Research by Ofsted has highlighted ongoing issues in the children’s home sector in England, including a lack of suitable placements and staff.
The regulator has published a series of reports to help inform debate and plans for reform in light of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which published its findings in May.
“As the regulator for children’s homes, we’ve got probably the largest datasets relating to the types of care that homes provide,” says Ofsted’s national director for social care Yvette Stanley.
“At a time when we know sufficiency is a real issue, we think our insights into whom homes say they can accommodate and the availability of places – and providing that national picture – is really important.”
In April, Ofsted published a study – based on 83 homes and 113 children – looking at why children go to children’s homes.
This found a children’s home placement was part of the intended care plan for just over half the children.
Two thirds entered a children’s home because of some form of interruption in their previous care such as a foster placement breakdown, residential placement breakdown or family breakdown.
The move to a children’s home was planned for most children but was an emergency move for around a fifth.
Placement matches
Inspectors and registered managers felt 75 per cent of the children in the study were well matched to the home they were living in but 25 per cent were not well matched.
Key reasons for children not being well matched included the fact their needs were very high and challenging or that the home did not have the knowledge and skills to care for them.
In July, the regulator released data on the services children’s homes offer and the needs they aim to meet, which highlighted a lack of places close to home and for those with the most complex needs.
The paper focused on nearly 2,150 children’s homes operating in England as of March 2020 – not including secure children’s homes, residential schools registered as children’s homes and homes that only offer short breaks.
It found children are living far away from their families because homes are not evenly distributed across England’s regions.
For example, just five per cent of children’s homes are in London but local authorities in the capital place 11 per cent of all children in children’s homes.
Children placed in homes that could accommodate those with mental health problems had travelled further on average – 44 miles – twice as far as children with some other needs such as physical disabilities.
Ofsted will publish more detailed research on how far children travel to children’s homes and is due to publish a report on sufficiency this autumn.
The research to date confirms problems the sector is all too aware of, says Stanley.
“We already knew too many children were being placed too far from their birth family and from social workers and the wraparound services the local authority can provide for them,” she says.
“As we’ve said many times before, this really needs joined-up commissioning across mental health, justice and care.”
The research also shows children’s homes are getting smaller with an increase in the number with only one or two beds.
Meanwhile, some places are being held vacant to meet the needs of a child already living there.
“Smaller homes have additional challenges in terms of staffing, safeguarding oversight and, of course, they don’t help children develop friendships and social networks,” says Stanley.
Some children – such as those on the autism spectrum or with acute mental health needs – may benefit from a quieter environment and less social contact.
“But we do worry we are moving towards the smallest provision without perhaps testing that and making sure we are meeting those wider social needs. Plus it also ups costs,” says Stanley.
“We need some really careful thinking about the planning and design of future provision.”
She says recent changes to rules on multi-build homes were in part designed to address this issue by enabling the creation of small settings in close proximity that allow for some contact but also provide the “low sensory” environment some children need.
Complex needs
The research shows providers and local authorities are struggling to find the best placements for children with mental health needs.
While 93 per cent of homes said they could accommodate children with “complex needs” only 22 per cent said they could take children with mental health needs and just five per cent could accommodate those with “complex health needs”.
“One of the things that’s coming up frequently on inspection is local authorities telling us that care home providers are more reluctant to take the children with the most complex needs,” says Stanley.
“Sometimes providers say they worry that it will impact on their inspection grade.”
However, the most recent report found there was no link between the types of needs homes said they could accommodate and their inspection grades.
“We look very carefully at our grade profile and we do see very good practice in many children’s homes with children with highly complex needs,” says Stanley. “I and my staff absolutely know that for those children progress won’t be linear or easily achieved and there will be setbacks and actually we want to give credit to providers who are willing and able to care for these children – and are able to adapt when risks and needs change – and hope always to reflect that in our inspections.
“We can’t lower standards for those children, but we do, as a collective, need to have a conversation about how we better meet their needs.”
This is one of the issues Ofsted will be highlighting in the near future in addition to how well children’s needs match up with the children’s home placement they receive.
Inspections show children’s homes with a good home manager, clear model of care and a stable workforce are more likely to achieve a rating of “good” or “outstanding”.
However, workforce shortages are having a real impact (see below).
Stanley says problems finding ideal placements for children should not affect a local authority’s rating where inspectors can see staff have made every effort to make the best decisions for young people in their care.
“Mostly we see that whilst the choice of a children’s home might not be optimal, there’s been a lot of thought and consideration and is it the best possible match given what’s available,” she says. “But we are absolutely critical when we see poor practice and there are occasions where the level of decision-making – perhaps a lack of planning or attention to putting in place the necessary oversight – does affect a grade.”
Trends that may help increase the availability of placements include the fact more local authorities have very recently started to open their own homes – sometimes by themselves or in partnership with other councils or the voluntary sector.
The Department for Education has allocated some capital funding for refurbishing or creating new homes, which should help boost capacity.
“We’re also seeing work to prevent children entering care or staying in care long-term,” says Stanley. “All of these things are shifting towards preventing and extending the offer – the issue is that we just need much more, sooner.”
DAMAGING IMPACT OF STAFFING SHORTAGES
Staffing shortages are an ongoing issue in children’s residential care – made worse by the pandemic.
A recent report by Ofsted on the state of the children’s social care sector post Covid found a lack of staff was having a significant impact on the number of suitable children’s home places available and the different needs settings are able to support.
More generally high numbers of agency social workers and high caseloads are also preventing effective work with children and families.
Workforce issues come up time and again in inspections of both individual children’s homes and local authority children’s services, says Ofsted’s national director for social care Yvette Stanley.
“Our documents show that the churn and the vacancy rates among registered managers are quite high,” she says.
“There’s a lot of publicity about what is happening to the adult care sector and I think care workers in children’s homes are exactly the same. Some are moving to jobs that – in these difficult times – pay better but are perhaps less rewarding in other ways.”
The number of children’s homes with a vacant manager post was increasing before the pandemic and this rise has continued from nine per cent of homes without a manager in March 2019 to 17 per cent by March 2022.
Good management is crucial for staff wellbeing so a lack of managers has a knock-on effect on overall recruitment and retention.
Lack of staff means providers have been forced to reduce capacity or run at below capacity to maintain the quality of provision, says the Ofsted report.
Some are employing inexperienced staff, which could result in children’s needs not being met.
“Among some of the largest providers, lack of staffing has resulted in homes standing empty, temporary closure of homes, and plans for expansion or new registrations being abandoned,” says the Ofsted report.
“As large providers typically have greater flexibility in staffing, this suggests that smaller providers may face even greater challenges.”
Leaders and managers are working extra hard to ensure standards are maintained despite workforce challenges, says Stanley.
“We are working our managers really, really hard and so, as a system and as a country, we need to think about the care workforce – how they’re paid and how they’re supported.”
Some providers are offering financial incentives to recruit and retain staff but this is not possible for all.
Others have focused on staff wellbeing – such as offering staff wellbeing days – or invested in training.
“Some children’s homes offer targeted support to help staff in areas of particular concern,” says the Ofsted report.
“A good example of this is employing in-house therapists to support staff in managing children’s mental health needs.”
INSPECTION SHORTS
EDUCATION
Schools will not face a “cliff edge” to achieve a judgement of “good” as Ofsted moves away from transitional inspection arrangements, says the regulator’s national director for education. Christopher Russell sought to reassure head teachers ahead of the re-introduction of full routine inspections from September, based on the new education inspection framework. “We recognise you are likely to always be revising elements of your curriculum,” he wrote on the Ofsted website. “We will not suddenly expect you to meet every single criterion to remain good.”
YOUTH JUSTICE
Bolton Youth Justice Service has received an overall rating of “good” following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation. Inspectors praised the health services available to children and highlighted a successful knife crime prevention programme. The service’s work to resettle children who have been in custody was rated “outstanding”.
HEALTH
Health and care regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched a new assessment framework designed to make inspection processes clearer and simpler. It will continue to rate services on a four-point scale from “inadequate” to “outstanding” but the framework includes new “quality statements” to help providers understand what is expected of them. The CQC has also set out six categories of evidence it will gather including people’s experiences, feedback from staff and outcomes of care.
EARLY YEARS
Young children continue to be affected by the impact of the pandemic with fewer ready for the move to school, according to a report by Ofsted. The regulator’s latest report on how early years settings are faring post-Covid is based on inspections of early years settings in the summer term and focus groups with inspectors. It found children’s communication, language, social and physical skills continue to suffer because some missed out on key learning and development opportunities during the crisis.
SOCIAL CARE
Children’s services at Bracknell Forest Council have been rated “outstanding” with inspectors praising the authority’s child-focused approach. The department achieved the top grade following an inspection in June, which highlighted high-quality early help services and effective social work practice. “The hard work of the leadership team, staff, wider council and safeguarding partners all contributed to this fantastic achievement,” said Ofsted’s national director for social care Yvette Stanley.
