Children's home in Preston

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or safeguarded, and their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress.

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manager has:

 Failed to promote the safeguarding and welfare of young people in respect of going missing, potential knife crime, drug and alcohol misuse, affiliation to gangs, abduction and wounding. This has resulted in an increase in young people‘s risk-taking behaviour.

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manager has:

 Failed to use effective interventions to reduce bullying, assaults on staff and intimidation.

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manager has:

 Failed to provide young people with guidance, support and advice on health issues.

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manager has:

 Failed to ensure that young people‘s records contain the required information.

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manager has:

 Failed to ensure that the home operates within its statement of purpose.

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manager has:

 Failed to promote young people‘s educational needs and to ensure that young people benefit from a structured education based routine when they are not attending education.

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manager has:

 Failed to encourage and develop leisure activities for young people.

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manager has:

 Failed to ensure a robust fire risk assessment bespoke to the needs of the home.

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manager has:

 Failed to involve young people in their care plans and the development of the home.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‗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

6. (1) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

(a) understand the children‘s home‘s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‘s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to (b) ensure that staff— (ii) protect and promote each child's welfare; (vi) help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

7.—(1) The children‘s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

(a) develop positive relationships with them; (b) engage with them; and (c) take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‘s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) ensure that staff— (ii) help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; (iv) regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home's care. 26 June 2016 8.—(1) The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) help each child to achieve the child's education and training targets, as recorded in the child's relevant plans; (ii) support each child's learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; (v) promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

9.—(1) The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff help each child to— (i) develop the child's interests and hobbies; (ii) participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child's interests and preferences; and (iii) make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community; and (b) that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child's interests and hobbies. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

10.—(1) The health and well-being standard is that— (a) the health and well-being needs of children are met; (c) children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

11.—(1) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults. 26 Jun 2016 (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding; (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and

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Requirement Due date

understanding; (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child's age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; (vii) help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship; (viii) strive to gain each child's respect and trust; (ix) understand how children's previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

(xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and (xiii) have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them.

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Requirement Due date

12. (1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. 26 June 2016 (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) 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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; and (b) 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.

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Requirement Due date

13.—(1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‘s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home's statement of purpose; (f) 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. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

14.–(1) The care planning standard is that is that children- (a) receive effectively planned acre in or through the children‘s home;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(c)that each child‘s relevant plans are followed. 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

16.–(5) Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which 26 June 2016 is consistent with its statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

25.—(1) After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— (a)take adequate precautions against the risk of fire with specific reference to a fire risk assessment 26 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

36.—(1) The registered person must maintain records (―case records‖) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

(a)include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; (b)are kept up to date; and (c)are signed and dated by the author of each entry. 26 June 2016

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Information about this children's home

The home may provide care and accommodation only for up to four young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

22 September 2015 Full Requires improvement

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Inadequate

The quality of individualised care that young people experience is poor in all key areas of their lives. Young people do not make progress in areas of education, health, leisure or activities. Young people do not always enjoy positive relationships with each other. Poor relationships between young people has resulted in physical assaults. These dynamics impact negatively on young people feeling safe within the home. Bullying is an issue and is not robustly tackled. Consequently, young people are not learning essential life skills on how to reconcile differences and their welfare is not continually promoted.

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Inadequate

Case files do not include all required documentation. For example, placement plans have no delegation of authority, medical consents or culture and identity information. The absence of this information means that there are no clear aims and objectives from the placing authority for staff to work towards. This means that young people are not supported to make good progress in their lives. Young people do not have detailed plans in place which identify their physical and emotional health needs. Looked after medicals are out of date. Young people‘s smoking, alcohol and drug misuse have increased significantly since the last inspection. This means that young people are at risk of harm, as their health is not protected. Key work sessions lack detailed recording and effective planning. They do not enable young people to reflect on their behaviour, risks or circumstances. Young people do not engage in their placement plans or risk reduction, and receive

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Inadequate

money to sign documents. This lack of information and involvement from young people means that they do not benefit from personalised care planning that reflects their individual needs or supports their development. Young people do not make progress in education. They do not attend education with regularity or consistency. Young people have less than 40% attendance, even on reduced timetables. There is no encouragement for independent study, informal study in the home or adequate resources for this. Young people receive financial rewards to attend school as an incentive. When the incentive is withdrawn, young people refuse to attend. This has a detrimental impact on their life opportunities. Young people do not have structure in their daily routines when they do not attend education. Young people say they are ‗bored and there is nothing to do‘. This is also the view of external professionals. Young people do not have the opportunity

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Inadequate

to engage in activities that they enjoy. Consequently, young people are left unoccupied and without stimulating activities to enable them to develop new skills and interests.

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Inadequate

Relationships between young people and staff are poor. Staff do not effectively engage young people and key work sessions are variable in quality. For example, some sessions are just records of conversations and do not address the needs of the young person or the objectives of the placement. Young people refuse to work with external agencies that offer specialist services to meet their individual needs, and staff are unable to motivate them. This lack of engagement does not help or encourage young people to address their behaviour and emotional well-being.

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Inadequate

Young people are not encouraged or empowered to develop their independent living skills. This means that young people are not able to develop the skills they need for their transition into adulthood and independence.

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Inadequate

Young people are not safe; staff are struggling to manage escalating behaviour safely. Challenges to staff by young people, combined with verbal abuse and physical assault, have increased since the previous inspection. Managers and staff fail to protect young people from being at risk of serious harm. Consequently, young people are at risk of exploitation, going missing, criminal activity, drug and alcohol misuse, physical abuse and putting other young people at the home at risk. Recording of incidents is poor. For example where staff receive significant safeguarding information, they do not record it or notify a manager. This puts young people at further risk. Incidents of missing and unauthorised absence by young people from the home have risen significantly. Since the last inspection, there have been 106 ‗missing‘ from home episodes and 189 unauthorised absences. As a result, young people are spending significant periods away from the home. They are highly vulnerable to

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Inadequate

exploitation. Records of young people who go missing are incomplete. As a result, young people continue to put themselves at risk, with no effective preventative strategies to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. Staff do not manage behaviour consistently. This means that young people do not experience a strong sense of safety. Consequences imposed on young people for behaviour that is not considered appropriate by the home are poor and ineffective. Some young people experience a high level of disruption because of challenging behaviour from their peers. The consequences imposed are generally financial and repetitive, and staff fail to implement them. The responses to young people have been neither sufficiently consistent nor robust to meet their complex needs. As a result, young people are not encouraged to reflect on their behaviour or to recognise the risks associated with it. Young people do not receive enough focused

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Inadequate

support to help them to make changes in their behaviour or resolve some of the difficulties that they are experiencing. These poor experiences negatively impact on the welfare and self-esteem of young people. The fire risk assessment has been updated since the last inspection, but does not explicitly detail the specific needs of the home, for example young people smoking in their bedrooms, in the conservatory and on the roof. Consequently, young people‘s safety is seriously compromised.

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Inadequate

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2014 and has worked with young people since 2002. She has a qualification in working with children and an appropriate managerial qualification. Staff hold appropriate level qualifications achieved in the relevant timescale, and those new to children‘s social care are currently undertaking these courses. The registered manager has been absent from the home for two significant periods since the last inspection. Interim management arrangements during this period have lacked rigour and efficiency, particularly in relation to effective oversight of safeguarding practice. The registered manager acknowledges some of the shortfalls of the home and has escalated the concerns to senior managers. However, despite these escalations, this has not resulted in an improvement in the provision of care and safeguarding of young people. For example young people‘s

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Inadequate

risk-taking behaviour, including assaults, having weapons, substance misuse, gang affiliation, exploitation and going missing, have increased since the last inspection. The registered manager engages well with partnership organisations. She challenges and raises concerns when young people are not receiving the service that they need. However, managers do not robustly monitor the work that staff undertake with young people. Although they collate information and pass it onto other agencies, they do not follow up for an adequate response. As a result, there are numerous missed opportunities to improve young people‘s safety and welfare. Staff and managers at the home is not fulfilling the aims and objectives set out within the statement of purpose. The approach is not providing a ‗safe, stable and consistent living environment‘ for young people, as stated. Staff are not working effectively together to deliver the support that young people need.

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Inadequate

Senior managers and the home‘s manager are not carrying out their responsibilities to children and staff. Management oversight is inconsistent and is a significant contributory factor to the inadequacies of this home . Managers have not been aware of incidents, such as criminal activity, undertaken by young people. They have not been aware that staff have not completed follow- up work with young people and that young people‘s case files do not contain important information. This means that staff do not receive the guidance they need around their practice that managers are not promoting young people‘s well-being and that young people are neither being provided with good quality care nor are being effectively safeguarded. This has been identified by the independent visitor but has not led to the improvement of the service. Previous requirements and recommendations have not been met that relate to health, consultation with young people, assessing risk and preparing young people

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Inadequate

for independence. As a result of this inspection, enforcement action has been taken.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‗Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection‘.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‗Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards‘. the guidance ‗Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted‘, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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