Children's Home run by Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group in Brighton and Hove

Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 1 SC482548 Registered provider: Lioncare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 21 to 22 February 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 27 September 2016

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This children‟s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The assessment and management of risk does not reliably inform staff of the steps to take to reduce risk or what to do in the event that the risks occur. Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 2  The home did not prepare the appropriate equipment to safely manage the risks for one young person.  On one occasion, the admission of a new young person to the group had a significant impact on the other young people and the staff.  The lack of regular staff meetings has had an impact on the sharing of information and led to inconsistency in using behaviour management strategies.  Staff have not been regularly supervised and have not felt supported by leaders and managers.  There have been occasions when there have been insufficient staff available to supervise the young people effectively.  Systems for monitoring the quality of care have missed some shortfalls, such as incomplete records.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people are making progress. Some are working towards greater levels of independence.  An effective restorative approach is used to manage behaviours, including support from the wider community.  Staff have built trusting relationships with the young people and work hard to support them to navigate through difficult times.  The young people receive encouragement and support which encourages them to make educational progress.  Detailed planning has ensured that young people moving on from this home have been able to do so at a pace suited to their needs.  The staff at this home advocate for the young people to ensure that they have services that support their physiological and emotional well-being.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/05/2016 Full Good 15/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/06/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 3

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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.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard The quality and purpose of care standard is that the registered person must ensure that the premises used for the purpose of the home meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i)) In particular, ensure that specialist equipment is available. 30/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard requires the registered person to ensure 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)) 30/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(e)(f)(h)) 30/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)) 30/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4) (b)) Specifically, ensure that staff receive regular supervision, particularly new staff working through their induction. 30/04/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 4 The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/04/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child‟s assessed needs as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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improvement to be good

The day-to-day practice at this home is assisting the young people to make progress. However, identified shortfalls have an impact on the care offered. For example, the assessment for one young person coming to the home failed to adequately consider the impact on those already living there. When incidents occurred following this admission, the impact on the young people and the team was significant.

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improvement to be good

The young people living at this home have built relationships with the staff that are based on trust and mutual respect. The staff have the skills to communicate effectively with vulnerable young people who have complex needs. The atmosphere in the home is one where the young people feel safe and can rely on staff to listen to their worries and fears. All of the young people spoken with during the inspection felt safe and named staff members whom they trust. One young person said, „I can talk to anyone here, but have three favourite staff. They are the ones who I go to with my worries.‟

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improvement to be good

The views of the young people are sought to engage them in the day-to-day running of the home. House meetings are held. However, at present, the young people are reluctant to attend due to the relationships between them. The registered manager ensures that all of the young people‟s views are included in the planning of the home, through individual consultation. The young people have chosen their own holidays. One young person was planning a camping trip. He talked excitedly about the food he was planning to buy for this holiday. Photographs of such holidays and outings are displayed in communal areas of the home. This provides the young people with a sense of identity as a group. Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 5 The importance of education is promoted. Some of the young people attend the organisation‟s school, and others go to local mainstream schools. Attendance is good, which is a significant achievement for some of the young people who had previously

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improvement to be good

experienced disruption in their education. The staff liaise regularly with education providers to ensure that they are supporting the young people effectively.

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improvement to be good

At the interim inspection, a recommendation was made regarding the home preparing and training the young people for independence. A staff member at the home now leads „learning to look after me‟ sessions which provide a structure for the young people learning independence skills. This is linked to an ASDAN qualification through the organisation‟s school. Some of the young people who have left the home are managing well to live more independently. As a result of these initiatives, the young people are now supported effectively to gain independence skills.

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improvement to be good

The young people at this home benefit from staff who deliver attentive care. Some young people have experienced serious health conditions that required admission to hospital. Staff supported them through this process and made sure that their bedrooms offered them a comfortable environment in which to recover fully when they came home. As a result of this, the young people felt nurtured by familiar staff.

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improvement to be good

Impact assessments are used to consider new young people joining the home. However, a recent admission to the home has had a significant impact on the young people, and the staff. Despite a full and detailed range of referral information, leaders and managers did not adequately consider the potential for known behaviours to recur. Furthermore, the independent visitor reported that the home was not equipped to manage the behaviour of the young person.

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improvement to be good

Young people leaving the home have had well-planned departures. Some have moved to other homes within the organisation. The staff advocated for one young person who was moving on. He was able to slow down his departure to enable him to make the adjustments to his new home. As a result of this, when he did move it was successful.

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improvement to be good

The home strives to keep young people safe from harm, but some shortfalls have been noted. Specific concerns regarding one young person‟s behaviours and vulnerabilities were not adequately risk assessed. Specialist equipment to reduce and manage risk was not in place. Risk assessments do not reliably inform staff of the steps to reduce risk, or what to do when risk behaviours occur. Staff have expressed feeling unsure how to manage some behaviours and unclear on strategies to reduce risks. There is insufficient direction regarding when medical attention should be sought following some high-risk behaviours.

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improvement to be good

The impact of a newly admitted young person on those already living in the home has Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 6 been significant. The young people missed out on planned activities due to staff resources being stretched. Furthermore, incidents occurred in communal areas that have soured relationships between the young people. This occurred because young people and staff were ill-prepared for the arrival of a new young person.

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improvement to be good

However, in other cases, such as when allegations have been made, issues were responded to in a timely and well-organised manner. Close liaison with placing authorities and the designated officer have ensured that allegations are managed transparently. However, the designated officer commented that internal investigations that have followed allegations have lacked analysis.

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improvement to be good

Young people have rarely been missing from the home. However, the records of when this has occurred are incomplete. In one such case it was not possible to ascertain the length of time the young person had been away from the home, or the details of his return. The records do not meet the required standard.

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improvement to be good

Positive relationships between the staff and the young people are evident, with restraint only being used as a last resort. All staff have received training in the use of physical restraint. In the main, staff are able to use their skills to de-escalate behaviour using distraction, nurturing and clear direction. This reduces the need to use physical intervention and promotes the young people‟s well-being.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management, in some instances, has been inconsistent. Where young people have been new to the home and tested the boundaries, the absence of consistent behaviour management between the staff has, at times, created difficult situations. Staff have felt ill-equipped to manage challenging behaviours and have felt placed in difficult situations when behaviours have occurred in public. Some staff feel that staffing levels are insufficient to manage the behaviours of the young people safely.

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improvement to be good

Some of the young people have presented behaviours that could result in criminal charges, such as violence and aggression. The staff at the home have worked closely with the young people to avoid this. They have engaged effectively with partnership agencies such as the police to avoid criminalising the young person. This provides a good example of effective work with external professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has been in post for some years. She has the necessary skills and qualifications for the role, including the necessary level 5 qualification in leadership and management. The manager is confident in her role but describes struggling to delegate tasks at times, which has an impact on her ability to effectively manage her own time. Some records sampled, such as those relating to missing from home incidents, were incomplete despite the manager signing them off. As a result of this, during the inspection a number of shortfalls were identified that had not been revealed by the manager‟s own checks. Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 7 The staff team is well established. However, several staff members have felt overwhelmed and do not feel well supported by the organisation. A lack of regular staff meetings has contributed to staff feeling unsupported and unclear regarding behaviour

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

management approaches, boundaries and the day-to-day staffing levels to support the young people. Consequently, some staff members have handed in their notice and others spoke of a desire to move on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

All mandatory training is in date. Staff receive specialist training, for example in radicalisation, online safety and behaviour management. However, there are gaps in supervision for staff, including new staff on probation. This shortfall indicates that the registered manager has not properly reviewed the professional practice and performance of the staff. Additionally, the staff are not receiving the support, guidance and reflective practice required to assist them to manage the complex and challenging behaviours presented by some of the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Matching and planning meetings take place when considering admission to the home. However, on one occasion, despite a wealth of information being provided regarding the behaviour of a young person, staff were ill-prepared to manage the problems following admission. Leaders and managers felt they had been misled in being told the behaviour had not occurred for six months prior to the placement move. However, as the behaviours were clearly documented in the referral papers, and fed into the home‟s own plans for the young person, it is unclear why the home was not better prepared for the behaviour to occur.

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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 differences 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 whom 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: SC482548 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 186 Forest Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1EG

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Inspector

Sarah Olliver, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC482548 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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