Children's Home run by Warrington Borough Council in Warrington

Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 1 SC442779 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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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 is registered to provide care for up to 2 children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2021.

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Information about this children's home

Two children were living in the home at the time of the 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/05/2024 Full Good 05/09/2023 Full Good 01/02/2023 Full Good 23/03/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in the home receive a good standard of care. They are cared for by an experienced core staff team. There have been several additional staff utilised to cover for staff sickness. The leadership team has ensured that they use sessional staff known to the children. This means that the children have been cared for by consistent staff who know them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have developed trusting relationships with the children living here, which has led to them feeling safe and secure. Staff prioritise each child's wellbeing. All their achievements are celebrated and appropriately rewarded. As a result, there have been significant improvements in children's behaviours and they feel safe to express their own identities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All moves into the home are well planned and at a pace that meets children's needs. Two children have moved into the home since the last inspection, and one child has moved on to semi-independence. The manager obtains all relevant information about a child prior to their move into the home and ensures that children are welcomed sensitively. When children move on from the home, staff promote positive endings. Staff continue to maintain contact with children who have moved out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children have excellent attendance at school and are making good progress. One child who has moved on from the home achieved their GCSEs after a significant period of time out of education. Children are in good health, and their health needs are met. For one child, this has meant self-administering medication, which will help in their upcoming move to independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to develop their independence. Staff know the children and their interests well. This helps them to engage children in independence-related tasks. An example of this is the planning and cooking of meals for one child who has a real flare for food.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain, and one child has made a formal complaint. This was responded to appropriately and in line with home's procedures. Children are helped to develop skills and strategies to manage their own conflicts. Staff implement clear, consistent and appropriate boundaries for children.

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

Children living in the home are safe and protected from harm. There is a strong response to safeguarding for the children. Detailed risk assessments with clear strategies are in place for staff to follow. Staff are knowledgeable of the actions needed to keep children safe and they are being effectively implemented. Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 4 Both children say that they feel safe in their home and they were able to identify staff who they would trust to speak to if they had worries or concerns. Children say they feel listened to by the staff.

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

Incidents of children going missing from home are infrequent. However, staff do not always take action to look for children when they are missing. Staff did not follow missing-from-home procedures for one child. This meant that a child's whereabouts was not known for a significant period of time, with no action by staff to locate them.

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

Staff support children to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. The staff take time to understand the triggers for children's behaviour and what are challenging times for them. Positive behaviour is consistently promoted, and the staff implement consistent rules and boundaries. This has resulted in positive improvements in the behaviour of one child who struggled to manage their emotions.

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

There have been 2 occasions where restraint has been used, which were not necessary. These incidents have been evaluated by the responsible individual and learning has been taken from them. This has been identified by management and training has been put into place to address it.

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

Allegations are investigated thoroughly. The manager ensures that they share them with the appropriate agencies, and they are handled fairly and quickly. Support is provided by the manager to all of those involved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run by an appropriately experienced, skilled and passionate manager who is child focused in her work and response to all situations. She has high aspirations for the children living in the home and is committed to improving their lives and achieving good outcomes for them. The registered manager had an extended period away from the home. During this period, an agency manager and a manager from another home provided support to the team. In order to minimise the impact of this, the responsible individual was more present in the home and a deputy manager was recruited internally.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive regular performance-related supervisions. Staff spoken to say that they appreciate the opportunity to reflect and improve on their practice. All staff are trained to meet the needs of the children. Additionally, there are team meetings held that focus on the needs of the children they are caring for and utilise guest speakers. However, these are not held monthly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers regularly monitor the quality of care provided. The manager has implemented a workforce development plan, which uses learning from practice and feedback to improve the quality of care for children. There is clear exploration of strengths and areas for improvement, with actions needed to improve the experiences of children. Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 5 The registered manager has implemented a clear policy and procedure for managing any concerns or complaints made by children and local residents. Full investigations are carried out and professionals informed. Effective action is taken, including work sessions with children and restorative work between the children and local residents. There has been a significant improvement seen in the relationship between the home and those living in the local area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

One of the real strengths of the home is the relationships that have been built with other professionals supporting the children. The manager and the team have worked hard to develop positive and supportive relationships with education professionals in particular. This has enabled effective partnership working, resulting in an improvement in behaviour from children. Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 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 then 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff take proactive action when children are missing from home. 29 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing—

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Requirement Due date

injury to any person (including the child);

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Requirement Due date

serious damage to the property of any person (including the child); or 29 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 7 a child who is accommodated in a secure children's home from absconding from the home.

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b) (2))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all physical intervention is used in accordance with regulation.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is continuity of care maintained in the home to reduce the impact on children's attachments and relationships with staff. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is regular discussion with the team regarding the children, their progress and the team's development needs. These should be held monthly to ensure that they are leading a team that provides high- quality care for all children living in the home. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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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: SC442779 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 1 Time Square, Warrington WA1 2NT

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Inspector

Rose Maddocks, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC442779 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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