Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 1 SC066218

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

A private provider operates the home. It provides care for up to 7 children who have learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2023.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 7 children were living at the home. The inspectors spoke with 6 of the children.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 4 December 2024

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/12/2024 Full Good 12/12/2023 Full Good 31/08/2022 Full Good 21/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, staff continue to provide a stable home for 5 children and have welcomed 2 new children into the home. One young person has moved on to adult services.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive well-planned moves into the home. Children visit the home and spend time with staff and other children in preparation for their move. This enables children to become familiar with their surroundings before they move in. One family member said, ‘They [staff] went above and beyond. They spent time with [child] in school and in their home going through [child’s] routine, and had countless meetings about [child’s] likes and dislikes.’ This helps children to understand that staff are interested in how best to support them and enables children to develop relationships from an early stage, helping them to quickly settle into the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to develop skills for life in preparation for moving on from the home into adult services. One parent said, ‘We can go to restaurants and have family days out now, and staff supported this; the staff were fabulous with [child].’

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaged in new experiences and activities on a regular basis. One child is regularly taken to activities that have helped them to learn to ride a bike. Another child continues to attend a social group that they previously attended before they moved into the home with the support of staff and their family. Memories of these experiences are then captured in books for children to view now and in the future.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend education regularly and staff attend all education meetings so that they can support their ongoing learning in the home. One child can struggle to attend school on time. Staff worked closely with education professionals to maintain a routine and the child’s views were gained to help staff understand how best to support the child. Trusted staff members were identified to take the child to school and collect them to help with their transitions.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are taken to health appointments, and staff work closely with specialist teams. One child has made progress with their continence, and another child has attended for regular dental treatment. Staff help children stay well and improve their health outcomes.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff build positive relationships with children’s families and help children to spend time with those that are important to them. This helps children to stay connected with their loved ones.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is unkempt in some areas and in need of cleaning. Although the home has an employed housekeeper, there is no contingency for when they have planned leave to ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard. In addition, some areas of the Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 4 home need repairs where walls have been damaged or surfaces to furniture are worn and ripped. This takes away from the homeliness of the environment for the children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home uses audio monitoring at nighttime so staff can listen to children and establish if they need additional support. While consent from children’s social workers is gained when children move into the home, when a child is placed on a voluntary basis, consent is not gained from a person with parental responsibility.

p.4

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

Children receive a high level of supervision from staff in the home. Staffing arrangements are in place to ensure that children have the level of support in place for their complex needs. There have been no instances of a child going missing from the home. Staff understand what actions to take if a child does go missing.

p.4

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

Children’s plans are detailed and provide strategies to support staff when additional support is needed. Staff are skilled in de-escalating situations and using distraction techniques. Therefore, there are few incidents when a child is held by staff in the home, but some may be guided or strategies used to prevent them from hurting themselves.

p.4

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

Staff work creatively with children to help them communicate and learn from their experiences. Social stories are used to help staff communicate with children to help discussions about important subjects such as their health, appointments or changes in the home. This work ensures that children’s views are regularly sought and staff take time to explain information that helps children to understand.

p.4

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

Allegations are responded to well by managers. Few allegations are made in the home, but when they are, managers take learning from this. In addition, the managers and senior staff have completed training with the local authority safeguarding officer to enhance their knowledge and understanding of how to respond if an allegation is made.

p.4

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

Routine fire door tests and safety checks have not identified maintenance required for fire safety doors in the home. Gaps around fire doors and damage to bedroom doors due to furniture being used to prop doors open have not been identified as needing maintenance. While all staff are trained in fire safety awareness, a fire marshal is still to be trained at the home. Children have personal emergency evacuation plans in place, and these are reviewed and updated to reflect staff learning from children’s responses to fire drills.

p.4

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

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager with support from a deputy manager and senior residential workers. The registered manager has a good understanding of the strengths of the home and accepts there are some areas for improvement to the monitoring systems in place. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 5 Since the last inspection, there have been 2 medication errors with 1 that resulted in a child receiving an incorrect dosage of their medication for approximately 2 months. The registered manager accepts that there was no management oversight of the medication procedures during this time. In addition, a record of administration is misplaced. The registered manager is developing learning from medication errors to strengthen future systems.

p.4

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

Not all staff have a qualification, or equivalent qualification, as set out in regulation. Fourteen staff who have worked in the home for over two years are still to achieve a qualification to work with children in a residential setting. The home’s workforce development plan does not have arrangements in place to ensure that staff are supported to achieve the relevant qualification in appropriate time frames.

p.5

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

Staff receive regular supervision sessions from a qualified person. Supervision sessions are supportive in nature and provide an opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice and the children’s needs. Newly recruited staff receive regular sessions to aid their understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The registered manager does not regularly receive a record of her supervision sessions from her manager. A senior manager did not follow the home’s data protection policy and forwarded copies of the registered manager’s supervision from a shared personal laptop. This could lead to a breach in data relating to both children and staff.

p.5

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

The registered manager’s monitoring systems are not effective enough to ensure that children’s records are up to date and information is stored securely. Applications from future employees are not locked in the manager’s office, and archiving of children and staff information had not been moved to the provider’s chosen location to be archived securely.

p.5

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

Team meetings take place regularly. Meetings follow a planned agenda and clear actions are identified. The registered manager ensures that there are relevant topics of discussion and lessons learned added to the agenda each month. This ensures that staff are updated about the progress of children, any changes and training. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 6

p.5

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.

p.6

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—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

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

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications, and skills to meet the needs of each child;

p.6

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; and

p.6

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))

p.6

Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to the registered person ensuring that staff have the relevant training.

p.6

Requirement Due date

This also relates to the registered person ensuring that she has oversight of children’s records so that any shortfalls in staff practice can be identified and the quality of care provided to children can be reviewed.

p.6

Requirement Due date

This further relates to the registered manager ensuring that maintenance issues are addressed in a timely manner, and children’s bedrooms, staff rooms, and communal areas are kept clean and tidy. 10 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 7 The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

p.7

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

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

p.7

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 24 (1) (2)(b)(c)) 10 April 2026

p.7

Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

p.7

Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

p.7

Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

p.7

Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

p.7

Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

p.7

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (2)(a) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 10 April 2026

p.7

Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

p.7

Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home; 10 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 8 In this regulation, "the fire and rescue authority" means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(2) for the area in which the home is located. (Regulation 25 (1)(a) (3))

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that fire doors are maintained and are fit for purpose.

p.8

Requirement Due date

Furthermore, the registered person must consult with the fire and rescue department about the physical changes to the building.

p.8

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. When a child is placed on a voluntary basis the registered provider should ensure that consent is gained from a parent. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person must ensure that all children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. In particular, the registered person should ensure all children’s essential records are available on children’s files and medication records are maintained and stored securely. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  Some records may be kept electronically (regulation 38) provided that this information

p.8

Recommendations

can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. Electronic records should be held at the individual home in accordance with data protection principles. IT systems should ensure the safe storage of these records and business continuity planning should be in place to prevent loss or damage to them. In particular, senior managers must ensure that the manager’s supervision records are not stored on a personal home computer accessible to people not employed by the provider. (‘Guide to the Children’s Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.2)

p.8

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: SC066218 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Harrison Latham, 97 Tulketh Street, Southport, Merseyside PR8 1AW

p.9

Inspectors

Joanne Wallis, Social Care Inspector (lead) Carol Jagger, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066218 10 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.

p.9

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10