Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 1 SC064735 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

The home is one of several children’s homes operated by the local authority. The home provides accommodation for up to three children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The current registered manager has been in post since 2014.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: 17 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/01/2018 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/10/2016 Full Good 03/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(vi)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

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 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that impact risk assessments are completed considering the needs of all young people living in the home. 31/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 4

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.3)  The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance, and supplement that provided by their school through Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-

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Recommendations

being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  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. The Statement of Purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of children the home is set up and equipped to care for. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is very homely and provides them with space to grow and develop. Staff ensure that the home is well furnished and decorated, and the bathrooms have been recently refurbished and updated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff, based on genuine care and commitment. Children enjoy mealtimes with staff, trying new foods and enjoying the meals that they eat together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the barriers to education that can affect the children and young people in their care. They ensure that education is promoted, and that there are also opportunities for children to engage in informal education and learning opportunities such as meal planning and cooking. Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 5 One young person has recently been excluded from school and the staff have worked well with professionals to support alternative plans to help them to re-engage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are also supported with tasks to improve their skills in independence. Children have completed ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network) certificates in budgeting, shopping and cooking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have moved on from the home have done so by means of a planned and sensitive approach. One child who has recently been supported to move into semi- independence told the inspector, ‘They really supported me, changed my life around. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have done so much… They gave me stability and support.’

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments for children are not robust. They do not contain all the information about identified risks to children and what staff should do to keep children safe. Risk assessments have not been updated after incidents and, where risks and actions are identified, staff have not consistently followed this guidance to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

There was an incident wherebya child went missing from the home and was involved in alcohol misuse. Staff believed that the child may have been assaulted during their absence from the home. However, despite the concerns for this child, the incident was not robustly or proactively responded to by staff or management. Furthermore, follow-up work was not completed with this child to ascertain what had actually happened during the period that the child was missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Although assessments are carried outfor children who may be moving into the home and contain lots of information, the decision-making process about whether their individual needs can be safely met is unclear. The potential for their negative impact on other residents and for this to be safely managed is also unclear.

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improvement to be good

Staff and managers undertake a range of training on safeguarding matters. Where possible, staff members are trained so that they can deliver training to other staff within the home and provide advice and guidance as needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s home is led by an experienced and qualified manager who is committed to improving outcomes for children. He is supported by equally experienced and qualified assistant managers who have high aspirations for children and who are keen to develop and progress the service. They lead a team of staff who have a good understanding of children’s needs and are committed to engaging the children who they work with and building positive relationships with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Professionals who are involved in the care of children in the home spoke highly of the Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 6 management and staff team. A child sexual exploitation worker told the inspector that the staff encourage children to join in meetings about their care to ‘ascertain that the voice of the child is heard’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Arrangements are in place to ensure that staff receive regular supervision and training. Staff spoke positively of the support that they receive from managers and their colleagues in the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recruitment procedures are robust and the home has a well-organised and embedded system of ensuring that checks are carried out and verified. Staff are either qualified to the appropriate level or are currently undertaking the relevant course. This means that children are receiving support from suitably recruited and qualified staff.

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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: SC064735 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: PO Box 78, County Hall, Fishergate, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector:

Jessica Forshaw, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064735 8 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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