Children's Home run by Sandcastle Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private organisation. It provides care for one young person who may have social, emotional and/or behavioural needs. The former registered manager resigned her registration in December 2019. A new manager has been appointed and is in the process of applying for registration.

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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: This is the home’s first inspection.

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 2

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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 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 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 to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(v)((b)) 17/04/2020

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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 employ an individual to work at the children’s 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; and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(3)(a)(b)(d)) 17/04/2020

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Recommendations

 Ensure the behaviour management strategy should be understood and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  Ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20) Specifically, that the home’s fire procedures are clear about the actions that staff are expected to take in the event of a fire. Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 3  Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information

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Recommendations

about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is a small, family home. Young people who live here benefit from living in a homely environment. Young people can personalise their own space so that their familiar things are around them. This helps them feel at ease. Only two young people have lived here since the home was registered. These placements have been planned, with young people being able to visit before they moved in. The first young person, who made very good progress while living here, has now had a ‘step down’ to a larger provision, enabling her to learn to live alongside other young people and with less staff support. This transition was carefully planned, with the former manager and a number of staff from this home moving with her. This continuity of care is important to help young people feel safe and secure. Young people are positive about living in the home. The former resident commented in a consultation document, ‘I like everything about [Name of the home]. I now

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

have better relationships with people and the staff. I trust everyone here.’ While the current resident has only lived here a few weeks, he was similarly positive, saying, ‘This is a good home. I like the staff.’ Young people receive good-quality, individualised care. However, placement plans do not currently include specifics about the young person’s daily routine. This makes it difficult for staff to ensure consistency. Furthermore, the current system for ensuring that all staff are familiar with these documents is not effective, thus increasing the possibility of an inconsistent approach and potential unnecessary conflict with young people. Staff actively encourage young people’s interests and promote physical activity. The former young person learned to swim while living here and became competent at horse riding. These significant achievements led to improvements in her self-esteem and confidence. The current young person is still settling into the home. However,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

he is currently reluctant to engage in activities in the community, although staff continue to promote these. Staff promote contact with young people’s families. They understand the importance of maintaining these relationships. However, records do not always contain sufficient detail regarding the content of supervised contact. It is difficult to tell when the young person is due telephone contact, which is currently restricted. Consequently, there is the potential for the young person to manipulate this. Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 4 Young people benefit from regular support from the organisation’s therapist, who visits the young person on a weekly basis. She is still in the process of developing a relationship with the current resident. However, all staff receive training on the organisation’s therapeutic model. They also receive ongoing advice and guidance on the most suitable way to address specific behaviours or challenges presented by

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young people. Staff value this level of support.

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

The positive relationships that staff have with young people enable them to de- escalate most challenging situations quickly and safely. There has been no need for staff to engage in a physical intervention since the home opened. Good staffing levels also help ensure that staff are available to support young people when they need it. Young people’s risk-taking behaviour reduces on placement. The current resident has not been missing from the home since he was placed, despite this being a high- risk behaviour previously. Risk assessments contain pertinent historic information and strategies for staff to implement to reduce risk. They are also subject to frequent review. However, it is again unclear if all staff are familiar with these documents, reducing their effectiveness. Weekly incentive charts were used effectively to help the former young person meet her goals and individual targets. However, these incentive charts are unclear and

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

there has been some confusion regarding the current arrangements of giving him his pocket money in small, daily amounts. Thus, the young person is using this to his advantage. He is also spending large amounts of money on sweets and crisps, rather than saving towards a larger item of his choosing. A clearer incentive programme may help to motivate him to achieve. Staff occasionally sanction negative behaviour, giving the young person some choice in the actual sanction he receives. This appears to be effective. However, records regarding this do not cross reference, so it is difficult to tell what actually happened. However, young people report that they feel sanctions are fair, accepting that their behaviour was not appropriate. Routine health and safety checks in the home ensure young people’s safety and well-being. Regular fire drills ensure that young people and staff know what to do in an emergency. However, the fire procedures for staff do not tally with the

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

firefighting equipment in the home. While there is a fire extinguisher in the home, this is sited in the kitchen area, although the contents are not recommended for use in kitchen fires. This is confusing for staff. Action was taken to replace the type of extinguisher during this inspection. Staff recruitment is generally sound. However, further exploration does not always take place when there is a discrepancy between employment dates given by the applicant and those confirmed by the referee, even when this results in a potential gap in employment. Furthermore, it is not always clear if employees have been asked to produce evidence of their qualifications as part of the recruitment process. Such additional scrutiny would ensure the integrity of those employed to work in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous registered manager resigned her registration in December 2019 and is now managing another home in the organisation. The current manager is appropriately qualified and experienced, having worked previously as a deputy manager. He is in the process of registering with Ofsted. Since his appointment, the manager has spent a significant period of time recruiting a new staff team, as the majority of staff moved along with the former young person to another home. The staff team is now almost complete. Staff are positive about working in the home and feel well supported. A wide range of both taught and online training is available for staff. Prior to the home reopening with the current staff team, the staff spent a week together completing training, getting to know each other and learning about the needs of the new young person. This was a useful exercise, helping team dynamics and ensuring that staff were best placed to admit a new young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The internal and external monitoring of the home are used to drive forward improvements. The manager has a development plan that helps him target areas for improvement. He is open to learning, wishing to continuously improve the care that is given to young people. However, a greater emphasis on supporting new staff with their recording skills would aid their progression. External professionals speak highly of the home. One social worker commented, ‘[Name of the young person] made excellent progress while placed at the home. Staff worked closely with me to achieve the young person’s care plan of being able to be placed with other young people. Staff were well supported by the manager and the home’s therapeutic input.’ Furthermore, communication has been described as excellent, with managers challenging local authority practice when needed. Social workers also receive a weekly update report, which they find helpful.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 2527860 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2527860 7 to 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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