Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited in Lancaster

Requires improvement

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The home does not robustly assess its appropriateness to meet the needs of the young people that it accommodates. This impacts on the quality of young people’s care planning and the care that they receive.  Care planning is not routinely comprehensive or robust for those young people admitted at short notice.  Young people’s individual risk assessments are of variable quality and not consistently robust to ensure that all relevant risks are considered and addressed to promote their safety.  The home does not routinely complete impact risk assessments prior to admission to ensure that young people are appropriately matched to the home and also with those already in residence.  Safer recruitment practice is not yet well embedded to ensure that young people’s safety is unlikely to be compromised by adults working in the home.  Weaknesses identified in the home’s leadership and management arrangements mean that the home has not consistently operated in

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

accordance with its statement of purpose.  Managers have not ensured that staff have sufficient skill and experience to meet the needs of all young people placed.  The home is not yet comprehensively tracking young people’s achievements and progress from their starting points to identify the impact that the home is making on their lives.

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The children's home strengths

 The home acts as a good advocate to young people, ensuring that they can have their voice heard.  Staff engage positively with young people to build and maintain positive and trusting relationships. As such, young people feel staff genuinely care.  Young people feel safe and can identify a number of members of staff who they feel that they could speak to if they were worried or concerned.  Staff positively support young people to achieve a range of independence skills that help to prepare them for adult life.  Young people’s health needs are well understood and appropriately promoted.  The home engages positively with young people’s families, ensuring that good communication exists to keep them up to date with young people’s activities and progress.  Staff effectively support young people to maintain contact with those family members and friends that are important to them.  Most staff are experienced and confident in using behaviour management

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The children's home strengths

strategies to de-escalate challenging behaviour.  The home’s newly appointed manager demonstrates good insight into the home’s strengths and weaknesses.

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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 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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard 6. In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard the registered person must— (2)(a) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose. 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard 12. In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff— (2)(a)(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. 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard 13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person is required to— (2)(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; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (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; (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard 14. In order to meet the care planning standard the registered 22 July 2016 person must ensure— (2)(a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

16: Statement of purpose Compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. Keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b)) 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

28: Fitness of manager Ensure that the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)) 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

32: Fitness of workers Ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. This relates specifically to ensuring that appropriate references are received and suitably verified in accordance with the home’s safe recruitment practice. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) 22 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

45: Review of quality of care Supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (4)(a)) 22 July 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the home works in close partnership with all those who play a role in protecting and caring for the child. This relates specifically to strengthening working partnerships with placing authorities and the police ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 11, paragraph 2.3).  Emergency admissions should not be taken unless the home's statement of purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that it has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice while continuing to offer high quality of care to children already living in the home ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.6).  Ensure that staff are made familiar with the home's internal whistleblowing procedures through the induction process. This relates specifically to ensuring that they understand and are confident about how concerns can be raised and

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Recommendations

escalated in the organisation ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 53, paragraph 10.9).  The registered person must maintain good employment practice, ensuring that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1).

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Information about this children's home

 The home is registered to accommodate up to five young people with emotional and behavioural problems.  It is operated by a private organisation.  The home offers emergency, medium- and long-term placements for young people.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

29 January 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people’s progress and experience of living in this home is variable. Identified weaknesses in the home’s leadership and management have impacted negatively on the staff team’s ability to provide a quality of care that ensures that young people will consistently achieve good outcomes while at this home. Some young people have been admitted to the home in recent months, on an emergency basis, without proper consideration of their needs and the impact that their admission will have on other young people already resident in the home. Specifically, this has resulted in two young people prematurely leaving the home shortly after placement when it became apparent to the home that their provision was unsuitable to meet these young people’s needs. For those young people, they experienced a further period of disruption and delay in achieving a placement that matched their needs. Due to the inappropriateness of these placements, the staff

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Requires improvement

team’s ability to successfully plan and provide a good quality of care was hindered. Despite these poor decisions surrounding emergency placements, this did not have a significant impact on the safety and welfare of those young people already placed. However, the comfort and homeliness of the environment was temporarily affected, with damage to many areas of the property. This was quickly rectified, with the home benefiting from further internal improvements and redecoration returning it to its former good condition. Staff continue to encourage young people to contribute their ideas for further home improvements to ensure that they feel involved and able to develop their sense of belonging in this home. Staff engage positively with young people and encourage their participation in their care planning and review processes. This ensures that young people’s wishes and feelings are taken into account and that their voice is heard. Most young people

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Requires improvement

have developed good and trusting relationships with staff and express a view that staff are genuinely interested in supporting and caring for them. One young person commented, ‘I can talk to any of the staff here. They actually care.’ His social worker also stated, ‘He has made some really good, positive relationships, especially with x, his key worker.’ Young people’s care planning, although individual to their needs, is not always sufficiently robust. This is due to gaps in information and weak negotiation with placing authorities at the point of admission. For example, for one young person, this has meant significant delay in achieving suitable provision to meet his educational needs. Although the home has taken steps to challenge the lack of education provision and been proactive in trying to identify alternatives, this has not resulted in significant improvement in available education provision. Along with

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Requires improvement

the delays that have already occurred, this means that the young person is not benefiting from good opportunities to learn and progress in his formal education. Staff encourage informal learning within the home with the use of revision text books and discussion on current affairs and topics of individual interest. Young people are also encouraged to visit local places of interest, supporting their knowledge of history and their environment. Staff support young people to gain life skills and understand the importance of these in moving on to adult life. These range from self-care tasks, such as managing their own laundry and taking care of the cleanliness of their bedrooms, to managing finance and planning for independent living. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of young people’s healthcare needs and are proactive in ensuring that they receive both routine and any specialist healthcare support that they require. Healthcare planning takes good account of

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Requires improvement

young people’s individual needs, ensuring that appointments are made and followed up with local practitioners, such as doctors, dentists and opticians. Staff also engage well with local advisory services. This ensures that any specific issues, such as relating to young people’s sexual healthcare needs or substance misuse, are addressed promptly with advice and support. Young people are encouraged to maintain healthy lifestyles, understanding the importance of exercise and good nutrition. Staff provide a varied and well-balanced diet, encouraging young people’s knowledge of healthy eating by involving them as often as possible in meal preparation and purchase of food. Young people express a preference for activities such as playing pool, board games and console games. Staff offer young people the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities and outings in their local community, but have mixed success in encouraging them to take part. However, some do enjoy spending time with staff

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Requires improvement

at local parks, rivers and beaches that provide them with some good opportunities for fresh air and exercise. Alternatively, some choose to spend free time with friends, rather than staff, to maintain and enjoy peer relationships. Staff demonstrate eagerness to establish good relationships with young people’s families, ensuring that they remain involved and well informed of their progress. Staff appreciate the importance of family members in young people’s lives and are supportive in encouraging contact where this is consistent with the young person’s plan. For some young people who live a distance from their home area, this can involve staff in regular journeys to and from the home. As such, young people are helped to maintain those relationships that are most important to them. One social worker commented, ‘Staff engage well with family members, this helps contact. They keep the family well informed of young people’s experiences and progress.’

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Requires improvement

Staff provide good opportunities for young people to make their views and wishes known. Regular young people’s meetings and individual time spent with key workers means that young people are able to make their views known both as a collective and individually. Staff act as good advocates for young people in this home. Young people say that staff listen and will help them to secure formal advocacy arrangements if this is what they need to ensure that they are heard. As such, young people’s rights are well supported. A local professional noted, ‘One young person was in the placement for around a year and settled extremely well. He was eventually moved away, which was not what he wanted. Staff advocated for him extremely well, making sure his point of view was put across and going the extra mile to look at alternative options to try and help him.’

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Requires improvement

Staff strive to provide a homely and nurturing environment where young people can feel safe and able to explore issues that are relevant to their personal background. They are sensitive in their approach and demonstrate success in helping young people to understand and make sense of the reasons why they are in care. Young people say that they can talk to staff and that they listen. Young people say that they feel safe and do not identify bulling as an issue that exists within this home. Young people feel reassured that staff consistently act in ways that promote their safety. For example, checking the identity of visitors to the home to make sure that they do not pose a threat to young people. During this inspection, the home was not able to demonstrate consistently good practice in considering the impact of new young people coming into the home with those already living there. Equally, young people’s individual risk assessments were

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Requires improvement

found to be of a variable quality. Although most were reasonably comprehensive, they did not all sufficiently reflect the full range of young people’s individual risks or how they should be successfully managed. A lack of history meant that for some young people coming new to the home, staff had insufficient information to fairly understand risks that existed and develop consistently good strategies to address them. In such cases, concerns generally surrounded violent and aggressive behaviour towards staff that compromised their safety. Staff take time to explain and support young people to understand the home’s rules and boundaries. This ensures that young people are familiar and clear about the home’s expectations surrounding their behaviour. Young people are provided with small incentives, praise and encouragement to promote positive behaviour and achievements. They are also encouraged to understand the consequences of

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Requires improvement

their behaviour should it be less than acceptable. A local professional noted, ‘I have always found the staff to be interested in the young person and clearly develop good relationships with them, while still maintaining good boundaries.’ The staff team, with the exception of those most recently employed, have benefited from accredited behaviour management training and regular opportunities to refresh and update their knowledge and skills. Staff have shown considerable commitment in using this learning to de-escalate situations when challenges have occurred. One social worker commented, ‘They have dealt with his challenging behaviour well; they have good strategies for dealing with it.’ The home has a good track record of rarely using physically intervention and only in those situations where a young person is at risk of harming themselves or others. However, some staff reflection has taken place concerning the particularly

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Requires improvement

challenging and aggressive behaviour of some young people recently placed. Staff concluded that on some occasions, physical intervention would have been reasonable and proportionate to lessen damage to the home. They identify this as being a learning experience and indicate confidence that the current management accepts and supports their conclusion. Many young people come to the home having significant histories of being missing from home. In addition, they have during these times engaged in other risk-taking behaviours such as drug misuse and offending. Staff are proactive in successfully supporting young people to reduce those occasions when they go missing. They use historical information to understand the reasons why young people go missing and develop appropriate strategies that are likely to be most successful in minimising and reducing such occurrences. On those occasions when young people leave the home without permission, staff

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Requires improvement

are quick to act, follow and encourage young people to return to the home. Staff appropriately report young people missing to the police in accordance with local protocols and their individual risk assessment requirements, only when they are not within their sight or their whereabouts are unknown. The home is appropriately mindful of the risk of child sexual exploitation when young people are missing and this is factored into young people’s assessments. Staff work collaboratively with the police, sharing information, searching and maintaining good communication to ensure that all opportunities are addressed to achieve the young person’s early return to the safety of the home. One social worker commented, ‘I have no concerns about his safety, he is an opportunist and will abscond, staff run straight out after him.’ During the inspection, shortfalls were noted in the home’s documentation relating to staff recruitment. Suitable references were not available for all recent employees

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Requires improvement

and others had not clearly been appropriately verified with the person providing the reference. These deficits indicate that safe recruitment practice is not yet well embedded to ensure that young people’s safety is unlikely to be compromised by adults that work in the home.

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Requires improvement

The home’s registered manager resigned his position in March 2016. Suitable interim arrangements were quickly made to promote effective management of the home until a new manager could be appointed. A new permanent manager was appointed in April 2016, having been recruited internally from her role as a deputy manager at the organisation’s sister home. She has suitable experience in working with children and young people in residential care and is currently working towards a level 5 qualification in leadership and management in children’s residential services. She is in the process of making an application to Ofsted to become the home’s registered manager. The provider has appropriately kept Ofsted updated on all recent managerial changes affecting the home, including concerns identified as a result of recent internal and external monitoring activity. This has been successful in achieving a good transparency with the regulator. The provider has been proactive in

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Requires improvement

addressing a number of issues, demonstrating some initial progress in strengthening management arrangements and practice within the home. However, shortfalls in the effectiveness of leadership and management were identified as having a considerable impact on the overall experience and progress for young people. Managers have not adhered to the home’s statement of purpose. For example, the home has provided short-term accommodation for young people released from custody who have been charged with an offence and denied bail. This service is not listed in the home’s current statement of purpose. The home is not able to clearly demonstrate that appropriate assessments were carried out, addressing any potential risks associated with these placements. Additionally, for those young people admitted in an emergency, assessments described in the home’s statement of purpose have not been completed to determine the appropriateness or

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Requires improvement

otherwise of the placement. This approach demonstrates weakness in the home’s admission arrangements that undermine young people’s safety, likely experience and progress within this home. A lack of information gathering and early assessment also failed to determine whether staff possessed the relevant skill and experience for dealing with young people being admitted. For some staff, their knowledge and experience fell short in enabling them to confidently deal with the very challenging behaviours demonstrated by some young people. The new manager demonstrates a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and has made a positive impact in securing some early improvements to strengthen leadership and management arrangements. She has quickly and successfully engaged with young people and the staff team, ensuring their participation in the day-to-day running of the home. She has a visible presence within the home and demonstrates a hands-on approach to supporting

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Requires improvement

staff and guiding their practice. She has prioritised staff supervision and appraisal arrangements, acknowledging some shortfall in support during the period of management change. This is a positive approach to supporting good practice within the home and successfully addressing staff performance and professional development. This has additionally been significant in building professional relationships with her staff team and raising staff morale. Staff report feeling confidence in their new manager, identifying that she has provided greater clarity and support to their caring roles. Three requirements and one recommendation resulted from the home’s last interim inspection in January 2016. These have since been suitably addressed. The home has slightly improved the learning opportunities for one young person through challenge of his placing authority, securing some formal tutoring for him outside the home. Young people’s individual records now contain a copy of the

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Requires improvement

most recent statutory review. This ensures that staff have clarity about decisions made and those responsible for ensuring that action is taken. The home and the provider have suitably notified Ofsted of matters affecting the home and young people placed there. This has helpfully promoted transparency between the provider and Ofsted. The home’s independent person visits regularly once a month, reporting his findings to the provider and Ofsted. His reports provide a good account of the home’s operation and the progress that young people are making. This generally is a very robust arrangement with external monitoring identifying areas for improvement within the home. Despite this, shortfalls have been identified. However, these appear to have occurred over a short timeframe rather than a prolonged period. The new manager has implemented her own internal monitoring arrangements and is due to shortly provide Ofsted with a biannual review of her findings from the

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Requires improvement

home’s previous monitoring activity. Ofsted did not receive a copy of the former registered manager’s biannual review that was completed some months prior to his departure. This shortfall reduces the home’s capacity to inform Ofsted of their identified strengths and plans to address weaknesses or further improvements in the home’s care. As this time, the home is not sufficiently demonstrating how it is comprehensively tracking young people’s progress, highlighting the impact of living in this home. The home works in good cooperation with a number of local organisations and agencies to ensure that young people benefit from a good working together arrangement. This ensures that help and support is well coordinated. Generally, they speak very positively about the care and support that the home provides. However, partnership working with placing authorities, and to some extent the police, are less established. One social worker commented, ‘I sometimes felt the

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Requires improvement

home didn’t understand. I felt that they didn’t trust my judgement.’ This indicates some lack of liaison or miscommunication.

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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 that 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 the ‘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 0300123 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, workbased 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

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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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