Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 1 SC479654 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a private children’s home that provides care and accommodation for up to six male young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

p.1

inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The manager has failed to take effective action to address the requirements set at the last inspection in respect of matching, risk assessments and bullying in the home.  The manager fails to ensure that the young people who join the home are a suitable match to the existing group. This has negatively impacted on the stability of the home and the progress young people make in the placement.  Admissions to the home are poorly planned with the manager admitting young people in quick succession following the interim inspection.  Due to insufficient analysis in impact assessments of young people’s risks and how staff will manage the group of young people’s risk taking behavior, young people are served notice, as staff cannot meet their needs. This has resulted in short placements for young people and some placements ending in an unplanned way.  Young people’s experiences in the home are poor and they do not make

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

progress. None of the young people in the home attend school or further education and there are no meaningful alternatives offered. As a result, young people become bored and become involved in destructive behaviour in the home.  Staff are unable to manage young people’s behaviour. As a result, the police are called to the home to manage situations.  The home is staffed by a newly formed staff team. Some of the staff in this team lack the skills and experience to meet the needs or care adequately for the young people in this home.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The staff have developed good working relationships with stakeholders, such as the police and looked after children nurses.  Staff promote young people’s contact with family members where it is has been assessed as safe to do so which ensures that young people can maintain positive relationships with family members in a safe way.  Despite the recent difficulties in the home, the staff do try to engage with the young people that they are working with.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 3 22/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 20/12/2016 Full Good 29/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 4

p.3

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 03/07/2017

p.4

Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard, the registered provider must ensure that staff

p.4

Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally.(Regulation 8(2)(v))

p.4

Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training, in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8(2)(x)) 03/07/2017

p.4

Requirement Due date

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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. (Regulation 11(2)(iv)) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11(2)(xi)) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(2)9b)) 03/07/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 5 *The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the

p.4

Requirement Due date

registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— 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. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)) help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(ii)) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(2)(b) 03/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

*The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that promotes their welfare. (Regulation 13(1)(b) (2) in particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home ((Regulation 13 (2)(c) and (h)) 03/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(b)) 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. (Regulation 14(2)(a)) 03/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. This is in respect of fire drills being carried out. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) 03/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-based supervision by a person with appropriate experience (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 03/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") 03/07/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 6 for each child which— (a) include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)

p.5

Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject of a compliance notice.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The statement of purpose states that, ‘the dynamics of the staff skill base and balance of the other young people will always be a consideration in any admission or discharge. However, the manager does not undertake robust impact assessments prior to young people being admitted to the home. Some impact assessments include no evaluation of the impact of new young people on the existing group of residents, or how staff will manage the range of individual risk factors in the home to ensure that young people are kept safe. As a result, staff cannot meet the needs of the young people that are admitted to the home. This leads to the manager ending placements prematurely as staff cannot engage with young people or manage their behavior. In the short time since the last inspection, this has resulted in short placements and poor transitions for four young people admitted to the home in quick succession and two leaving the home in an

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

unplanned way following a serious incident. This has led to a period of instability in the home, which has negatively affected young people’s experiences and progress.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not receiving any education or training. Staff fail to provide structure during the day or provide opportunities for young people to learn informally. During the inspection, young people got up at lunchtime and spent time playing board games with staff. Staff are inconsistent in their response to how they manage young people when they are not in school. For example, in daily logbooks there are records of young people watching television with staff and playing on the Xbox. This does not provide a consistent approach or incentive for young people to attend school and means that young people are not given an opportunity to meet their educational potential. As a result, young people are becoming bored and this is having a negative impact on their behavior in the home.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The quality of young people’s day-to-day experiences in the home is poor. There is little structure or routine. Young people stay in bed until lunchtime and spend a lengthy periods out of the home with some becoming involved in anti-social activities. Although staff do try to engage young people in a range of activities in and outside the home, this has mixed results. There are some examples of young people going swimming, go karting and trampolining with staff, but often when staff offer young people, activities they refuse to engage.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do try to promote young people’s health and well-being spending time with young people in key work sessions, trying to encourage young people to attend health appointments and make healthier lifestyle choices such as stopping smoking, but this Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 7 work is not always effective. Staff have good working relationships with health professionals such as the looked after children’s nurse, who has attended a team meeting to discuss how they can become more effective in these areas.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Due to the short duration of most placements, work on supporting young people developing skills for independence is limited. However, there are examples of young people doing their laundry and accompanying staff on food shopping trips, which enables them to learn some skills they require for adulthood. Staff promote young people’s contact with family members where it is has been assessed as safe to do so. Staff communicate with family members, supervise contact and record this in young people’s files. This ensures that young people can maintain positive relationships with family members in a safe way.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Young people are not effectively safeguarded, as staff do not have the necessary skills to manage their behaviour. The police have been called to two significant events in the home since the interim inspection. One incident lasted eight and a half hours before the police were called, by which time the young person had done serious damage to the home. This demonstrates that staff are unable to de-escalate situations effectively so young people quickly become involved in negative behaviour with other young people, such as damaging property, going missing, or cannabis use. Young people regularly cause damage to the home, such as kicking fire extinguishers off the wall, breaking door alarms and threatening staff. Behaviour management plans are insufficient and lack clear guidance for staff to follow. Consequently, young people do not receive help and support to enable them learn to manage their feelings and behaviour in a more constructive way.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

All staff have received team teach training, which is the model they are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. There is a low level of restraint used in the home considering some of the challenging behaviour displayed by young people. Staff use restraint as a last resort and details of these restraints are recorded clearly and are reviewed effectively by the registered manager. This review process identified a non- team teach hold being used, which the manager addressed with the staff member. The manager recognises this is an area that staff need to develop more confidence in to ensure that young people are adequately protected from harm. Young people’s individual risk factors are identified in risk assessments, but actions for staff to take to reduce this risk are not routinely set out in these plans. This means that there is not always clear written guidance for staff to refer to or follow, particularly

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

regarding drug and alcohol use. While the manager took steps to rectify this during the inspection, it had been a requirement made at the last inspection, two months ago which means there had been no guidance for staff to follow within this time. Staff spoken to during the inspection gave inconsistent responses to how they would manage such a situation. The way incidents are recorded is also inconsistent making it unclear about how the incident has been dealt with. This was identified as a shortfall at the last inspection and has not been adequately addressed leaving young people at risk of harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 8 Staff do not keep risk assessments up to date with an absence of clearly written actions that identify risk. For example, there was a recent incident in the car where two young people were disruptive on the journey, throwing a phone across the car and punching the window. The staff member pulled over and requested assistance, as she did not feel

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

safe continuing on her own. Staff were unclear of the expectations of them when transporting young people and there was no clear written guidance for staff to follow about transporting young people in the care. This has the potential to leave young people and staff at risk of harm. The lack of clear guidance about transporting young people in the car has the potential to leave young people and staff at risk of harm. Staff are proactive when young people go missing. They search for young people and work effectively with the police to ensure that the young person is located as quickly as possible. Staff undertake direct work with young people on their return to try to establish the reasons for them missing. Return interviews however, are not consistently carried out and the manager does not routinely challenge the local authority to ensure that they undertake return interviews. This means that opportunities to understand and identify

p.8

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

patterns of missing behaviour are missed. Staff do not always complete direct work with young people to help them keep themselves safe. For example, there is a lack of direct work on helping young people to understand the risks associated with child sexual exploitation (CSE) despite this being identified in young people’s plans as required work. This does not ensure that young people are educated on the risk of CSE or equipped with the skills to help keep themselves safe. Staff do not sufficiently identify or address bullying in the home. There has been work with bullying undertaken, but this is insufficient considering the allegations made by one young person and incidents witnessed by staff. One young person sat in the staff room with a staff member after one incident of bullying, as he did not feel safe in the home. The same young person refused to return to the home after a serious incident in the

p.8

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

home. The manager advised that they had been unable to complete work on bullying with one of the young people, because he was rarely in the home. As a result, bullying is not being addressed effectively with young people. Staff make good efforts to work with other professionals to meet young people’s needs. Most professionals gave positive feedback about the level of communication from staff; however, some noted that staff could be more prompt in updating them on significant incidents. Staff have developed a good relationship with the local police officer, who commented that, ‘staff are fantastic at communicating with me’. The manager does not ensure that fire drills are carried out in accordance with their fire procedure. There has not been a fire drill carried out following the newest staff member starting in the home at the beginning of May 2017. There have been recorded incidents of young people smoking in the home and setting fire to quilts. As such, the manager

p.8

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

needs to ensure that all staff are familiar with the fire procedure to ensure that they know what action to take to safeguard young people in the event of a fire in the home. Staff are trained in safeguarding and understand what actions to take if, for example, a Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 9 young person makes an allegation, or they are concerned about another member of staff’s practice. This means that staff should know what to do if an allegation is made.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The new manager has been in post since January 2017. She is in the process of registering with Ofsted and has previous experience of managing children’s homes. The manager has some understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and the impact of this on young people. She commented during the inspection that they were ‘failing kids, not progressing them’. Despite this, she has not taken effective action to ensure that the requirements made at the last inspection with regard to matching, risk assessments, and bullying were met, demonstrating an inability to take effective action to ensure improvement to the home. As a result, the home has failed to improve the quality of care it provides. There have been difficulties with staffing in this home and, as a result, the home is staffed by a newly formed staff team. Six out of the eight staff, including the manager, are still in their probation period with some new staff who have little experience of

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

working with children. The manager does not ensure that staff working on shift together have the required skills and experience to meet young people’s needs. During the inspection, the manager acknowledged that ‘staff haven’t got the basics’. This has led to one serious incident in the home, which could have resulted in young people coming to harm. Most staff are up to date with mandatory training and new staff members receive this training promptly as part of their induction. Staff are all trained in team-teach, which is the model they are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. The manager was able to demonstrate where this method was not being used effectively and addressed this with the staff member. Most staff say that they feel supported in their work. One staff member commented that he felt ‘very well supported’ and that the new manager had brought some positive changes into the home. Another staff member did not feel that new staff were supported

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

well enough, commenting, ‘Staff members new to the job are not getting as much support as they need. Many staff are green and have not done the job before. New staff are on with staff members who are new to the home, and they need to be on with staff who know what to do.’ Some staff do not receive regular supervision. This prevents them from having regular opportunity to reflect on their practice, and is of particular importance given the instability of the home and the newly formed staff team. The manager has not ensured that documents such as local authority care plans are on young people’s case files. The manager was not aware of this until the inspection and, as a result, had not escalated this with the local authority. This means that staff do not have all the necessary information about the young people’s needs and individual risks, which limits their ability to ris assess efficiently and plan effectively for young people’s

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

care. Young people’s views are obtained on all aspects of their care, such as activities and menu planning, and there is good evidence of their views being sought by staff in key Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 10 work sessions and children’s meetings. This ensures that young people feel listened to and that their views are central to the running of the home. The impact of this is variable given the young people’s lack of engagement with staff and the home.

p.9

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

p.10

Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 11

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hexagon Care Services, 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton On Ribble, Preston PR2 2YQ

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered manager: Post Vacant Sharron Openshaw

p.11

Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC479654 12 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.11

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.12

Inspector

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

p.12

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.12