Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 1 SC440309 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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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 operated by Lancashire County Council. It provides care and accommodation for six young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home provides short-term care for young people while long-term planning is undertaken. There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account requires improvement

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2019 Full Outstanding 09/11/2017 Full Outstanding 30/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 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 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.

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Requirement Due date

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.(Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 27/09/2019

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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 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)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that 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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

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 27/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 4 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to 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)(2)(iv)) 27/09/2019

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improvement

The home provides short-term care for young people with complex needs. In most cases, young people have experienced crisis situations or placement breakdowns and require a period of assessment and planning for a long-term placement that would best suit their needs.

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improvement

Young people are supported by an experienced and suitably qualified staff team. The staff are skilled at building positive relationships with young people within a short period of time. One social worker said, ‘The home is welcoming and inviting. The staff know the young people really well.’

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improvement

Staff listen to young people’s wishes and feelings. Young people are encouraged to be part of the planning process and staff help them to prepare for meetings. One social worker said, ‘They try and engage [young person’s name] to share their views and advocate for them in meetings where possible.’ However,, some young people have experienced significant delays in the identification of suitable long-term placements. As a result, their placement at this home has been extended. Young people have become anxious and unsettled by the uncertainty of their future, and this has undermined the initial progress they were making. Young people’s behaviours have deteriorated and they have become disengaged with services.

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improvement

There have been several emergency admissions to the home recently. Impact risk assessments carried out by the manager have shown that the home cannot meet the needs of some young people or keep them and other young people safe. Despite this, senior managers in the local authority have directed the manager to accommodate particular young people. As a result, young people have been at risk of harm and this Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 5 has led to placement breakdown. Young people have also experienced poor transitions in and out of the home.

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improvement

Young people benefit from regular key-work sessions that focus on individual risk and vulnerabilities. This helps them to learn about potentially harmful relationships and ways in which they can keep themselves safe.

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improvement

Staff support young people to reduce their engagement in risk-taking behaviours. As a result, some young people have gone missing from home less often. One social worker said, ‘We have care-planned together effectively to try and reduce risk as much as possible.’ However, plans do not include clear enough instructions for staff to follow when young people do go missing. This means that staff practice is inconsistent in this area, and this exposes young people to risk of harm.

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improvement

Risk assessments and behaviour support plans are in place for all young people. However, the assessments and the strategies for staff to use are generic. In some instances, they are identical in wording across several young people’s records. This means that plans are not individualised and are not informing or supporting staff practice.

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improvement

Sometimes, situations escalate and staff use physical intervention to help manage young people’s behaviours. On occasions, the records lacked clarity and contained conflicting information about the events. The management oversight was not sufficiently robust enough to identify these shortfalls in recording. Furthermore, where management oversight did recommend alternative ways of managing the situation, there was no evidence that this had been introduced to improve practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

The home’s manager is newly appointed and is not yet registered with Ofsted. Staff report that the transition between managers has been smooth and this provided consistency for both staff and young people. Staff speak highly of the manager and report that they feel well supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

However, the home has experienced a period of instability with several emergency placements. The decision by senior managers to admit one young person contrary to the impact risk assessment meant that the young person could not be adequately safeguarded. Without clear decision-making procedures about admissions to the home in line with risk, that involve the registered manager, children are not adequately safeguarded. req

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

Staff benefit from regular supervision, team meetings and training opportunities. New staff receive a thorough induction. Continuous professional development is encouraged and staff feel that managers invest in their learning. Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 6 The manager has identified staff to act as champions in areas where more specialist knowledge is needed, for example internet safety. They research these areas and cascade knowledge to the rest of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement

There is an internal monitoring system in place which helps the manager to understand the home’s strengths and weaknesses. However, some shortfalls in this system were identified as part of this inspection and a requirement has been made to address this.

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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: SC440309 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: PO Box 78, County Hall, Fishergate, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspectors

Sophie Thomson, social care inspector Jessica Forshaw, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC440309 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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