Children's Home run by Next Step Independence Ltd in Swindon

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 1 Registered provider: Next Step Independence Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to 2 children who may have social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of inspection, 2 children were living in the home. They were both involved in the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager’s post is vacant. The inspection was supported by the Operations Director.

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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

Date of last inspection: 5 February 2025

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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: 2638617 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/02/2025 Full Good 21/11/2023 Full Good 23/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 3

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improvement to be good

Staff are committed to the children and have high ambitions for them. However, children’s relationships with staff are mixed. Children choose to spend long periods of time in their bedrooms and staff do not know key details about their lives. For example, who they are talking to online and whether they are having sex.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they do not feel listened to. Both children expressed asking for something that has not been provided. For one child this related to having wallpaper replaced. The other child raised concerns about what a staff member had said and had not yet had a response from managers. Both children are struggling with the rules around the use of the internet. The children report that staff apply these rules inconsistently.

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improvement to be good

The standard of care the children receive varies. For example, sometimes staff knock on their door and encourage them to get up to start their day and other times they do not. This gives confusing messages to the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children’s schooling and access to education that meets their needs. However, it is not clear what staff should do when children refuse to attend. Plans indicate that educational activities should be offered but these do not appear to be offered routinely. The focus is on restricting the use of internet rather than encouraging an alternative activity.

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improvement to be good

Children’s successes are celebrated and children are praised for their achievements. The use of an online system to capture special moments and events is innovative. This creates an easy way for children to capture memories and take them with them. Staff offer lots of activities, which children do not always take up.

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improvement to be good

Support for children to spend time with their family is good with progress being made in this area for both children. One child is now spending longer periods of time with their parent. This is helping children to develop healthy relationships with their family members both now and in the longer-term.

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improvement to be good

There is a cosy and welcoming feel to the home, and it is well maintained throughout. There are restrictive practices in the home. These issues were highlighted at the last inspection and sufficient progress by leaders and managers to reduce these has not been made. The restrictions are not in place because of an assessed need to protect children. Locking away items does not support children to learn important skills of independence. The ring doorbell is used as a surveillance tool, telling staff when children leave the home. It is not clear that this has been agreed with the placing local authorities or children themselves. There is no clear rationale for its use or when it will be reviewed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 4

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improvement to be good

Both children say they feel safe and get on well with some of the staff. However, they both said they would struggle to talk to staff if they felt worried. Staff know the risks to the children, but they have struggled with allowing children to take age-appropriate risks and keep them safe. For example, staff are locking away sharp items but wanting children to make their own meals. Both children have recently turned 16 and staff are unclear on how independent the children should be. The blurred boundaries make it difficult for staff and children to know what the expectations are.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there has only been one occasion when children have been missing from the home. This was managed well with the team following the procedures and the children returning safely.

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improvement to be good

Children are spending lots of their time in bedrooms when they are home. There are times when children are going into each other bedrooms overnight and coming downstairs for snacks. Staff lack an agreed approach to boundaries within the home.

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improvement to be good

When one child made a serious disclosure immediate actions were taken to support the child and to report this to the police. However, the practice of the staff and levels of supervision in the home were not robustly reviewed. This means it is difficult to learn from this incident and whether staff could have done anything to prevent it. In the management review of the incident little weight is given to what staff were doing at the time and what could have been done differently. When children have raised concerns about staff, they receive a mixed response. There are occasions when children have been taken seriously and apologies have been made. However, managers lack detailed knowledge of staff practice. When investigations have been completed, the concerns are vague and the actions for improvements and monitoring are not clear.

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improvement to be good

Staff have provided nurturing response to children when they have self-harmed. There have been very few incidents within the home.

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

The home is currently without a registered manager although recruitment has taken place and plans are in place. In the interim, senior leaders have provided support to the home. A core team of staff have been in place to provide consistency for the children.

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

Systems are in place to monitor and review care. However, there is a lack of attention to staff practice. Reviews of events do not consider what staff could have done differently or whether staff were doing what they should be. The concerns about staff practice are vague and actions have lack detail. Management oversight does not specify what will be monitored and for how long. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 5 Managers and leaders have advocated for what children want in respect of education and family time. This helps to ensure children’s voices are heard.

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

Guidance to staff is not clear and, at times important information is missing from children’s plans. Strategies to support children are not easy to see quickly with information being in different documents. This means that in an emergency it would be difficult for staff to find the guidance quickly.

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

Staff say they feel supported and even through the changes have felt they have always had a manager available. Feedback from professionals highlighted the important work that staff have done to support children to spend time with their family. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 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 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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff must be clear about their responsibilities when caring for children and the levels of supervision required to manage risks. 30 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if— 30 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 7 the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular door alarms should only be used when necessary to protect a child. The use of the alarm should be regularly reviewed with plans in place to reduce or remove them.

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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

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

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)) 30 April 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should lead a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. Specific guidance on the care a child needs should be made clear to all staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should ensure that when children are not participating in education they are engaged in suitable structured activities. Opportunities should be Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 8 given for children to learn informally. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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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: 2638617 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Next Step Independence Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wellington House, East Reach Court, Queen Street, Taunton TA1 3UF

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Inspector

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638617 10 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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