Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 1 SC039248 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people at any given time, irrespective of gender, who are experiencing emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 31 January 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 This service offers a particularly nurturing environment and excels at establishing open and trusting relationships with previously disaffected young people with highly complex needs.  All the young people are very happy and feel extremely safe and settled at this home. They have all openly expressed their wish to stay until they feel ready for independence.  Young people benefit from being very well cared for by a stable, highly motivated and resilient staff team. They are treated and respected as individuals in their own right which makes them feel genuinely loved and valued.  Young people’s wishes and feelings are central to the day-to-day running of the home, their futures and the continued development of the service. All reasonable requests are positively responded to, if it is in their best interests.  Staff place the well-being of individual young people at the centre of their practice and treat them with dignity and respect at all times, irrespective of the

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Key findings from this inspection

significant challenges they may present.  This staff team has firmly established and effective collaborative working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Staff also provide particularly strong challenge and advocacy for young people. This ensures, for example: the timely provision of specialist services; appropriate educational provision; and constructive contact arrangements; it also empowers young people to take age- appropriate risks as part of their journey into adulthood.  Young people particularly benefit from the clear and consistent routines and boundaries in place at this home. They are all now responding exceptionally well to the emphasis on positive reinforcement of good behaviour and effort.  This experienced staff team consistently and effectively de-escalates some sustained challenging behaviour without resorting to the use of restraint or seeking assistance from the police. The use of restorative justice and reparation

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Key findings from this inspection

has prevented unnecessary criminalisation of young people effectively, but they still learn that there are consequences for unacceptable behaviour. Risk taking behaviour has significantly reduced at this home.  This home is very well managed by a suitably qualified, highly experienced and child-focused individual who leads by example. He provides very clear direction, supervision and support to his staff and ensures that they receive timely training opportunities to meet organisational needs and individual young people’s needs, Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 3 and to further their own personal development.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 There are no regulatory shortfalls arising from this inspection, but two recommendations have been made. This is to strengthen the systems which are in place to ensure that accurate and good-quality records are maintained and are accessible on the countywide electronic system used, thereby better demonstrating the sustained good and outstanding practices in this home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/10/2016 Full Good 23/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/08/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 4

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Recommendations

 Ensure that all staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person is responsible for deciding the focus for each internal review of the quality of care provided in the home. They will also consider what information recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. This inspection has identified the need for: all staff to feel confident and prove their competency in the use and navigation of the electronic system used; ensuring timely key-worker sessions are recorded following all significant events; and, ensuring closer scrutiny of the accuracy and

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Recommendations

quality of records entered on the system by other stakeholders including, but not exclusive to, external monitoring reports, minutes of reviews and personal educational plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from being very well cared for by a stable, highly motivated and resilient staff team. They are treated and respected as individuals in their own right, which makes them feel genuinely loved and valued. Consequently, they are all very happy and settled living at this home. Through sensitive nurturing they have gradually built up particularly strong and trusting relationships with the staff and now want to stay until they feel ready to move on to independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home purposely reduced its registered numbers from six to four. This was in recognition of the complexity and diversity of the current young people’s needs, risks and behaviour. Having a smaller group, higher staffing ratios and staff who can provide highly personalised care has had the desired effect. After months of patience and persistence from a dedicated team, all the young people are now making good progress from their individual starting points and they have gained a strong sense of belonging. In particular, their self-esteem and confidence have demonstrably grown so they now all have positive future ambitions. Comments from young people include, ‘It’s much better with just the four of us and I knew them before I came here so it’s relaxed’; and, ‘Things are going really well here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are ample opportunities for young people to positively contribute to their day-to- Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 5 day lives, future planning and continuous service development. For example, one young person was recently involved in the recruitment and selection of staff. All reasonable requests are genuinely listened to and acted upon if it is deemed to be in young people’s best interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most notably, young people now have the confidence to attend their statutory reviews and actively participate. One young person even kept the meeting entertained with his magic tricks. He openly expressed that he was happy at this home and wanted to stay, but wanted his social worker to visit more. Despite a recommendation being made to address this, the frequency of visits from his social worker has not improved and there is no evidence of the staff chasing this on his behalf. Furthermore, there was inaccurate information in these review minutes. This suggests the need for more scrutiny of the documentation entered on the electronic system by other stakeholders.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the young people exercise genuine choice regarding their contact with family and friends, which is actively encouraged and supported by the staff to ensure it remains a positive experience for all concerned. This helps young people to better understand past traumas, sustains their unique identities and builds emotional resilience. One young person was thrilled that staff successfully advocated for him to start having overnight stays with his sister.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people still prefer spending most of their free time with family and friends, but are noticeably engaging much more in positive activities organised by the staff. Individual interests and talents such as mountain biking and cooking are actively encouraged and supported, which has further increased their competencies and self- esteem. One young person said, ‘I am going on my third residential soon without staff. There are lots of activities. Last time I tried canoeing and abseiling. It’s a good laugh and I know some young people who are going from last time.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This experienced and tenacious staff team consistently demonstrates strong and effective advocacy for the young people and staff will not hesitate to challenge other stakeholders on proposals that they believe are not in the young person’s best interests, most notably with regard to educational provision and contact arrangements. The home is now sending monthly returns to the virtual school to ensure that young people receive the education to which they are entitled, and that drift is minimised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a direct result of the staff’s practice and commitment, all the young people are now receiving education that meets their specific learning and behavioural needs. They are all making very good progress from their starting points of complete disengagement. One home tutor said, ‘This young person has made good progress and is much more focused so plans are now in place for him to return to school.’ To their credit, two young people who have finished formal secondary education have chosen to attend additional courses over the summer holidays to improve their English and mathematics. This is in preparation for starting college in September. One young person said, ‘I really enjoyed my last course and the activities on offer at this home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A recent and particularly good piece of work, requiring patience and sensitivity, was Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 6 securing effective arrangements to ensure that young people’s immunisations were up to date and their required dental treatment was completed. This was in spite of one young person’s genuine fear of needles.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Although all the young people continue to smoke cigarettes and cannabis, this has markedly reduced. These were habits well established prior to admission. Furthermore, there is limited documentary evidence of the good focused work that is taking place in the home to address this. The health risks are particularly pertinent to one young person with asthma who is choosing to, and being supported to, regularly attend a smoking cessation clinic because he really wants to stop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that young people have opportunities to develop the skills and the confidence they need to successfully manage their lives as adults. Over the last 12 months priority has been given to settling the current group, helping them build positive relationships and keeping them safe; these realistic goals have all been achieved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home particularly benefits from two fully furnished flats attached to the main building which young people can move in to. This enables them to develop independence skills with the security of staff support when needed. Since the last inspection this facility has ensured a smooth transition for one young person into her own accommodation after living at this home for over three years. She is happy and ready to move on, especially given the added assurance of continued support from the staff. Another young person has been offered this facility, but prefers group living.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Social workers and independent reviewing officers are highly satisfied with the quality of care provided at this home and the subsequent good progress young people have made. Recent comments include, ‘My young person looks brighter and happier than I have ever seen him. It is really positive to see the progress he has made and to witness him sharing pride and pleasure in his achievements’; ‘I am extremely pleased with the consistent support and guidance my young person receives from the staff, and he has a good relationship with them. He is progressing emotionally and academically so well here. He is extremely settled, the challenges he presents have reduced and he is now engaging in and enjoying a variety of activities’; and, ‘It has been delightful to witness the positive changes in my young person’s attitude, presentation and confidence.’

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

All the young people currently living at this home feel extremely safe and settled. They are secure in the knowledge this this is a long-term placement until they feel ready to move on to independence. They enjoy excellent relationships with all the staff and have several adults they feel particularly comfortable talking to about more intimate concerns.

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

Staff clearly place the well-being of all the young people at the centre of their practice, irrespective of the challenges they present. The staff’s resilience and sustained commitment to them is now resulting in all the young people noticeably investing in this placement. Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 7 This means that some extreme risk-taking behaviours have ceased and others have significantly reduced. In particular, there has been no offending and there have been no incidents of young people going missing from the home for the last seven months. In sharp contrast, prior to admission, one young person was frequently missing for long periods of time, and was actively involved in criminal activities.

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

The consistent practice of rewarding young people for good behaviour and effort has the desired effect on their behaviour. Consequently, incidents within the home have continued to reduce in both frequency and intensity. For example, one young person has had three restraints in the last seven months compared to 23 in the previous seven months. Robust management analysis of patterns and trends shows this was due to anxieties about proposed changes to his education which were immediately and successfully challenged by the home. The previous spike was leading up to Christmas, which the staff also sensitively managed extremely well.

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

When a physical intervention is necessary, records show that the least restrictive intervention is always used for the shortest duration. Most commonly, staff effectively guide this young person, who has highly complex needs, away from an unsafe situation. Most significantly, he is now able to reflect on each incident, apologise for his behaviour and explore ways of trying to prevent a reoccurrence, which is all outstanding progress from his starting points.

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

Comments from social workers include, ‘My young person is really settled here and his behaviour has improved dramatically since moving to this home. This is his sixth and longest ever placement’; and, ‘Thank you for all the great work you do with young people with challenging behaviours. I can honestly say that the approaches and interventions you use are absolutely amazing and you are really able to make a positive difference to young people’s lives.’

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

All the required health and safety certificates are in place to ensure that the environment is safe. There are also highly effective arrangements in place to ensure that the home is always maintained to a very good standard, even throughout a previous sustained period of significant criminal damage. It is evident that the staff work tirelessly to create a homely atmosphere from their choice of decor, pictures and soft furnishings in spite of it being a particularly large building.

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

As young people have felt increasingly comfortable with sharing their intense feelings with staff, there has been less criminal damage in the home. Furthermore, the effective use of restorative justice and reparation means that young people are not unnecessarily criminalised, but still learn that there are consequences for unacceptable behaviour. At the interim inspection one young person had broken the office cupboard and the manager kept all the pieces. They have since repaired it together. Another young person spent weeks mending a clock he had broken.

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

This home has established good partnership working with the local police. Also, the manager attends monthly multi-agency meetings to keep abreast of risks in the local Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 8 community, so that the staff can effectively safeguard and protect all the young people.

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

This experienced staff team has the confidence, in full collaboration with other safeguarding agencies, to enable young people to take age-appropriate risks as part of their move into adulthood. In particular, staff allow them to spend considerable periods of their free time with family and friends some distance away from the home. As mutual respect and trust are now firmly established, young people are at the agreed meeting point to be picked up by staff at a reasonable hour and then settle to bed quickly. This means young people are now benefiting from good sleeping patterns, which also has an extremely positive impact on their behaviour.

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

The consistent staff team has an excellent understanding of all the young people’s particular needs, risks and vulnerabilities, and always reviews and reflects on all incidents. Moreover, staff benefit from training on current research and direct access and regular sessions with a specialist in emotional and mental health who is very impressed with their expertise. Two young people are currently dealing with significant loss, including the sudden and untimely death of a close relative. The specialist in emotional and mental health said, ‘I am overwhelmed by how well everyone is managing this. Maintaining clear routines and structures makes them feel safe and the nurturing that this team is really good at.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home benefits from very good leadership and clear direction from a permanent, qualified, highly experienced and extremely child-focused registered manager who leads by example. He has been in this particular post for over three years. During that time he has changed the culture of the home to one of positive reinforcement of good behaviour, and has fostered good relationships with neighbours. This is in sharp contrast to when he took over this responsible position following an escalation in the number of complaints from the local community. That said, he is also not afraid to challenge partner agencies to ensure that young people receive the specialist services they require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monthly team meetings and regular staff development days ensure a shared vision. This is a particularly reflective staff team that is always seeking to improve the quality of care provided. There are no vacancies, sickness levels are low and morale is high.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection the manager has secured an additional apprentice post. Furthermore, the staff’s study room is now fully functional and well used. Staff particularly appreciate the fact that they have an administrative day included in their rotas every month.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This manager is passionate about supporting the continual development and career progression of his staff. Consequently: several individuals have been promoted within the wider organisation; one member of staff has commenced a management qualification and is supervising the new apprentice as part of his personal development; and another staff member is purposely taking a more active role in the internal Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 9 monitoring processes to gain more insight into management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This all means that high-profile young people who have diverse and complex needs are very well cared for by a consistent, stable, extremely committed and resilient staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a very efficient business support officer who provides good administrative support and data as required. In particular, she maintains the training matrix. This successfully ensures that there are timely renewals of all mandatory courses in order to meet organisational needs and individual young people’s needs’, and to further the personal development of individual staff members. However, this inspection has identified that not all staff are fully competent and/or feel confident in using the authority-wide electronic system to its full advantage.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose is regularly reviewed and revised as necessary to ensure it always accurately reflects the current aims, policies, practices and staffing of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The last six-monthly report, which followed an internal review of the quality of care provided at this home, is a good, evaluative document exploring patterns and trends. It accurately identifies key strengths and areas requiring further improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Following a full countywide audit, all legal information held on the electronic system in relation to the young people living at this home is up to date. However, the quality of the records produced by this home and other stakeholders is variable. For example, inaccurate information was found in review minutes, a personal educational plan and a monthly external monitoring report. This suggests the need for more stringent scrutiny.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are kept fully updated on the needs, progress and challenges of all the young people through detailed handovers and email correspondence. However, this information and timely discussions with young people following significant events are not being consistently recorded on the electronic system accessible to their social workers. In response, the manager will focus his next review on these shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has only been one significant event notifiable to Ofsted in the last six months. This is a further indicator of how settled the young people are.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The three requirements made at the last inspection have been addressed. This means that a range of specialist services are now in place to help young people to lead healthier lifestyles. All the staff now benefit from regular, formal and good-quality supervision with the registered manager. Also, monthly internal monitoring visits are now informed and enriched by consultations with young people’s relatives. The feedback is consistently very positive. Recent examples include, ‘All the staff communicate well with me and they are supportive of me as well as my child’; ‘I know I can contact the home at any time’; and, ‘The staff have done well and I am proud of my son’s progress here and our relationship is improving all the time.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from having the same independent visitor who is impressed with the continued progress young people have made. In her last report she concluded, Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 10 ‘This unit has much improved over the last year. The staff should be extremely proud of what they have achieved. The atmosphere continues to be much more relaxed with clear positive relationships between staff and young people. The young people are clearly much more settled and responsive to living in a smaller group setting where they are benefiting from closer interactions and increased support. They are happy and engaging.’

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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.

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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: SC039248 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector

Lynn O’Driscoll: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC039248 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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