Children's home run by Blackpool Borough Council in Blackpool

Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 1 SC033432 Registered provider: Blackpool Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children‟s home. It provides a stable family environment for local children who are unable to live with their birth families for a variety of reasons. It is registered to care for six young people. There has been no registered manager in the home since 1 April 2019.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

p.1

inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

p.1

inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2018 Full Good 24/10/2017 Full Good 27/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 3

p.2

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.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— 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; help each child understand how to keep safe; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and that the home‟s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(b)) 21/07/2019 *

p.3

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home‟s statement of purpose; and that arrangements are in place to— 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)(a)(b)(iii)) 01/09/2019 *

p.3

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— 02/08/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 4 understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— protect and promote each child‟s welfare; and provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans, taking account of the child‟s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(ii)(iv))

p.3

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 02/08/2019

p.4

Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard requires the registered person to— ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)(e)(f)) 02/08/2019

p.4

Requirement Due date

Fitness of workers The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety. The registered person may only— 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). The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; the individual is mentally 02/08/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 5 and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in

p.4

Requirement Due date

Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

p.5

Requirement Due date

Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 02/08/2019

p.5

Requirement Due date

Children‟s case records The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 02/08/2019

p.5

Requirement Due date

Notification of a serious event The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(e)) 02/08/2019

p.5

Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

p.5

Recommendations

 Ensure that the children‟s home is a homely, nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of children and that it complies with relevant health and safety legislation. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, that the garden fence is repaired, the damage made by young people in the upstairs of the property is made good and that the required detail is logged in relation to fire drills undertaken in the home.  Ensure that care is taken to ensure prescribed medicines are administered as prescribed. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 6 standards‟, page 35, paragraph 7.15) In particular, that staff record the time that medication is administered.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered manager resigned from their position in March 2019. This has impacted on standards of care at the home, which had declined at the time of the inspection.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Poor safeguarding practice, inadequate interim management arrangements and insufficient and unstable staffing have significantly affected young people‟s overall experiences and progress.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home has been chaotic for a number of months. Staff have spent their time trying to manage continual serious incidents. This has resulted in some staff being on sick leave and some not being able to work in the home after young people have made allegations about them. The staff that remain in work are committed but exhausted. This impacts on their decision-making in times of crisis. While agency staff have been deployed to cover staff absences, young people do not know these individuals and have not invested in developing relationships with them, as they know that their time in the home is short-lived. Staff try to engage young people in activities and interests, but young people often refuse to engage with staff.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Although staff try to make the home a nice place to live, so that young people will want to spend time there, young people have caused damage to the home, which detracts from the homely atmosphere that staff wish to create.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Most young people move into the home in a planned way, but young people do not always move on from the home in a positive manner. Most young people who have left the home since the last inspection have done so as a result of staff being unable to manage young people‟s behaviour. Some young people have had very little preparation time, as serious incidents have preempted their departure. Unplanned moves leave young people cautious about investing in future placements.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some young people say that they get on well together, but these friendships are not always positive. This has culminated in incidents in the home that have necessitated police involvement. Young people go missing together, placing them at risk of serious risk of harm.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not have a clear understanding of children‟s needs. Placement plans do not include pertinent information to ensure that young people receive the best standard of care. Recording is poor, and records are stored in numerous files. This makes it hard for staff to keep up to date. There have been limited opportunities for effective key working over recent months, reducing the support available for young people. Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 7 Staff maintain records when medication is administered. However, they do not record the time that the young people have received the medication, making it difficult to ensure that the correct length of time required between doses is adhered to. Medication is stored securely.

p.6

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

Managers and staff are failing to identify or manage risk.

p.7

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

Young people‟s risk assessments lack significant detail about known risks to young people, including details of serious risk of child sexual exploitation. Consequently, strategies for staff to manage these risks are unclear. This has resulted in staff being slow to respond to incidents, therefore putting young people at risk of significant harm.

p.7

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

In addition, different formats of risk assessment are in use and they are stored in multiple files, making them difficult to locate and understand. Furthermore, there is no evidence to show that these important documents have been agreed and shared with young people‟s social workers to ensure that issues have not been overlooked. Staff struggled to locate the documents during the inspection and their knowledge of the detail in these documents is also poor. Signature pages remain incomplete, also signifying staff‟s lack of familiarity. This means that staff do not fully understand the risks associated with each young person and how best to keep them safe.

p.7

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

Staff do not take appropriate action to protect young people from harm. On one occasion, young people returned to the home appearing to be under the influence of a substance. Young people were seen with a bag of white powder. However, staff failed to take any action to locate this bag of powder, including failing to undertake a room search. Managers and staff failed to identify this as an emerging risk to young people, who could have been at risk of further harm.

p.7

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

The quality of impact risk assessments regarding future placements into the home is poor and has contributed to poor matching decisions. Young people have been admitted in quick succession and before staff have had the opportunity to fully assess the needs of young people who already live at the home. This has resulted in an escalation of negative behaviours and risk taking that staff have failed to safely manage. Staff have had to request police assistance to manage the behaviour of young people on a number of occasions, as young people were out of control. Young people do not feel safe in such situations and their behaviours escalate further.

p.7

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

Staff have failed to acknowledge when bullying is taking place between young people and they had to take action to remove the young person from the situation in order to keep her safe. However, the log of bullying incidents in the home did not contain any detail about many of these incidents, making it difficult to evaluate the incidents and to develop protective strategies.

p.7

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

Ofsted has not received notification about all serious safeguarding concerns, for example Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 8 when young people have been at risk of child sexual exploitation. In addition, notifications that have been received sometimes omit important details. This prevents Ofsted from evaluating if the home is taking the appropriate action to ensure the well- being of young people.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has resigned and there is currently no registered manager in charge of the home. The departure of the manager has had a significant impact on the staff and on the young people. The registered manager from another residential provision has been overseeing this home, as well as her own. These interim management arrangements have been ineffective given the degree of chaos in the home. Unrealistic expectations were placed on the interim manager. For example, the day prior to the inspection, she worked a full day shift at her permanent home followed by a waking night shift at this home. Staff cannot be expected to perform well in these circumstances.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has experienced a period of instability. At the time of the inspection, only two young people were living at the home. Two young people had moved to alternative placements. One young person has moved on to semi-independence, albeit somewhat prematurely following a number of serious child sexual exploitation concerns. Another young person has moved on to a more suitable residential placement. It is hoped that this will help to stabilise the home. However, despite the recent instability at the home, the interim manager was approached the day prior to the inspection to take an emergency placement. There were known concerns relating to the proposed placement, including violence to females. The interim manager successfully challenged this decision making. However, it remains concerning that senior managers considered such a placement to be suitable at this time.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been reliant on agency staff to ensure that there are enough staff on duty in the home. However, insufficient information is known about these individuals prior to them starting work in the home. Consequently, managers cannot be confident about the credentials of everyone working in the home. Frequent changes of staff also impact further on the instability in the home, as this heightens young people‟s anxieties.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager has struggled to provide staff with the necessary support during this difficult period. Staff have not received regular supervision and there has been no input to advance their learning and development needs. This does not equip staff with the support and skills that they require to meet the needs of young people in their care.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager has had minimal time to devote to auditing and monitoring and shortfalls are therefore clearly evident. The three requirements made at the last inspection in July 2018 have not been actioned satisfactorily and are all repeated at this inspection. Two requirements are now subject to compliance and will now be closely monitored by Ofsted. The home is also the subject of a restriction of accommodation notice. Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 9

p.8

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.9

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: SC033432 10

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Municipal Building, PO Box 50, Blackpool FY1 1NF

p.10

Inspectors

Mandy Williams: social care inspector Sophie Thomson: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC033432 11 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.

p.10

Inspectors

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.11

Inspectors

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

p.11

Inspectors

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

p.11