Children's home run by Care Assist Children’s Services Limited in West Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 1 SC061678 Registered provider: Care Assist Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care and support for up to four young people who are no longer able to live at home. The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2 June 2014.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 December 2019

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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: 16 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/01/2019 Full Good 15/12/2017 Full Good 16/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 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

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

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d)) In particular, the condition of the young people’s bathrooms. 31/01/2020

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce development plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, the details around staff induction and supervision.  A record of supervisions should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with the regulation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  Staff should record information on individual young people in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about young people should always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to them now or in the future. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraphs 14.4 and 14.5) In particular, key-worker records and young people’s healthcare plans.  The review of the service should enable the registered manager to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a caring and nurturing environment in which they receive care and support that brings stability to their lives. They receive the help that they need to recover from harmful experiences and to move forward in their lives. Social workers acknowledged that their young people are making steady and sustained progress because of the support that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of recording in young people’s records and documentation is improving. However, there are some issues with their healthcare plans due to a lack of information and key-worker records. Staff would benefit from reviewing records to ensure that they do not appear to be chastising the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people feel safe to trust staff and accept their help and support. Staff build warm, consistent and positive relationships with young people. They show young people that they care about them and know what is important to them. Staff listen carefully to what young people have to say and help them to be involved in making the decisions about their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to ensure that young people access education, employment or skills. Several young people have gained their construction skills certificates, and this had enabled them to secure training and employment. Schools are complimentary about the staff and the lengths that they go to, to help young people to succeed in education. This is also evident in the good progress that young people are making in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s health is improving. They now have the confidence to attend medical appointments, such as visiting the dentist, and to get the treatment that they need. Staff continually encourage and support young people to take a more proactive approach in keeping themselves fit and healthy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are increasing in confidence, self-esteem and independence. They are encouraged to keep their rooms tidy, to help to sort their laundry and to organise the menu for the week ahead. Older young people who will be moving into their own homes are gaining confidence in budgeting for household bills and other items. Young people keep in touch with staff after they have left the home to update them on their progress and achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Arrangements for young people to see their families are managed well. Staff build positive relationships with the young people’s families, which helps to keep young people safe. Family and friends are actively encouraged to come to the home and spend time here with the young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 5

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

The manager and staff have created a safe home environment that protects young people from harm. Young people feel safe and have a sense of belonging. They know that they can talk to staff about their worries and that the staff will help them to be safe. Young people are now safer from the risks of abuse, exploitation and going missing from home.

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

Staff are trained in safeguarding and understand the risks around child sexual exploitation, county lines and knife crime. Consequently, staff have the skills and knowledge to observe, identify any potential concerns and act to protect the young people.

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

Staff have a secure understanding of the young people’s individual vulnerabilities. They understand the external and internal factors that can impact on a young person’s safety and take positive steps to reduce these risks, such as being missing from care.

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

Young people are increasingly able to manage their emotions and moderate their behaviour. Staff use rewards effectively to help to change young people’s behaviour. Incentives are personalised to each young person, for example for attending education, which has resulted in an increase in school attendance.

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

Young people live in a warm and inviting family home. They have personalised their own bedrooms and enjoy spending time with each other in the communal rooms. However, the young people’s bathrooms need attention. There are broken tiles on the floor which are a safety issue. The tiling in the bathrooms and shower room is dirty and there is mould on the sealant. The communal bathroom’ ceiling has signs of water damage.

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

These issues have been raised several times by the independent person and have not been addressed. These are health and safety concerns that are detracting from the homely environment that staff are striving to achieve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led and managed by a committed, qualified and experienced manager. He works in partnership with the deputy manager to ensure that the young people and staff are fully supported and their individual needs are met. Together they are creating an environment that is changing young people’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective staffing arrangements ensure that there are enough suitable, experienced and qualified staff available to meet the young people’s needs. Staff work together cohesively, and the day-to-day care of young people provides them with good levels of support and supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions and appraisals are up to date. However, the records of supervision discussions, especially the registered manager’s, contain limited information about the quality of the discussions or plans moving forward. Staff have regular opportunities to Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 6 discuss issues as a team at team meetings and feel that this is beneficial to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s workforce development plan is now current. However, it does not contain information on the timescales for staff to achieve induction, the frequency of staff supervision or how poor behaviour is to be managed. These are recording issues and do not impact upon the care of the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring by the registered manager is not yet secure. His six-monthly reports on the quality of care provided in the home do not analyse what has gone well or the areas for development for the home. This does not help to promote the continuous development of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working is a strength of the service. The manager and staff are not afraid to challenge professionals or to escalate their concerns if they feel that a young person is not getting the right support. This has resulted in positive outcomes for individual young people.

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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: SC061678 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Assist Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 High Barn, Back Lane, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 6SX

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Inspector

Chris Scully: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC061678 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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