Staff Supervision and Appraisal

The registered person must ensure that all employees:

• Undertake appropriate continuing professional development;
• Receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and
• Have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Supervision should be focused on children's experiences, needs, plans and feedback.

The emotional impact of the work on staff should be recognised and managed by leaders and managers. Staff supervision must enable staff to reflect and act upon how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for.

Professionally qualified staff employed by the Home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional.

Supervision must be recorded effectively. A written record must be kept detailing the time, date and length of each supervision held for each member of staff including the manager. The record is signed by the supervisor and the member of staff at the end of the supervision. It is good practice for both the person giving the supervision and the staff member to have a copy of the record.

Staff and leaders must receive effective support and challenge, including through team and management meetings, to ensure that their professional development results in the right environment for good practice to thrive.

All staff must have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the Home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement.

This procedure applies to all permanent, temporary, seconded, ancillary and agency staff working in the home (including the home's manager).

'Supervisors' are usually those in line management at the next level; thus care staff will usually be supervised by team leaders and, in turn, team leaders will be supervised by home's managers.

The registered person should develop a workplace plan for the home which contains information on the process and timescales for supervision of practice.

The workplace plan should ensure that staff in the home are provided with regular supervision to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to reflect upon how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for.

Supervision of staff practice should also ensure that staff are fully engaged in the safeguarding culture of the home and understand what they would need to do if they found other staff misusing or abusing their position to the detriment of the safety of a child.

The supervisor is responsible for convening supervision sessions. The meetings must usually be held in private although it may on occasions be appropriate to invite another manager.