Children's Home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 1 SC066428 Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. The home provides care for up to five children who may have experienced social and emotional difficulties, physical disabilities and special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in 2020. The registered manager is currently on maternity leave. The interim manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There were five children living at the home at the time of this 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: 19 November 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: SC066428 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/11/2024 Full Good 07/02/2024 Full Good 07/03/2023 Full Good 01/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s experiences while living in the home are positive. There have been some improvements in the home, with new furnishings and updated internal decor. This provides a warm, clean and welcoming environment. Children’s rooms are personalised in line with their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved out of the home. Staff supported these moves to ensure they were well planned. Two children have also come to live in the home from another part of the organisation. Social stories and methods of communication mean that children moving into the home are helped to understand these changes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have education provision in place. Their attendance and engagement are good. Staff place a high value on education and learning. As well as formal education, the home’s ethos is to engage children in a wide range of activities. This enables children to make new friendships. They regularly go to the local swimming pool, and one child has enjoyed a holiday.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff focus on children’s individual communication needs. Children can express themselves using various methods of communication. Staff have recently had training in Makaton to help them better understand children’s needs. Children’s wishes and feelings are central to the home, and lots of work is done with children to consult with them daily.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that all children’s health needs are met. Staff support children to attend medical appointments. Staff have worked closely with one child to help them prepare for a necessary blood test and another child has been supported to attend a dental check-up.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff communicate regularly with other professionals and work collaboratively. However, plans for children regarding the use of travel and walking harnesses are not always drawn up in consultation with families and professionals. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff ensure that children’s records are child focused, detailed and personalised. Staff use children’s records to demonstrate their progress. This is done through ‘Outcome Stars’. Staff also make effective use of photos to capture children’s progress and celebrate their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively prepare children as they move towards adulthood. One child is developing his independence by completing his weekly shop and learning about money. Another child no longer uses his pushchair when out in the community. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 4 Staff support and promote children’s time with the people who are important to them, and they have good relationships with children’s families. One child’s parents said, ‘Staff put my child as their number one priority, he has good relationships with staff, they are attentive to his needs.’

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

Safeguarding practices in the home are safe.

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

Leaders and managers take prompt and effective action to address any safeguarding incidents. For example, since the last inspection, there has been an occasion when one child has gone missing from the home. The manager completed a lesson learned exercise and updated all necessary plans. Work has been carried out with staff to prevent incidents from occurring again.

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

Staff help children to understand their behaviour and manage their emotions. Incidents are well managed. Restraints are used as a last resort and the recordings of all incidents and restraints are detailed. There is evidence that children have been spoken with following any measures being used. However, these are not all logged using the correct recording format. A recommendation has been made to address this.

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

Staff use direct work with the children effectively to help children stay safe online. This work is adapted and individualised to each child’s needs. Staff have done some recent bespoke work with one child, using additional online resources to help them understand the impact of unkind words and conflict resolution.

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

Fire practices in the home are safe. Each child has a personal emergency evacuation plan that provides staff with details of the support the child requires in the event of a fire. All staff are suitably trained in fire awareness, and the children regularly take part in fire evacuations. Additionally, for one child, a social story was developed to help the child understand the process, which helped ease their anxieties.

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

Recruitment procedures and practices are robust and safe. Managers have received safer recruitment training. All staff are checked and vetted before starting work. These checks ensure that only suitable adults are employed to work with children in the home.

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

There is safe storage for all medication, including controlled drugs, and robust procedures are followed. This ensures that children have the appropriate medication they need to maintain their emotional and physical well-being. Since the last inspection, there has been one medication error. The manager has taken effective action to address this with the staff involved. This includes ensuring staff have updated medication competencies. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an experienced manager in post, and she is supported by two deputy managers. Staff consistently report feeling very well supported by the managers. They see them as very approachable, supportive and caring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is appropriately staffed, and staff have recently been brought into the home from another setting. This has been a child-centred decision. As a result, the newer children have access to staff who are familiar to them during this period of change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from staff has been positive. They say that they like working in the home and view it as a family home. The staff are supportive of one another and spoke about the warm and loving relationships they have with the children. Observations of staff practice show that they know the children well. One parent said, ‘A strength of the team is the attention they give to the children. They are like one big family.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, and new staff take part in a thorough company induction. Additionally, managers ensure that safeguarding quizzes and scenarios are completed within supervision to assess staff’s understanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings provide a good forum for discussions and additional training around social communication, attachments and daily routines. This demonstrates that staff have opportunities to develop and grow their knowledge and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff participate in a wide variety of training. However, not all staff have completed training on going missing from care and on the feeding disorder where children eat non-food substances (pica), despite these being risks to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All previous requirements and recommendations have been met since the last inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff have been trained in going missing from care and pica. 17 September

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is a clear plan drawn up in consultation with families and professionals regarding the use of a child’s harness when travelling in a vehicle and when walking in the community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that when sanctions occur these are fully recorded in line with regulation and are restorative in nature, so that the manager can review the effectiveness of the sanctions used. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 46, paragraph 9.38) Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 7

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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: SC066428 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ROC Northwest Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Inspector

Judith Birchall, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066428 9 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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