We understand the difficulties that you, as local authorities face when choosing to place a young person. With an increasing number of providers out there, it can be difficult to find the right provider. So why choose us?
Alongside the basic staff training detailed below, we offer the following as standard with all of our placements:
- A laptop for all young people, to be used on a supervised basis for educational purposes and to fulfil areas of the passport to independence (such as applying for jobs, apprenticeships, driving licences etc.)
- We place a lot of emphasis on staff retention and development. We ensure that not only the mandatory training is done, but that other extra training modules are offered.
- Quarterly welfare and performance questionnaires, giving you, our staff and our young people the opportunity to voice any concerns, or tell us what is working well so we can continue to improve our service.
- Lined with our vision to do our best for the young people, we as directors will be hands on throughout their placement with us.
- A highly detailed and tailor-made placement plan, specific to the needs of each individual young person. We do not believe in generic risk assessments or placement plans as every young person is unique and has a specific set of requirements.
- We work alongside a number of advocates, ranging from mental health professionals, local businesses and leisure facilities, and access to experienced professionals who have achieved ‘Outstanding’ grades with Ofsted and are therefore ready for the upcoming regulation change.
Mandatory Staff Training
Our staff induction training is mandatory for all new staff members, regardless of their previous experience in the industry. We offer the training via an online platform, (in accordance with our COVID-19 policy) and is carried out by a well renowned training consultant, who specialises in the semi-independent living sector.
The areas, our training covers include, but are not limited to:
- Food hygiene
- Identifying the signs and symptoms of abuse
- GDPR
- Health and safety
- First Aid
- Managing challenging behaviour
- De-escalation training
- Equality and diversity training
- Independent living skills
- Drugs, alcohol and substance abuse training
- E-safety and the dangers of grooming online
- Working with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC)
- Mental health
- ADHD and autism awareness
- Self-harm and ligature awareness training
- Recording and evidencing allegations in line with our Complaints, Safeguarding and Working with Vulnerable Children policies (among others)
- Safeguarding children
We also provide company specific training, so our staff are fully aware of and equipped to use our company’s hardware and software systems, ensuring all logs, reports and any other information regarding young people is correctly recorded and stored in line with GDPR regulations.
The training is updated on an annual basis for all staff, including office staff and will be evidenced should local authorities wish us to provide proof of training.
Before our staff work officially with any young people, they are required to carry out at least 2 shadow shifts with an experienced support worker and will be monitored throughout this process.
Basics Provided
Onward Path Care are also dedicated to providing the basics as standard across our company operations. These include:
- A dedicated and local 24 hour a day ‘on-call’ service
- Nurturing and welcoming homes for the young people, giving them and our staff a comfortable and safe environment in which to live and work
- Monthly staff supervisions
- Access to industry leading software on which, staff can report any damages to the property or maintenance issues
- A ‘Guide to Safe Recruitment’ policy, allowing our recruitment team access to robust guidelines by which to operate when taking candidates through the interview process
- Updated DBS checks (every three years if not more regularly) for all staff, be they support staff, office staff, maintenance or contracted
- Access to 24 hour maintenance for emergency situations
- Secure properties for the safety of staff and young people
- A dedicated 24 hour support telephone number for you as local authorities to call in an ‘out of hours’ situation (i.e. late night placements)
Pathway to Independence
We believe in evidencing our work to the highest order. In order to track and monitor our progress as well as the progress of the young people we have a highly detailed document named ‘Pathway to Independence’. We do not believe in watching a young person do something once and ticking that task off the list, never to be revisited and we will ensure that they can evidence to our support staff on numerous occasions, that they are able to complete a certain task before it gets ticked off the list.
The main areas of focus are:
- Health and lifestyle choices
- Education, Employment and Training (EET)
- Keeping safe
- Home management
- Hobbies and interests
- Positive social contribution
- Financial independence
- Who to contact in various circumstances
- Sexual health and how to access resources therein
- Applying for jobs
- Which benefits am I entitled to?
- How to apply for housing
These topics cover a wide range of areas for which the young person will need information and knowledge. This list can be amended and updated where we see a need to do so.
Get in touch
We can arrange a call to discuss the individual service packages for your young people, guaranteeing they are fitting the needs of the young person, while maintaining the best value for money for the budgeting needs of your council.
All placement plans and contracts can be discussed with one or both of our directors, so we can come to an agreement that best suits you.
Onward Path Care already has contacts within numerous local authorities and are able to provide flexible contracts, be they on a ‘one off placement’ basis, or a multi-year contract and ‘block purchasing’.
If Onward Path Care seems like the right company to suit the needs of your local authority, or if you wish to view our policies and procedures or require any further information about our service, please click here to send us an introductory email. We will endeavour to reply within 24 hours.
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