Children's home run by Blackpool Borough Council in Blackpool

Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 1 SC033411 Registered provider: Blackpool Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates this children’s home. It provides a short-break service for up to four children and young people to stay at the home at any one time. It is an ‘edge of care’ service designed to offer short-term intensive support to young people and their parents/carers. At the time of the inspection, the service was working with 16 young people, with eight of them staying at the home for short breaks. It has also provided two young people with a short break in an emergency, since the last inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since January 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 25 October 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2018 Full Good 06/10/2017 Full Good 16/01/2017 Interim Not judged 27/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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; and

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Requirement Due date

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)(b)) 15/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(c)) 15/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44(7)(a)) 15/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the person who is in day-to-day charge of the children’s home proposes to be absent from the home for a continuous period of 28 days or more, the registered person must give notice in writing to HMCI of the proposed absence.

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Requirement Due date

If the absence arises as a result of an emergency or is unforeseen, the registered person must give notice of the absence– 15/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 4 (a) within one week of the beginning of the absence; and

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Requirement Due date

(b) specifying the matters in paragraph (2)(b).

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Requirement Due date

If the notice required under paragraph (2) or (3) has not been given as required, it must be given without delay. (Regulation 48(1), (3)(a)(b), (4))

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the children’s home is a homely 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, ensure that the conservatory roof is repaired to enable children to access this area of the home.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is an ‘edge of care’ service offering short-term, intensive support packages to young people and their families. The aim is to prevent young people from coming into care. A 12-week support package is agreed initially, with specific target areas identified at a planning meeting prior to the home’s involvement. These include areas such as improving family relationships, keeping safe and improving self-esteem. Staff are trained in resilience therapy, undertaking both individual and group work with young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people generally stay at the home overnight on one specific night of the week. A maximum of four young people stay at the same time. Young people enjoy coming here and look forward to spending a short period of time away from their home life, where they can engage in positive activities. Young people can choose which bedroom to sleep in, as there are more bedrooms than the number of young people staying. These are themed, such as ‘the camper van room’ and ‘the pink room’. Young people appreciate this choice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

During an overnight stay, young people enjoy a home-cooked meal and generally engage in a planned activity, such as ice skating or a walking trip. Staff provide young people with equipment such as walking boots, if they need them. Young people appreciate these experiences, which also help to develop their confidence and self-esteem. There are many photographs on display in the home showing young people enjoying themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy their time here. Examples of their positive comments include:

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

 ‘I like meeting new friends and having fun.’  ‘It’s fun and we get treated well.’  ‘I like the fact that you always feel unjudged and safe here.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming, with a family atmosphere. However, at the time of the inspection the conservatory area was out of action, following a leak in the roof resulting in a large hole in the ceiling. Although there had been a preliminary repair, the situation had deteriorated, resulting in the plaster falling down. This detracts from the homely environment. It also means that young people are unable to use the pool table in this room or have easy access to board games and important information which is kept here, such as leaflets and information on sexual health and substance misuse.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to make a difference to young people’s lives. In addition to overnight stays, staff hold several groups for young people during the week. Topics include art club and cooking club, as well as information sessions such as on sexual health and substance misuse. Attendance at these events is generally good, with staff also providing a buffet for those attending. Such events ensure that young people are able to make decisions based on accurate information and allow them the opportunity to explore Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 6 issues in a safe environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff maintain records of their input, demonstrating the positive impact of their involvement. However, the quality of these records is inconsistent. Handwritten records are sometimes difficult to read, documents are not always dated and, on occasion, they do not cross-reference other records kept in the home. This makes them difficult to follow.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In addition to providing short-break care, the service provides outreach support to young people and their families in their own homes. As a result, young people and their families benefit from continuity in the care and support provided by a consistent team. The service is highly valued by all stakeholders. One parent said, ‘This service has really made a difference. I am very grateful.’ Similarly, social workers appreciate the difference that the service is making. One reported, ‘The staff engage really well with the young people and always bring out the best in them. Their passion to be solution-focused never fails to amaze me.’

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

Staff receive training on a range of safeguarding matters, including child sexual exploitation. This provides staff with an in-depth understanding of potential risks and makes them aware of their safeguarding duties and responsibilities. Staff involve other safeguarding bodies when they need to.

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

Staff manage young people’s behaviour well. Staff are skilled in de-escalating challenging situations when they arise and, as a result, physical restraint has not been necessary. Young people enjoy the time that they spend here, and staff are skilled in developing trusting relationships with them. These trusting relationships are the key to enabling young people to confide in staff and accept their guidance and support.

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

Staff prioritise young people’s welfare. Staff know the young people extremely well and they work closely with parents, carers and social workers to assess risk and potential harm. However, improvements can be made to the written risk assessments, ensuring that young people’s risk assessments are updated and provide greater clarity on the strategies identified to manage risk. Furthermore, risk assessments for matching are not always undertaken and do not support the decision-making about the suitability of a group of young people staying overnight together. While staff have clearly taken a range of issues into consideration, there is often no written evidence to support their decision- making, particularly when young people’s needs would appear to conflict.

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

Young people rarely go missing during their short-break visits. On the occasions that they do, staff follow clear missing-from-home protocols. These include actively looking for the young person and swiftly reporting the incident to the police, parents and social worker. However, improvements could be made to individual ‘missing’ procedures by including details of known associates and addresses. This information is contained elsewhere in young people’s files, but it can be time consuming to locate it. Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and experienced. He has managed the service since it re-opened as a family support service. He remains passionate about the service and obtaining positive outcomes for young people. He has had a recent period of absence from the home for more than 28 days. However, Ofsted was unaware of this. This hinders Ofsted’s ability to review the suitability of the interim management arrangements and delays the follow-up to any serious incidents that may be required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The service remains short of staff. While the impact on young people involved with the service is limited, it has meant that the service has had to limit the number of young people whom it can currently support. It is not operating at full capacity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been improvements to staff support and supervision since the last inspection, with casual staff now being regularly supervised. However, despite having worked for the service on a regular basis since it opened, they have had no performance appraisal. Similarly, the registered manager has not benefited from an annual appraisal, as this appears to have been overlooked because of the frequent changes in senior management at the council. Appraisal provides an important opportunity for an individual to reflect on their practice and consider personal targets for the year ahead.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While external monitoring visits to the home have been taking place monthly and reports have been written Ofsted has not received copies of these reports for many months. This hinders Ofsted’s ability to monitor the practice and stability of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s liaison with other professionals is good and he will challenge social work decision-making if he feels that this is required. Social workers speak positively about staff communication. One social worker commented, ‘I really am delighted with this service. I feel the staff are knowledgeable, experienced, caring and have a great sense of fun, which is essential to help our young people to do their identified work in a fun environment.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 8

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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 difference 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: SC033411 9

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Mandy Williams, social care inspector Sophie Thomson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033411 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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