Children's Home run by Lincolnshire County Council in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children's home: SC042967 1 SC042967 Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is currently away from the home. Interim management arrangements are in place.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 3 November 2020 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 12 December 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

An assurance visit was carried out on 9 September 2020 and serious and widespread concerns were noted. This led to Ofsted issuing two compliance notices, under Inspection report children's home: SC042967 2 regulations 12 and 13. Following a monitoring visit on 3 November 2020, these compliance notices were deemed to be met, as progress had been made in response to the concerns identified.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/08/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 24/07/2018 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC042967 3

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures in relation to the running of this home. These shortfalls primarily relate to poor leadership and management, but the impact is apparent in how well children are safeguarded and in their experiences of living at this home.

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inadequate

Children have made numerous allegations against staff. In response to this, several staff have lone-working risk assessments in place preventing them from working alone with specific children. This has had an impact on some of the relationships between children and staff. It has been difficult at times for staff to work in adherence with the risk assessments.

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inadequate

Children say that it is difficult to make a complaint and, when they do complain, they do not always receive a response. Children’s plans and records do not routinely capture their views or indicate whether children have been consulted about their plans.

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inadequate

Despite shortfalls in practice in the home, children do make progress. Staff have successfully implemented new routines in the home. This has been beneficial to children, giving them routines around bedtimes, for example. Most staff are able to provide the children with consistent boundaries and this has helped with behaviour management across the home. Positive behaviour management strategies are in place, such as incentive charts. These systems are not yet fully embedded across the staff team.

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inadequate

All children have education placements and have good attendance. However, information about the children is not consistently shared with schools. This means that education staff do not always have a clear understanding of what is happening in the home and how this may have an impact on the child’s learning.

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inadequate

Children’s plans do not consistently record all known information about the child. They are not regularly reviewed and updated. This prevents staff from having relevant and up-to-date information about each child.

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inadequate

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on children’s activities in the community. Staff have recently become more involved and creative in planning alternative activities for the children. Staff are receiving training to further develop access to creative activities at the home.

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inadequate

The physical environment has significantly improved since the last visit. The home looks warm and welcoming and there is a range of interactive play equipment for children to play with. Bedrooms are personalised, clean and tidy. Inspection report children's home: SC042967 4

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

Management oversight of the systems in place to keep children safe is poor. Children’s plans, risk assessments and records do not have appropriate management oversight and there is a lack of quality assurance. Some known risks are not recorded appropriately, leading to staff not fully understanding the risks posed to children and their own roles in protecting children. Staff do not have a clear understanding of the potential risks to children in the community or how to manage these. Concerns about sexual exploitation and substance misuse had not been appropriately recorded. This places children at risk of significant harm.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff take appropriate action in response to this. Meetings have been arranged with the police and other professionals to agree strategies and plans. However, agreed strategies are not translated into the home’s plans and known risks are not recorded. For example, one child with a known vulnerability to exploitation did not have this recorded in their plan. Children do not have specific missing-from-care risk assessments in place that contain all relevant information. Plans are not regularly reviewed and updated. This means that staff do not have all relevant information in one place when managing these incidents.

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

Children have made numerous allegations against staff which, for the most part, have been referred to the designated officer and the children’s social workers. Most of these allegations have led to no further action being taken. One child made a complaint about the quality of their care and made several allegations against staff. This complaint is still being investigated. The staff involved have lone-working risk assessments in place. However, these risk assessments are not consistently adhered to, which places children and staff at risk of potential harm and carries the risk of further allegations being made.

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

Bullying between children is not managed consistently in the home. When there have been bullying concerns, internal processes have not been followed. There has been a serious incident regarding cyber-bullying that required police involvement. It was not clear from the records held at the home whether all the relevant work had been completed in response.

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

Concerns about children’s self-harm have not been managed well. When staff use body maps to record visual signs of self-harm, there is a lack of management oversight. There are anomalies in staff recording but these have not been addressed. There is a lack of evaluation of how effective staff responses to self-harm are.

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

Fire drills are not carried out regularly. Not all children have participated in scheduled fire drills. It is not clear what action has been taken to support children’s understanding of the importance of fire safety. New staff have not had a fire drill as part of their induction. This places staff and children at risk of harm. Inspection report children's home: SC042967 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has been absent from the home for several months. During this period, there have been changes to the interim management arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

An experienced manager from another home provided management support initially. During this time, a number of improvements were made, particularly in relation to management monitoring systems. A new interim manager came into post in January 2021. Management monitoring has not been maintained and consequently, the oversight of the day-to-day running of the home has been weak.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are inconsistencies in recording and storing information. Some information held in paper files does not correlate with information held electronically. This leads to confusion and a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the information accessed. Some documents are difficult to access. Children’s files are not regularly audited, reviewed and updated. This means staff do not have a clear oversight of current information relating to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is insufficient care planning in respect of children moving into the home. For one child, there was a lack of consideration of known risks. The manager was unable to explain the matching process and how risks posed to and by the child might be managed. All relevant information had not been considered and the paperwork to support this child’s move was inadequate. Due to limited information being available to managers and staff, there had been no in-depth evaluation of the suitability of the placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight of restraint practice remains a concern. The manager had not questioned the appropriateness of floor restraints. There is a lack of timely management review of the records of restraint. A review of restraint practice in the home, which formed part of the action plan and response to concerns raised in September 2020, has not yet been completed. This means that there is a potential risk to children from poor restraint practice. The manager is not trained in the restraint model used by staff at the home but is responsible for the management oversight and analysis of the effectiveness of the restraints used. Consequently, there is a risk of the manager not fully understanding the records being reviewed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not have regular practice-based supervision. This means that staff are not supported to reflect on their practice or to discuss any worries and concerns they may have about the children. Many staff are subject to lone-working risk assessments following allegations made about them by children. These risk assessments are not regularly reviewed, discussed or updated with the staff involved. Staff have not had regular appraisals to support their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The process of responding to children’s complaints is weak. One child said that they had made a complaint and had not received a response. Two complaints made by another child about staff practice in the home had not been addressed by the Inspection report children's home: SC042967 6 manager. Children said there is no point in making a complaint. The process for children accessing the right forms and making a complaint is prohibitive. This limits children’s opportunities to complain if they wish to do so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff did say that they felt supported and that the new management team has clear views on the development of the home. Staff were able to identify positive changes in the home and around routines and boundaries for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Shortfalls in leadership and management have been identified over a sustained period, leading to repeated breaches of regulation. Poor management of the home has also contributed to shortfalls in how children are helped and protected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A restriction of accommodation notice and two compliance notices have been served following this inspection. Inspection report children's home: SC042967 7

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(b)(iii)) 7 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults. 7 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC042967 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(iv)(xii)(xiii))

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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

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;

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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 to protect each child effectively from harm.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b)) 7 June 2021

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 7 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC042967 9 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(a)) 7 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 7 June 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC042967 10 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

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Requirement Due date

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

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to say it is accurate.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)) 7 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of any investigation.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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) Inspection report children's home: SC042967 11 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Newland, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN1 1YL

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Debra Moger-Gurupira

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Inspectors

Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Tracy Murty, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC042967 12 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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