Children's home run by Care Afloat Ltd in West Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: SC062268 1 SC062268 Registered provider: Care Afloat Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company and provides care for up to three children who may experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The organisation offers an education service and therapeutic support from an external contractor.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager.

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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 20.

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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 outstanding

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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: 19 November 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: SC062268 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/11/2019 Full Good 11/09/2018 Full Good 25/09/2017 Full Outstanding 22/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC062268 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A major strength of this home is the strong, meaningful relationships that exist between children and staff. Two children are living at the home, who both identify the manager and the staff as being the best thing about living at the home. One child said, ‘I have amazing relationships with all of the staff. We have good banter, and I can see that they care for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The experience of living at this home is having a positive effect on both children’s lives. This is because the manager and staff provide a good standard of parent-like support. This gives children a sense of belonging. A social worker said: ‘Staff are warm and inviting and [name of child] responds well to this. They are very nurturing and child focused, and the care at the home is well matched to [name of child’s] needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of education. They make every effort to promote good attendance, which is good overall. They understand potential barriers to learning and are proactive in addressing these. One child spoke about how supportive staff have been in helping him to get a college placement to study computing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote and support opportunities for positive contact. They work closely with parents and families to ensure that they are included in all aspects of care planning. One parent said, ‘The manager and staff are fantastic and they go above and beyond. They are always willing to listen to our views and try their best.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good working partnerships with health professionals ensure that each child’s known and emerging health needs are consistently met. Staff work closely with therapists to deliver highly individualised programmes of support. These are helping children to better understand their past experiences and make better choices when planning for their future. The therapist said: ‘Therapy works well because the manager and staff embrace the thinking and put it into action. [Name of child] is in a much better place than he was. The manager and staff have been amazing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a strong voice in this home. They are encouraged and supported to contribute to their plans and influence their day-to-day care. One child said, ‘Staff are interested in us and always listen to what we say. They always want things to be right for us.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff like spending time with the children. They provide lots of opportunities for them to pursue their interests, enjoy life and have fun. Friendships outside of the home are encouraged. As a result, children have the same experiences as their peers. Inspection report children's home: SC062268 4 Medication is administered safely. However, the arrangements for storing controlled medication are not sufficiently robust.

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

Children say that they feel safe. Risk assessments and risk management processes are good quality. These are implemented consistently by staff, who understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff take every opportunity to educate children about their risk-taking behaviours. Apart from cannabis misuse, this approach has been effective in reducing risk-taking behaviours, including incidents of children going missing from home.

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

Keeping children safe is given a high priority. On the rare occasions that children do go missing from home, staff are relentless in their efforts to secure a safe return. There is a genuine care for the safety of the children. This was seen during the inspection when a child went missing from school. Through effective teamworking, staff located and returned the child quickly. A social worker said: ‘I am more than confident that staff do whatever it takes when [name of child] goes missing. They genuinely care for [name of child] and everyone wants him to be safe.’

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

Staff are positive role models for the children, who are respectful of staff and each other. Incidents of challenging behaviour are rare. When children do make the wrong choices, they are quick to recognise the error of their ways and put things right. For example, when one child broke a neighbour’s plant pot, they wrote a letter of apology and sent flowers to the neighbour.

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

There have been no allegations or safeguarding concerns. The manager and staff demonstrate that they know what action should be taken to respond appropriately.

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

Risk management includes daily searches of one child’s bedroom. The child is consulted, and records of the search are maintained. However, the outcome of the search is not recorded consistently. This makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness or the continued necessity of this practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is run very effectively by an experienced and suitably qualified registered manager. She is supported well by a competent and enthusiastic deputy manager. This arrangement works extremely well and enables the manager to split her time effectively between this and a second home for which she is registered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a strong presence in the home. She makes sure that she can spend time with the children, which includes a child-friendly supervision session each month. She is highly influential in the implementation of care plans and maintains strong relationships with a range of agencies and professionals. One professional said: ‘[Name of manager] is the pillar of this home. She has a strong presence in the home that makes children and staff feel safe. She values working in a professional network that promotes a team-around-the-child approach.’ Inspection report children's home: SC062268 5 The manager leads by example and shows exceptionally strong leadership. She models an approach that recognises and responds to each child’s individual needs. This is fully embedded in all aspects of care practice and has been highly effective in providing children with stable and productive placements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children benefit from the care and support of a very experienced and well- established staff team. Staff are passionate about their work and demonstrate a parent-like commitment to the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is highly regarded by the children and staff, who recognise her commitment to them. Staff describe her as a caring leader who will give everything to make being at the home the best experience for children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Cohesive links between induction, supervision and appraisal maximise staff’s development and potential. Mandatory training has continued to be delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, which ensures that staff have maintained their core skills. The manager has been proactive in sourcing needs-led training and/or researching and delivering bespoke training to the team. This has been effective in helping staff to develop a better understanding of depression, cannabis misuse and autism spectrum disorder.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a very good understanding of the strengths of the home. This is because she maintains close oversight of staff practice, care planning and children’s progress. She implements a range of effective internal quality assurance processes that are used to promote an improvement agenda.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Suitable action has been taken to address the three requirements from the last inspection. This has contributed to better placement matching, improved school attendance and clearer rationales for locking the kitchen door at night. One recommendation was also made and has been suitably addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home’s statement of purpose was last reviewed in January 2021. This document contained a few minor inaccuracies and spelling and grammar errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children’s records are detailed and informative. In consultation with the children, several records have been adapted into child-friendly documents. However, the manager has failed to acquire a copy of the statutory provision under which the child is provided with accommodation. Inspection report children's home: SC062268 6

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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, the 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 registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that controlled medication is stored in line with the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973. 12 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children’s records include a copy of the statutory provision under which the child is provided with accommodation. 12 July 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is reviewed so that any inaccuracies or spelling and grammar errors are corrected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should ensure that records of bedroom searches include the outcome of the search. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20) Inspection report children's home: SC062268 7

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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: SC062268 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Afloat Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 158 to 160 Birkrig, Digmoor Parade, Skelmersdale WN8 9HP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Fletcher

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Inspector

Paul Scott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC062268 9 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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