Children's Home run by Outbound Care in Lancashire

Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 1 Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private company has one children‟s home. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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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 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: 23 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: 1259061 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 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 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

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child‟s placing authority. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b), (2)(b)(iii)) 29/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children‟s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; 08/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 4 the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1), (2)(a)(b), (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are full and satisfactory explanations for any gaps in employment history. Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. (Regulation 39(1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that when a young person makes a complaint to the local authority the outcome is established and the young person is informed promptly. 08/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating–

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on 08/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 5 request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(1), (2)(a)(b)(c), (3), (4)(a)(b), (5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55, paragraph 10.4)  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

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Recommendations

children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  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) Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is safe and homely. The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard, and the registered manager has established a „family home‟ ethos. Staff have paid attention to ensuring that the home is personalised to individual children. Recently, a graffiti artist has been commissioned to produce a piece of artwork that is reflective of the children‟s likes and interests. One young person has invested effort in improving the back garden, painting fences with staff and redeveloping the grass and borders. One child said, „This is the best home I have ever lived in‟.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make very good progress in education. One child, who had previously disengaged with education, now has 100% attendance at their current provision, and the length of time that they spend each day at the provision is gradually being increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have opportunities to take part in activities, meet with friends and have fun. One child has developed local friendships and invites friends over to visit, and is now allowed to have friends to stay overnight. The staff implement a system of rewards that enables young people to increase their pocket money by undertaking chores and to work towards treats, such as having beauty treatments. This approach has helped to develop children‟s positive behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Furthermore, staff have a good understanding of children‟s likes and interests, and offer regularly planned activities such as boxing, going to the gym and going to concerts. Relationships between staff and young people were observed to be warm, considerate and respectful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who have moved into the home have benefited from a planned and sensitive move. However, children who have moved on from the home have not had always enjoyed positive experiences. Insensitive and poor planning led to a crisis for one young person when they moved on from the home.

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

Risks for children in this home have been reduced. Children who in previous placements have displayed challenging, aggressive and risk-taking behaviour, such as going missing, are increasingly regulating their behaviour. Staff have a good understanding of children, and this helps them to recognise triggers so that they can intervene earlier to support young people.

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

Staff help children to understand risk and how to stay safe. Children are enabled to become more independent and to take appropriate risks. However, if children struggle to manage this then the staff reintroduce appropriate boundaries and restrictions. One social worker said, „(child‟s name) has made huge progress with regard to his behavioural, emotional and social presentation‟. Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 7 Children rarely go missing from the home. If this does happen, staff respond appropriately and take effective action to ensure that the young person returns to the home safely. However, when local authorities have not undertaken return home interviews with children, the staff do not always escalate this to ensure that children have someone independent to talk to. This prevents the home from identifying any further learning from such incidents.

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

Plans and assessments are personalised and individual. Staff have a good understanding of the children‟s needs, and the records accurately reflect how best to manage and respond to each child. Behaviour management plans and risk assessments are updated on a regular basis to reflect any changes for children. However, it is not always clear when reading these plans whether they hold the most recently updated information.

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

Staff use key-worker sessions effectively to help children to understand risks and how to keep themselves safe. These sessions focus on current issues for children. They are revisited as and when necessary to help children to change their behaviour and increase their knowledge and understanding. For example, staff completed numerous sessions with one young person on road safety. These sessions comprised conversations, quizzes and worksheets.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is an experienced and qualified manager who has a strong commitment to improving the outcomes for children. The registered manager is highly visible in the home to the children and the staff team, and has high aspirations for children and the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is keen to drive improvement in the home. He spends time acting as a role model and sharing best practice with the staff to improve their knowledge and skills and to embed his ethos. However, the manager also carries out the role of the responsible individual for the home and, as a result, has not been able to ensure rigorous review and monitoring in all areas. Quality of care review reports have not been submitted to Ofsted within the regulatory timescales. One young person has made a complaint about the standard of their local authority care planning. A lack of managerial oversight has meant that she has not received a response within the timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager leads an enthusiastic and committed staff team. All staff have recently completed the relevant required qualification. There are good training opportunities for staff, who can attend a variety of courses that are available to them. However, recruitment processes are not sufficiently robust. They do not have sufficient oversight of potential employees‟ applications, which means that gaps in employment history have not always been explored with staff to ensure that children are cared for by staff who have undergone all the necessary checks to keep children safe. Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 8

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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 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: 1259061 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 5, Lancaster House, Amy Johnson Way, Blackpool FY4 2RP

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Inspector

Jessica Forshaw, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1259061 10 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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