks are well planned and promote a range of good experiences for children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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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)(c)

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to annual performance appraisals for all staff taking place. 19 September 2025

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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 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

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 19 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 9 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

This specifically relates to ensuring that the quality-of-care review is undertaken, and the report is submitted to the regulator.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is a children’s guide produced and that this is kept up to date. The children’s guide must be made available to all children when their placement in the home is agreed and must be age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should ensure that they develop and keep under review a "Statement of Purpose" (regulation 16 and schedule 1). The home’s Statement of Purpose should be child-focused, indicating how the home provides individualised care to meet the Quality Standards for the children in their care. The statement of purpose must be kept up to date and shared with the regulator. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)

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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: 2738777 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 147 Stamford Hill, London N16 5LG

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Inspector

Alison Snell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2738777 11 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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