Lincolnshire Secure Unit

Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 1 SC042921 Registered provider: Lincolnshire 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

This secure children’s home is managed by a local authority. It is approved by the Department for Education to restrict young people’s liberty. The children’s home can accommodate up to 12 young people aged between 10 and 17 years. It provides for up to 11 young people placed by the youth custody service and one young person placed by local authorities under section 25 of the Children Act 1989. Admission of any young persons under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 who are under 13 years of age requires the approval of the Secretary of State.

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Information about this children’s home

The commissioning of health services in this home is the statutory responsibility of NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Education is provided on site in dedicated facilities.

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Information about this children’s home

A suitably qualified manager has been in place since 2008.

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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

Outcomes in education and related learning activities 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: 24 September 2019 Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 2 Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/09/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/01/2019 Full Good 04/09/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/02/2018 Full Good Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 3

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide must be made available to all children and must be provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.43) Specifically, managers should make better use of existing quality assurance processes to improve the quality of restraint records.  The ethos of the home should support each child to learn. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18) In particular, ensure that all staff accurately record the progress that children make in all aspects of their education. This means that any necessary actions can

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Recommendations

be taken quickly to ensure that all children are supported and challenged to make good progress.  The ethos of the home should support each child to learn. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18) In particular, ensure that the plans already in place to introduce accredited qualifications into all subjects are implemented as soon as possible so that the children who attend school for long enough can achieve recognition for the knowledge and skills they gain.  The ethos of the home should support each child to learn. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18) In particular, provide children with impartial careers guidance to help them to prepare for their next steps in education, employment or training.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children said that they feel safe and that they have confidence in staff. They can name staff whom they would share concerns with. Staff use constructive relationships well to support children with complex needs. A culture of tolerance and respect is promoted. Staff take a restorative approach to address difficulties between children effectively. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 4 Children experience a warm welcome when they arrive at the home. Prior to admission, staff research what interests and preferences the children have. Staff have purchased favourite items of bedding, soft toys or games to support children to settle into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Less positively, a child for whom English is not their first language and who has been resident in the home for one week, did not have access to an interpreter. This will have reduced his understanding of his induction and limited his ability to contribute to his plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children understand and contribute to their care plans. Plans are personalised to provide the maximum opportunity for children to engage and succeed. The case management team carefully monitors children’s progress, including their physical, emotional and mental health. Children are encouraged to develop new interests and are able to learn a range of vocational skills. This enhances their self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from family and professionals is positive. One social worker reported that staff ‘have always tried to facilitate … [the child’s] interests and have gone the extra mile in supporting her with what she has wanted to do’. One parent reported that staff ‘are nurturing and invested in the present and future welfare’ of their child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Mobility plans are well coordinated and promote independence skills. Recently, a child’s plan included visits to a local plumbing firm. He is now successfully engaged in a vocational course in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from good routines and clear boundaries. Staff are positive role models for the children and encourage the development of good social skills. Staff provide opportunities for children to reflect on any poor behaviour. They give children opportunities to learn to negotiate and compromise. As a result, the use of sanctions is infrequent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Individualised and well-thought-out programmes of support help children to understand their risk-taking and offending behaviour. Staff adapt interventions to accommodate children who are remanded, so that they can benefit from the work before they are sentenced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Where appropriate, children are offered the opportunity to engage in restorative work with victims. Children value the opportunity to apologise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Promoting successful resettlement is a major strength of the home. Staff carefully consider and develop strategies to address any factors that might increase the risk of reoffending. Staff work in partnership with parents and specialist services to plan education, training, employment and leisure activities. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 5

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

Children’s safety and well-being are given a high priority. Staff have access to training that enhances their knowledge about how to keep children safe. They understand and take seriously their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff know what action to take in the event of any emerging concerns.

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

Managers take appropriate actions to ensure that all safeguarding concerns and allegations are responded to robustly. They work with partner agencies to ensure a transparent and multi-agency response, in the best interests of children.

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

Behaviour management is effective. Children are motivated and engaged by an incentives-based behaviour management programme. There are clear, consistent guidelines so that children understand that positive behaviour will be rewarded.

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

Responses to self-harm are sensitive and caring. Professionally informed risk assessments and support plans are implemented to address a range of vulnerabilities effectively. Staff adapt their approach to provide maximum support for children whose risk levels increase.

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

Staff use single separation and managing away strategies only when necessary. Records provide clear evidence of how staff have monitored children who are managed away from the group. There is a clear impetus to reintegrate children into the group as quickly and as safely as possible.

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

All incidents of restraint are subject to several layers of scrutiny by managers. This includes the assessment of records and closed-circuit television (CCTV). There is good evidence of learning from management evaluation of restraints. For example, risk assessments have been amended to ensure that personal items are only removed from bedrooms if absolutely necessary to protect children. However, inspectors found several records that were not sufficiently detailed about the action taken by staff. These records may not provide a clear account of staff actions if reviewed in the future.

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Health services: good

Children receive good support to improve their health and well-being. Children are positive about the healthcare that they receive. Managers coordinate the work of health and care staff well. There is strong partnership working between staff at all levels, which has helped to improve the quality of health services.

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Health services: good

Health staff are available every weekday into the evening and are on call to support children arriving at weekends. Community-equivalent arrangements are in place for out- of-hours support.

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Health services: good

Health staff promptly assess children’s physical and emotional support needs through the comprehensive health assessment tool (CHAT), which informs ongoing care. A registered nurse is available to manage children’s immediate physical health needs, with support Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 6 from a local GP practice as required. Children with long-term health conditions receive excellent support, including specialist input where necessary.

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Health services: good

Children have regular access to secondary services, including a visiting dentist, optician and sexual health specialist. A community service currently provides children with substance misuse support. Speech and language therapy is covered by external specialists. An occupational therapist is working with an NHS-funded resettlement officer to improve the pathway for children leaving the home. This includes the use of a transitional needs assessment to help children better manage their social and health needs.

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Health services: good

The on-site clinical room is well maintained, with formal infection prevention control measures in place to ensure safety. A dedicated therapy room used for interventions is well regarded by the children. A sensory garden is planned, which will further support the children’s well-being.

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Health services: good

The integrated care framework for young people in secure settings is well embedded. Multi-disciplinary care planning meetings, held fortnightly for each child, are well attended. Children receive a joint risk assessment that informs their care plan. Practitioners are further developing children’s and families’ involvement in care planning. Health staff deliver a weekly personal, social and health education session for children at school. They have also developed social activities, including a daily walk, which has a positive impact on children’s physical and emotional well-being.

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Health services: good

Health staff support care staff’s development through reflective practice sessions and a range of relevant training, including adverse childhood experiences, boundary management and sensory integration.

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Health services: good

The multi-disciplinary mental health team provides a broad range of individual support for children, which improves their emotional well-being. A child and adolescent psychiatrist supports the team. Reported outcomes for children who have engaged with the service include reduced levels of incidents and restraints. The team is increasing the range of therapeutic interventions to include animal-assisted therapy and group work addressing emotional first aid and self-harm.

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Health services: good

Health staff receive regular managerial and clinical supervision and have good access to training and development opportunities.

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Health services: good

All care staff are trained to safely manage and administer the children’s medicines. These are stored securely, and record-keeping is accurate. Health staff monitor administration practice through regular audits. Errors in the administration of medicines are rare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are able to share lots of examples of the ways in which they are consulted and listened to by the staff in the home. All services in the home take account of each child’s Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 7 needs, vulnerabilities and history. The skills and knowledge of staff are underpinned by training, development and research-based practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care staff receive reflective supervision, participate in group supervision, attend team meetings and benefit from an established training programme. Achieving the relevant care and management qualifications for each post is prioritised. Mandatory training is updated annually.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have undertaken a review of the quality of supervision. Staff have received training on the purpose of supervision for supervisees as well as supervisors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team identifies and promotes talent within the staff team and considers succession planning, ensuring that staff have development opportunities. For example, staff can undertake a management qualification. Investment in staff skills strengthens staff confidence and motivation. There are good levels of staff retention. Staff reported that morale in the team is good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know the areas for development in the home. They invested in a quality assurance post to ensure that information systems provide an accurate picture of the progress children are making. In addition, managers promptly respond to the independent visitor’s recommendations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers and staff are proactive in advocating for children where they believe there are delays in care planning or difficulties in providing essential resources for children. They escalate concerns with placing local authorities appropriately. They have had some success in improving the quality of children’s plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are a range of multi-disciplinary meetings and forums for care, health and education staff. Children benefit from effective information sharing. Inspectors observed planning meetings that were sensitive, caring and focused.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Education is well managed. The recently appointed headteacher has an accurate view of the quality of provision and of the areas that could be improved further. Leaders have strengthened performance management and support arrangements for education staff. This enhances staff confidence and supports improvement.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Staff use information from the relevant local authorities, previous education providers and their own initial assessment to establish children’s starting points quickly and accurately. They develop individualised education and support arrangements for each child.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Staff plan learning activities that take good account of individual abilities. Children participate in interesting activities that enable them to build on their prior knowledge. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 8 Staff assess children’s progress regularly. They provide children with a clear understanding about what they have done well and what they need to do to improve. However, teachers do not record the summary progress that children make in a consistent way across all subjects. This makes it difficult for leaders to identify and intervene in a timely way when there is slow progress.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Children experience a broad education curriculum covering English, mathematics and a range of other academic, technical and practical subjects. Almost all children make good progress. However, the school has not yet done enough to introduce qualifications that recognise the knowledge and skills children gain in subjects other than English, mathematics and information communication technology.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Relationships between staff and children are positive, and behaviour in education is mostly good. Children adopt safe working practices in practical lessons. Most children have good attendance records. Education staff work well with healthcare staff to provide a range of activities that raise children’s awareness about health, well-being, relationships, and equality and diversity. Children explore topics which challenge them to reflect on their attitudes and respect the views of others.

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Outcomes in education and related learning activities: good

Staff help raise children’s awareness about potential employment and training opportunities. When appropriate, staff have enabled some children to access work- experience in occupations such as plumbing, horticulture and hairdressing, as part of their planned mobility. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the headteacher to put arrangements in place, children do not have access to impartial careers advice and guidance.

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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 secure children’s home: SC042921 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lincolnshire County Council, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN11YL

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Inspectors

Cathey Moriarty, lead social care inspector Paul Scott, social care inspector Malcolm Fraser, HMI further education and skills Barnaby Dowell, social care inspector Tim Byrom, health and justice inspector, Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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