Children's home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Bolton

Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 1 SC060750 Registered provider: Lifetime Opportunities Ltd

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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 run by a privately owned company and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have a learning disability.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post as the registered manager since 24 August 2018.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/11/2017 Full Outstanding 02/01/2017 Interim Not judged 26/07/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 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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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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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))

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In particular, risk assessments should be accurate and up to date. All staff should have read and understood the contents of the risk assessments. 07/07/2019

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The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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

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ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 07/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 4 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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In particular, the registered manager should understand what training staff have completed and plan so that any gaps are addressed in a timely manner. The manager should use internal and external monitoring systems to enable areas of development to be identified and to take proactive steps to address any shortfalls. The care planning standard is that children—

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

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have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b))

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In particular, staff should have a clear understand of why young people are in their care. Staff should be provided with consistent guidance on how to promote young people’s development. 07/07/2019

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The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out—

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how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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a description of the measure and its duration;

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details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to 07/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 5 use the measure;

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the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)—

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has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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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.

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Paragraph (3) does not apply in relation to restrain that is planned or provided for as a matter of routine in the child’s EHC plan or statement of special educational needs. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b) (i)(ii)(c)(4)) The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 07/07/2019

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The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and 07/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 6 to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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children are effectively safeguarded; and

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the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being.

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The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that visits and reports completed by the independent visitor are sufficiently detailed so as to ensure that any required improvement in the quality of care can be identified and addressed in a timely manner. The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 07/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11). In particular, staff should ensure that where possible, visual prompts are Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 7 used as an alternative to written language in order to support the young person’s needs.  Staff must be aware of whether a child has an EHC Plan and the information contained within it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one young person has moved out of the home. This was a planned moved. Satisfactory planning took place to ensure that the young person’s transition progressed smoothly.

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improvement to be good

There have been no new admissions. One young person lives in the home currently.

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improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate varying levels of knowledge about the young person. For example, staff show great awareness of the young person’s day-to-day care needs. They can articulate the progress that he has made and talk about what he is currently trying to achieve. In contrast, not all staff understand why the young person is in their care and they do not understand why the young person does not have contact with key family members.

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improvement to be good

These inconsistencies are reflected in the young person’s case records. For example, agreed plans for the young person are not documented in a clear manner. This means that it is unclear how staff intend to promote some aspects of the young person’s development. This does not demonstrate effective care planning.

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improvement to be good

Despite this, the progress made by the young person is remarkable. Staff have supported the young person to make changes which will have life-changing benefits. For example, the young person is now able to eat food orally, he is able to use sign language to communicate with staff and he has started to verbalise words.

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improvement to be good

The young person presents as being happy. He benefits from being surrounded by familiar staff who speak about him with affection and pride.

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improvement to be good

In some instances, staff have been successful in enabling the young person to contribute to the care that he receives. However, in other cases, staff efforts are tokenistic. An individualised consultation form has been created for the young person. However, sections for photographs and pictures have not been completed. This limits the opportunities for the young person’s views to be understood.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that the young person has daily access to his education setting. Links with the school are well established. Staff work with the school to share ideas and resources. This not only benefits the young person academically but is contributing to improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 8 in his physical and health development. For example, the young person is learning to weight bear on his legs so that he can move without the assistance of a wheelchair.

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improvement to be good

However, poor planning means that staff did not attend a meeting to review the young person’s personal education plan, or his education, health and care (EHC) plan. Staff failed to follow up on the outcome of this meeting. This is a missed opportunity to review the young person’s progress and ensure that not only is his development maintained, but he continues to make improvements in all aspects of his life.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager does not always read and review completed risk assessments. This means that she does not understand what advice is being given to staff to keep the young person safe. This does not demonstrate a strong safeguarding culture.

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improvement to be good

Because of this poor management oversight, some risk assessments reference the wrong children’s home and refer to incorrect staffing ratios. However, there is no indication that this has had any direct impact on the young person’s safety or welfare.

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improvement to be good

Similarly, although an assessment of the geographical location of the home has been completed, this is of poor quality. The assessment is based on out-of-date feedback from partner agencies.

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improvement to be good

The young person’s increased communication skills mean that he is now able to ask staff when he wants something. This means that he becomes less frustrated. As a result, incidents of aggression towards staff have reduced greatly.

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improvement to be good

The young person is learning how to be patient when his requests cannot be met instantly. The young person is increasingly responsive to staff. This means that physical interventions have reduced.

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improvement to be good

However, when physical intervention is needed, the documentation of these incidents is disorganised and vague. This means that the actions taken to avoid the restraint or the follow-up actions are not always clear. While staff are reflective about their own actions in such situations, when learning is identified, it is not always clear how this was addressed.

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improvement to be good

The young person requires mechanical restraints when he is in his wheelchair or being transported in a vehicle. However, the use of such devices has not been considered as part of the young person’s EHC plan. Furthermore, staff do not record the use of these restraints. This means that there are missed opportunities to review the appropriateness of using such restraints. This detracts from current efforts being made by staff to reduce the need for restraints when the young person is travelling in a vehicle. Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 9

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

The registered manager is responsible for another children’s home. It appears that the demands of operating two children’s homes have had an impact on her capacity to be an effective leader.

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

The young person’s progress in many aspects of his life appears to have resulted in the registered manager becoming complacent about the quality of care being provided. As a result, a careless, laid-back culture seems to have developed.

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

This has been compounded by the quality of external monitoring. The registered provider has recently commissioned a new independent visitor to try to improve the level of external scrutiny. However, this has not yet proved to be successful. The independent visitor has demonstrated a lack of rigour in his review of the care being afforded to the young person.

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

A reduction in the occupancy of the home, combined with difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, means that the staff team is greatly depleted. However, there are enough staff to look after the current young person. Furthermore, the current staff have been consistent throughout the young person’s stay at the home.

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

Staff are provided with opportunities to undertake training. However, the registered manager’s systems to review staff’s training needs are poor. This impacts on the registered manager’s ability to consider emerging training needs.

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

There is a haphazard approach to case recording. In some examples, case recordings are clear and detailed, but in other examples action taken by staff are not clear. Staff do not always sign and date case recordings and, when they do, signatures are sometimes illegible. This has an impact on the accountability of staff.

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

Staff work well with partner agencies including the young person’s school, social worker and various health professionals. Despite the shortfalls identified, staff are good advocates for the young person and work well with other services to meet his complex needs.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 10 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC060750 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lifetime Opportunities Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3AT

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC060750 12 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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