Children's Home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Lancashire

Good

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Parents and professionals confirm that their children feel safe and are kept safe as they receive the right level of care and support from the dedicated and knowledgeable staff team.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children make good progress in all aspects of their lives in relation to their individual starting points.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children are supported and enabled to enjoy a wide range of social activities and have been given the opportunity to engage in activities that they have not experienced before.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The manager and staff demonstrate a good understanding of the children‟s needs. They work well with children, their families and other agencies to ensure that their emerging needs are addressed consistently and swiftly.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The staff team receive appropriate training to systematically meet children‟s complex and diverse needs.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The shortfalls identified throughout this inspection relate to: the Statement of Purpose; staff supervision arrangements; maintaining and updating children‟s records; managing, recording and reporting complaints and allegations made against the home; and internal and external monitoring systems.

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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

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the Statement of Purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. This is with particular reference to ensuring that the experience and qualifications of all staff, including new staff, are included within this document. (Regulation 16 (1)) 12/08/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of any investigation is recorded. (Regulation 39(3)) 29/07/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person, such as the designated officer, without delay if there is an allegation of abuse against the home or person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 29/07/2016

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Requirement Due date

The independent person‟s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (5)) 12/08/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children. This system must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)) 12/08/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that good employment practice in maintained. They must ensure that supervision of all staff is undertaken regularly, and in line with the commitment identified within the home‟s Statement of Purpose, to ensure that any potential risks are minimised and that children are safeguarded. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that all children‟s case records are kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry, with specific regard to ensuring that all children's healthcare plans are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect their current health needs. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Information about this children’s home

 The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people with learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

08/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19/03/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

Children sustain positive relationships with the established and dedicated staff, who offer a good level of individual care and support to each child. The small staff team clearly understands each child‟s individual characteristics and mannerisms and the staff respond appropriately to these needs with affection and warmth. This and the happy, comfortable and homely environment where children appear happy, relaxed and at ease ensures that their individual personalities continue to shine and flourish and that they continue to make good progress in all aspects of their lives. The manager and staff sustain effective working relationships with parents, placing local authorities, schools and health professionals. This ensures that children benefit from holistic care packages designed to meet their individual and complex needs well and that they receive a high level of consistent care which particularly improves their health and social development. For example, children‟s health needs

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Good

are promoted extremely well. The manager is proactive in ensuring that children attend all their routine and scheduled health care appointments. Furthermore, she seeks out specialist services, such as dentistry, to ensure that all children‟s specific health needs can be met and maintained. When shortfalls arise and specialist services are not immediately available, the manager pursues this relentlessly and challenges this well. Following her use of the formal complaint process, one young person is now able to access a suitable dental service to meet their identified need and now maintains good oral healthcare. That said, while all children‟s medical information is held, some information, such as children‟s healthcare plans, requires further monitoring and review to establish if it is still current. One child‟s plan has not been reviewed since April 2015.

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Good

All children benefit from attending a full-time education provision. Regular and punctual attendance, alongside dedicated and cohesive support offered by the school and home staff, ensures that all children make excellent progress in meeting their own individual goals and targets. If required, staff will support and transport children to get to and from school. In addition, the staff have supported one young person to take part in a school residential trip which promotes learning and provides additional positive childhood memories. Furthermore, the manager and education staff work closely together to ensure that any strategies that are used within the home or school to further aid communication and development are shared promptly to promote further consistency and support learning and development further. One professional said, „We maintain daily communication with the home and the staff attend all (name‟s) meetings. They always give us a

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Good

full update of how he is getting on at home so we can plan well for him at school. (Name) seems really happy and settled there and he has really blossomed whilst he has been with us. This is as a result of the support he gets from the home.‟

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Good

Children are supported thoughtfully to enjoy a range of in-house and community activities to enhance their experiences and develop positive childhood memories. Children enjoy sensory activities, such as attending circus skills and boomerang sessions, and take part in trips out to the safari park, while others enjoy regular trips out swimming and going out for meals.

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Good

Children are sensitively supported to develop their understanding of what is happening around them and take part in the day-to-day decisions that affect their lives. The staff team encourage and support each child to communicate their choices, likes and dislikes, using their individual communication aids. They support children to understand how the world is moving around them and use social stories and picture boards well. This prepares children well for what is happening now and next and helps to alleviate any unnecessary fears and worries that children may have. This practice ensures that children are prepared well for any encounters that they may experience, that their anxieties are managed effectively, and that they remain central to their care planning as their views and wishes are sought and acted on in their everyday routines.

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Good

Children are supported well by staff to maintain close contact with those who are significant to them. Parents report that they are supported well by the staff team to maintain a good level of close involvement in their child‟s life. Parents confirm that the staff always make them and their families feel welcome during contact times and that the staff always keep them informed of the progress that their children make. As such, family members can be confident that they remain involved in their children‟s lives and children maintain their sense of identify and belonging to their families.

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Requires improvement

The procedures for managing complaints and allegations against the home are insufficient. Complaints and allegations which are highlighted to the manager by third parties about the service and the care that is provided to children by the manager and staff are not formally acknowledged, investigated, recorded or shared with all relevant parties, such as the designated officer and Ofsted, by the registered manager or responsible individual. Furthermore, neither the manager nor the responsible individual use the formal escalation procedures adequately to tackle the lack of clarity regarding the nature of the complaints and allegations made against the home so that an independent internal investigation can be initiated by the provider promptly.

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Requires improvement

The manager ensures that children‟s care planning is meticulous and is extremely personalised. Staff are highly committed and have an inherent understanding of each child‟s specific and complex health needs, as staff fully understand and systematically follow the detailed and comprehensive care plans and risk assessments that are in place. Children‟s risks and vulnerabilities are continuously assessed and fully recorded in their risk management plans. Information in these plans is routinely shared during handovers, supervisions and team meetings to ensure that staff are fully equipped to promote and meet children‟s needs safely.

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Requires improvement

Due to the level of children‟s needs and understanding, sanctions and consequences are not used within this home. Positive and effective relationships that the manager and staff have developed with children have supported children to manage their emotions more effectively and calmly. As such, physical interventions have not been used within this inspection period as diversionary techniques have proven to be effective.

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Requires improvement

Children‟s welfare in the home is promoted as staff are aware of the home‟s whistle-blowing policy alongside their safeguarding roles and responsibilities as they receive regular training and updates. Furthermore, safe recruitment practice which is systematically undertaken ensures that only those staff who are deemed suitable to provide safe care and support vulnerable children do so.

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Requires improvement

Children live in a large, safe, comfortable home. Staff respect children‟s rights to dignity and privacy and the size of the home allows for them to both enjoy their privacy and time alone, while also having the option of enjoying spending time together. Staff and children‟s health and safety within the home is promoted as the manager and staff carry out regular health and safety checks. This, alongside the annual gas, electrical and fire safety checks, and the annual reviews of the specialist equipment within the home, assists in keeping everybody safe and protected.

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Good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager who has been registered with Ofsted since January 2013. The registered manager and her team constantly demonstrate a strong child-centred approach in their delivery of care. The staff are committed to delivering a good standard of care which is tailored to meet the individual and complex needs of all the children. The effectiveness of this highly specialised care, support and dedication is evident in the notable progress that children are making.

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Good

The one requirement in regard to ensuring that the placing authority social workers have sight of, and the opportunity to sign, all care plans and risk assessments that are pertinent to the child has now been addressed suitably. Consequently, placing authorities are now clearly aware of and satisfied with how the staff within the home are caring for and supporting each child‟s needs.

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Good

The Statement of Purpose gives a good account of the aims and objectives of the home, and the manager and staff deliver the care and support outlined within this document well. That said, this document has not been updated to include the staffing details of new staff who are presently being used from one of the provider‟s other children‟s homes.

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Good

The home has benefited from maintaining a stable staff team who are trained, supported and experienced to deliver a good standard of care. A small proportion of the care staff have attained the required qualifications and sufficient plans are in place to ensure that the others achieve this within the required timeframe. While records viewed demonstrate that most staff are supervised in line with the commitments identified within the home‟s Statement of Purpose, the last supervision available to view within the home for one member of staff was dated 27 April 2016.

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Good

Adequate quality assurance systems are in place to support the manager with her continued development of the home. Independent visits are conducted monthly by the independent visitor and offer some guidance on where practice can be improved. However, these reports do not clearly identify what actions or recommendations the independent visitor is suggesting, nor do they focus the manager on when these areas should receive some consideration and action to continue to support her to make further improvements within the home.

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Good

The manager undertakes her regular checks and monitoring of the home to establish the progress that children are making. In doing this she reviews all the available documentation held within the home, alongside her observations of children and the staff. However, the manager has missed an opportunity to further support her evaluation of the progress that the children make as she has not sought any feedback from parents and professionals to establish what, if any, further developments she can make to support children on their development journeys.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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 children looked after 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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