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 and run by a local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to six children with emotional and/or behavioural needs.

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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

The registered manager is currently absent from the home. In the manager’s absence, there have been three interim managers. The most recent manager assumed day-to-day responsibility for the home from 4 June 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following the last inspection, compliance notices were set under regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 2 standard). A restriction notice was also served on the home preventing the home from admitting any more children. This is due to expire on 16 July 2021.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/04/2021 Full Inadequate 12/12/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/08/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 3

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improvement to be good

Children have benefited from a period of stability at the home. They are spending quality time with staff and building positive relationships with them. Children say that they are happy, and that they feel safe at the home.

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improvement to be good

Children are making progress, particularly educationally. They have school placements and, for some children, the process of planning for moving from primary to secondary school has started. Communication between the home and the children’s schools has started to improve, particularly around the sharing of information about concerns.

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improvement to be good

Some staff have insufficient awareness of the children’s needs. Staff have not received specialist training to help them develop the skills and confidence to adapt their practice to meet children’s individual needs. Leaders and managers have not considered accessing external support and advice from professionals for children with specific health needs. Children do not always make healthy lifestyle choices and there is a lack of work being done to address this.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to spend time with family and people who are important to them, wherever possible. However, some arrangements for contact need further exploration to avoid conflict and confusion for children and their families.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is much improved, and it looks warm and welcoming. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to their own tastes. Communal rooms are child friendly, with a range of toys, games and activities that the children enjoy. Children have been invited to contribute their ideas and preferences for the redecoration of the home.

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improvement to be good

The home’s complaints policy has been reviewed and shared with the children to ensure that they understand how to make a complaint. Further improvements could be made, to help children to know how to make a formal complaint without having to talk to a member of staff first. However, a recent complaint from a child was managed well by a senior manager.

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improvement to be good

One child’s placement has ended following an escalation of incidents and staff being unable to manage very complex needs effectively. The situation was having an impact on other children at the home. Staff recognise that the ending of the placement was sudden and not a positive experience for the child. Staff are looking at ways to enable children to say goodbye, and mark the end of the placement positively for the child who has left. Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 4

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments have recently been reviewed and updated. However, not all risk assessments are thorough enough, as the information recorded does not always reflect the nature and the level of risk accurately. There is a lack of detail regarding the strategies for mitigating those risks, for example, in respect of a child who goes missing from the home. Consequently, staff sometimes lack clear guidance when managing risk. Staff do not always follow the risk assessments in place. The implementation of the revised risk assessments has lacked management oversight.

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improvement to be good

A recent allegation from a child about a member of staff was not reported to the designated officer in a timely manner. The allegation was not reported to Ofsted. This undermines the ability of relevant authorities to investigate and take any necessary action in relation to safeguarding issues. The outcome of this allegation was not recorded appropriately in the home.

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improvement to be good

Another safeguarding concern involving a child was not reported to a manager for three days. This prevented swift action from being taken in response. Children have made disclosures, but these have not always been followed up appropriately. The recording of significant incidents and concerns is poor, and there is a lack of consistency in how incidents are managed and how children’s concerns are responded to.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of bullying behaviour and/or aggression have continued to take place. This has affected relationships between children, and the stability of placements. Work identified as being needed for one child remains incomplete. Staff have been provided with additional training to develop their skills and knowledge.

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improvement to be good

A review of physical interventions and restraint practice has been carried out by professionals who are independent of the home. This has led to lessons being learned in respect of the monitoring and recording of incidents. As a result of this work, new monitoring and recording systems have been implemented.

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improvement to be good

The management of self-injurious behaviours has also been reviewed. A recent concern about self-injurious behaviour was well managed in the home and well documented. The new, improved systems are positive, but have yet to become custom and practice in the home.

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improvement to be good

In recent weeks, there has been a reduction in the number of incidents at the home and the children appear more settled.

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good

There has been a very recent change to the leadership and management arrangements in the home. A new interim manager has been appointed. This is the home’s fourth manager in the space of a year. These changes have led to instability Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 5 and inconsistency in how the home is managed. Staff are required to adapt to changes in management expectations, ways of working and management styles. Staff are positive about the most recent change in management, and talked about there being a more apparent management presence in the home which makes them feel supported.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been a lack of robust management oversight. This has led to shortfalls in recording and in the quality of the information that is used to inform risk assessments. There have been delays in staff carrying out designated direct work with children.

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good

Staff have regular supervision and have recently had their annual performance appraisals. There is no management oversight of the quality or content of supervisory meetings. This limits management oversight of patterns and trends in the team. Recent concerns about a member of staff’s practice were not robustly managed or challenged. The concerns were not recorded in the member of staff’s supervision or their appraisal. This impairs management monitoring, particularly when there are frequent changes of managers.

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good

Some improvement has been seen in the recording systems. These changes are positive, but management oversight is needed in order to maintain new systems and reinforce good practice. The management team is clear about the home’s strengths and weaknesses, and has started to implement change.

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good

Two compliance notices and a restriction of accommodation notice were imposed at the full inspection in April 2021. At this most recent inspection, demonstrable progress has been made in meeting the steps set out to improve the service, particularly in making sure that children are safe. Improvements have also been seen in the home’s leadership and management, but the relevant compliance notice will remain in place. This is because the home’s new systems and processes are not well embedded, and there is a risk that they will not be maintained. Senior leaders are now committed to overseeing the improvements, through support and challenge of the home’s managers. At this time, the restriction of accommodation will remain in place. Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 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, 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 9 August 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.

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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

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. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(xii)(xiii)) 9 August 2021

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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— 9 August 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 7 that staff—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b))

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(f)(h)) 9 August 2021

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Requirement Due date

*This requirements is subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 8

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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: SC042967 9

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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 Andi Lilley-Tams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC042967 10 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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