Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited in Lancaster

Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 1 SC479632 Registered provider: Hopscotch Care 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

This is a privately run children‟s home that provides care and accommodation for up to five young people who have 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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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 5 December 2018 to explore concerns received by Ofsted in relation to the turnover of managers, the arrangements for keeping young people safe, meeting educational needs, the arrangements for seeking police assistance and staff‟s use of the home‟s whistle-blowing policy. The monitoring visit did not result in any compliance notices. There were three requirements made which were considered at this full inspection. Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/06/2017 Full Good 30/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/06/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 05/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child‟s education and training targets, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(x)) 05/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 05/03/2019

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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— 05/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 4 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 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 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) and (5))

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(c)) 05/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)) 05/03/2019

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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— 05/03/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 5 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iv))

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improvement to be good

Young people at this home have had mixed outcomes since the previous inspection. One has remained stable and is making progress towards becoming independent, but others have experienced disruption to their placements, which have broken down resulting in unplanned endings.

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improvement to be good

At the monitoring visit in December 2018, it was identified that the matching process was not robust and that a young person had been admitted who was not suitably matched to other young people already placed in the home. This resulted in a period of heightened behaviours and several allegations and ultimately had a negative impact on three young people‟s placements. Managers and directors have since overhauled the matching process and have better systems in place to evaluate the impact of any prospective admissions. Young people have not always had positive experiences of leaving the home because their risk-taking behaviour has resulted in expedited moves to alternative accommodation. The newly admitted young person had been carefully matched and was not considered to be likely to have a negative impact on the young person already in placement. He spoke very positively about his admission to the home

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improvement to be good

and was observed to be helped by staff to unload and store his belongings in his bedroom.

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improvement to be good

Young people have not had good attendance at their education provisions. Although staff have worked hard to identify appropriate provisions for the young people, they have chosen not to engage and therefore have not made educational progress. One young person in the home remains NEET (not in education, employment or training) and spends much of his time in the community with friends or playing pool. This young person has, however, made good progress towards becoming independent and has been well supported by staff to achieve this. The newly admitted young person is keen to engage in education daily at the home supported by staff, and the manager is working with his social worker to get him into school as soon as possible. He also participates enthusiastically with educational activities staff provide for him each day following his more structured formal learning.

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improvement to be good

Healthy lifestyles are promoted within the home. One young person has successfully Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 6 stopped smoking, and another has reduced his daily cigarettes considerably. Young people are encouraged to participate in activities and make healthy choices in respect of their diets.

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improvement to be good

There has been a rise in the number of complaints made by young people against staff. This correlates with an unsettled period in the home when young people behaved in a way that staff found challenging to manage. The complaints procedures were followed, and the outcome conveyed to the young person making the complaint. Young people can voice their views, wishes and feelings through day-to-day interactions with staff and key-worker sessions, some of which evidence that high-quality direct work does take place.

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improvement to be good

The home offers psychological support to young people. They have Berri assessments that are completed on a three-monthly basis and which assist staff to identify work to help and support young people. They also identify areas of progression for young people. Where young people do not wish to participate directly in psychological support, the consultant works with the members of the staff team to assist them in providing supportive care to young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people have risk assessments which clearly identify their risks, the triggers for those risks, and strategies to prevent and intervene. However, young people‟s risks have not always been well managed and there have been incidents in which young people have placed themselves and others at risk of harm. Notifications and records indicate a period when young people engaged in several risk-taking behaviours and when staff were unable to get them to settle through the night in their own bedrooms. Young people have displayed inappropriate sexualised behaviour towards each other and have at times barricaded themselves in bedrooms, preventing staff from intervening and keeping young people safe or from harming one another. Additionally, although risk assessments identify risks, they also contain some slightly incorrect and out-of-date information.

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improvement to be good

One young person spoken with as part of this inspection reported that the home had been very disrupted by other young people placed there. He reported that he was frequently kept awake at night by their unruly behaviour and that staff could not do anything about it. Both young people spoken with did state that they felt safe in the home and believed that staff acted to keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

Restrictive physical intervention is not common practice in the home. On the rare occasions when staff have felt it necessary to intervene, the records clearly report on the antecedents, the efforts staff made to de-escalate the situation and the behaviour that made physical intervention the only way to keep the young person and others safe. The records do not, however, clearly record the views of the young person following the intervention and nor do they identify the person undertaking the debrief with the young person. Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 7 Allegations against staff have been an issue for this home in recent months. The organisation liaises with police and placing social workers appropriately and consults the designated officer for the area.

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improvement to be good

Young people have been missing from home on numerous occasions, sometimes for periods of up to 16 hours. Each young person has their own missing from home protocol and there is also a flow chart in place for staff to follow, should a young person go missing, which helps ensure that staff follow the correct procedure. Information about missing from home episodes is recorded, however this is not always easy to locate. For example, missing from home records do not identify what actions staff take to locate and return missing young people, or whether an independent return interview has taken place. Although these records are available through daily diaries, records would be clearer if the information was more easily accessible.

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improvement to be good

Suitable consequences and rewards are used, which evidences that boundaries are in place and that staff use methods of behaviour management to educate young people about appropriate behaviour. When young people have behaved in a negative way, key- worker sessions are often held to discuss why their behaviour posed a risk and what they could potentially do differently to avoid such a situation.

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improvement to be good

Self-harm is an identified risk for some young people. Staff have recently participated in training on self-harm, sexualised behaviour and ligature training so they are equipped to manage self-harming behaviours. If young people are going to self-harm, they are supported to do so in as safe a way as possible. Staff on one occasion also tried a „self- harm box‟ whereby the young person had to look through records of positive and happy memories before accessing the means to self-harm.

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

The home has had three different managers since its last interim inspection in March 2018. The new manager, who has been in post since August 2018, has applied to the regulator for registration. Although not yet registered, the new manager is providing stable management for the home and is keen to drive improvement in the service. The manager is keen to implement research-informed practice and conveys this to the staff team through training and team meetings.

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

The manager has evidenced that he understands when and why the home is not meeting the needs of certain young people and has rightly given notice on those placements. He has a good understanding of the young people and of the strengths and weaknesses of the staff team. Where any deficits in staff practice are apparent, he strives to work with staff to make improvements.

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

The manager and more senior managers have learned from the previous inspection requirement relating to planning and matching admissions to the home, and now have a more robust system in place to match young people who are referred to the service. Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 8 A requirement is made due to some records where inaccuracies were identified. These include a young person‟s risk assessment and another young person‟s care plan. The home does not have all the relevant local authority documentation for some young people and there is no clear system in place to ensure that missing documents are requested.

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

Monthly independent visits are taking place and the manager reported that these are helpful. There has been a period in the home for which no internal monitoring has been evident, and a further requirement is made to address this.

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

The regulator has not received an updated statement of purpose since December 2017. Several changes to the staff and management team have taken place over this time and the home is required to keep its statement of purpose under review, revise it and notify the regulator of revisions.

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

Staff receive regular supervision and reported that they feel supported to carry out their roles. Training is provided, and staff have recently attended training delivered by an external trainer which they found interesting and helpful. Further training on trauma- informed care is planned to take place.

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

Social workers consulted as part of this inspection reported that the home works in close partnership with them and communicates about young people‟s placements effectively.

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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: SC479632 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 19 Lancaster Road, Carnforth LA5 9LD

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC479632 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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