Children's home run by Lioncare Ltd Operating as The Lioncare Group

Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 1 Registered provider: Lioncare Ltd, operating as The Lioncare Group

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home’s manager has been in post since 31 October 2018 and has made an application to become the registered manager.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 December 2018

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

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

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: not applicable as this is a newly registered children’s home

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 2

p.1

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.2

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 31/01/2019

p.2

Recommendations

 The use of external agency staff can be a positive choice to complement the skills and experience of the permanent workforce. Any external agency staff should meet the requirements in regulation 32(4) regarding mandatory qualifications and the registered person should consider their skills, qualifications and any induction necessary before they commence work in the home. The use of agency staff should be carefully monitored and reviewed to ensure children receive continuity of care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16) In particular, ensure that agency staff, are provided with clear expectations in relation to their role. Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home was welcoming, with festive decorations chosen by the children. Staff have developed good relationships with the children. They feel able to share their worries with staff. The children’s emotional needs are well understood by the staff team. This helps children to begin to understand their feelings through the support that staff provide. Staff help children in developing an understanding of their individual sense of self. Children are supported in developing their emotional resilience through this approach to care.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Therapeutic support is provided through a psychotherapist, together with the support provided by the local child and adolescent mental health service. Staff understand how children’s emotional needs have an impact on their behaviour. The use of a restorative justice approach by staff helps children to understand how to repair relationships. This approach reflects the team’s consistent response to children’s behaviours. Staff are nurturing in their care of the children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s individual key workers have a good understanding of their overall needs. They meet regularly with the child to talk through any difficulties they may be experiencing. This has included difficulties in engaging in education. The staff team has developed good working relationships with each child’s social worker and educational provision. This ensures that where a child is experiencing difficulties, the reasons for these are understood and appropriate support is accessed through the relevant service.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children moving to the home well. There is a full assessment of the child’s needs and clear expectations for placing authorities referring a child to the home. This was reflected in positive feedback from a social worker following a child recently moving to the home. This helped the staff to develop a good understanding of the child’s needs. Children are equally well supported when moving on from the home. This has included a child for whom the home’s manager recognised that the placement was not meeting their needs.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team has ensured a positive transition for a young person moving on to independent living. This included ensuring effective information-sharing to ensure that their needs were understood. There was effective advocacy by the registered manager in relation to the transition arrangements around pathway planning. The staff team was able to provide outreach support once the young person had moved on from the home.

p.3

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

The staff team has a thorough understanding of safeguarding and how this relates to each child in its care. This is supported by the training provided to them. Staff have a good understanding of the individual needs and identified risks for each child. The assessments completed by staff are comprehensive and include the strategies they utilise to reduce the identified risks. These involve working with all relevant agencies, Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 4 together with the individual support provided to the children by the staff team.

p.3

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

There is effective individual supervision provided to staff, as well as group supervision. Through this, staff are helped to make sense of what the children are communicating through their behaviour. This informs how the staff then respond to the children’s individual needs. Staff ensure that children receive the emergency help they need. This includes seeking medical attention for a child where there has been an accident.

p.4

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

The recruitment of staff is thorough, with all reference checks undertaken. There is robust vetting of prospective employees including persistent follow up of reference checks. This prevented the employment of potential staff who would not be suitable for the role. This was a particular strength, due to the joint working between the home’s manager, the registered manager and the human resources manager. This contributes to the safeguarding culture clearly promoted by the home’s manager.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager has received a planned transition into the role. Supported by the previous registered manager, this provided continuity of care for the children. The shared passion of both contributed to the positive home environment provided for the children. The home’s manager is committed and caring in their role. They have a good understanding of the individual needs of the children. The home’s manager consistently advocates on their behalf to ensure that children are able to access all relevant services.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views are sought by the home’s manager on a daily basis. These inform the home’s decor and reflect each child’s individual preferences around the home. Understanding the reasons behind children’s behaviour is central to the manager’s thinking. This is reflected in how they manage the home and lead the staff team. The home’s manager has helped to prevent one child being criminalised, following behaviour which required a police response, due to putting their thinking into practice.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by the home’s manager. The staff team is developing under the manager’s vision. They have a good understanding of the team’s strengths and areas of development with a team of both new and experienced staff. Staff are provided with a thorough induction and training programme. However, there were some staff who had not completed one specific training course, which is relevant to children in their care. This is part of ongoing training that is planned for all staff to complete in the next month.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been one allegation in relation to staff, which the home’s manager appropriately reported to the designated officer. This resulted in no action being taken. Where the home’s manager had a concern about staff practice, this was addressed immediately by them. This has included, on one occasion, agency staff. However, there were no shared expectations in place, from both the home and the agency, in relation to this issue. The home’s manager and senior management team are now reviewing these. The home’s manager values the support provided to them by the senior management team. This includes the effective challenge to placing authorities where information has Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 5 not been adequately shared at the time a child is referred to the home.

p.4

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.

p.5

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: 2483691 6

p.5

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lioncare Ltd, operating as The Lioncare Group

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 58a Livingstone Road, Hove, Sussex BN3 3WL

p.6

Inspector

Maria Lonergan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2483691 7 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.6

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.7

Inspector

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

p.7

Inspector

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

p.7