Children's Home run by Sandcastle Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 1271375 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who may have social, emotional or behavioural needs. There is a new manager in place who is currently going through the process of registration with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At the interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness. Young people continue to experience good outcomes because of the care that they receive. One young person has moved out of the home and into a setting with less intensive support, due to his good progress. Another young person has moved into the home and has settled extremely well. Both young people received a good level of support during their transitions. Young people receive positive and consistent care from staff who know them well. They enjoy good relationships with staff and speak highly of them. One young person commented that he felt that staff were always on his side and said, ‘They are there when you want them but not always on your case.’ Young people’s safety and well-being are promoted. There is evidence that young people Inspection report children’s home: 1271375 2

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

are safer as a result of the care and support that they receive. One young person moved into the home with a history of frequently being missing from his previous placement. However, there have been no concerns of this nature since his admission to this home. A second young person is beginning to develop safer and more appropriate behaviours. As a result, incidents of challenging behaviours have significantly reduced and there has been a notable decrease in situations that require staff to physically intervene. Staff have a good understanding of risks to young people’s safety and well-being and are aware of the measures in place to maintain young people’s safety. However, in some examples, risk management plans lack clarity and there are also examples of conflicting information. It is important that risk management plans contain clear guidance so that staff provide consistently safe and effective support.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Discussions with young people confirmed that they feel staff listen to them and take their wishes into account when supporting them. However, young people’s internal care plans could be more detailed in terms of their day-to-day needs and wishes. Since the last inspection, there have been some changes in the management of the home. There is a new manager in place who is currently going through the process of registration with Ofsted. The manager has demonstrated his ability to respond to concerns appropriately, having followed due process and liaised with the appropriate agencies when a safeguarding concern was raised shortly after his appointment. During this inspection, some shortfalls were identified in relation to the quality of staff supervision and appraisal. While it was confirmed that these take place within appropriate timescales, the content of some of the records was unclear and lacking in

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

areas such as performance targets. One record referred to a matter that should have been referred on to the registered manager but had not been. A recommendation is raised within this report to ensure that supervision and appraisal processes are consistently carried out in an effective manner.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1271375 3

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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—

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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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)) 29/03/2019

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Recommendations

 Any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint (regulation 35(3)(c)). Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this (regulation 7(2)(b)(iii)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60)  Staff should have clear expectations of children’s behaviour. Individualised strategies should be in place for each young person and staff should apply these

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Recommendations

when managing challenging behaviours. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11) In particular, de-escalation techniques should be agreed and consistently implemented by staff.  Children’s internal care plans should reflect that they are receiving care which meets their needs and promotes their welfare, taking into account the child’s gender, religion, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, sexual identity, mental health, any disability, their assessed needs, previous experiences and any relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.2)  All staff must have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with

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Recommendations

the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a Inspection report children’s home: 1271375 4 timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 6, paragraph 13.5)

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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

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Marie Cordingley, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1271375 5 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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