Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited

Inspection report children's home: SC475703 1 SC475703 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited 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 managed by a private provider. The purpose of this home is to provide care for up to eight children aged eight to 18 years. It provides a therapeutic environment to meet the nurturing, social, emotional and moral needs of children who are unable to live in a family context.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered in April 2014. The manager is experienced and has been in post since May 2014.

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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 20 October 2020, to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on our website.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding Inspection report children's home: SC475703 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC475703 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2018 Full Outstanding 09/01/2018 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children's home: SC475703 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy good relationships with staff who know them well. The children and staff build their relationships by spending time together. They like to go out and do activities such as trampolining, trips to the beach, and visits to cities and the cinema. One child likes it here so much he rates it 15 out of 10.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children attend the company school. Their school attendance helps them to learn essential skills for later life, both socially and academically. There is excellent communication between the two settings that makes sure the children receive the support they need to learn.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children enjoy a range of activities such as football, biking and walking, which promotes their physical fitness. The children’s emotional well-being improves. They benefit from consistent therapeutic support from the company’s own specialist team. For those who need additional emotional support, specialist help is sought from external agencies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Well-planned transitions help the children to move on from the home positively. The staff make sure children feel settled by providing them with everything they need. The staff also keep in touch with the children after they have left. Children moving into the home settle quickly because they are made to feel welcome. The staff try and get to know the child as much as possible before they move in. They use their knowledge to make sure the child has got the things they like to make them feel at home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children keep their sense of identity. The staff help them to build and maintain relationships with loved ones. The staff help children to meet up with families, and often drive long distances to make sure they can see each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff listen to the children’s views. This helps the children to feel a sense of value and belonging. The children’s wishes are central to their everyday care and future planning. ‘What’s on your mind’ and ‘Your shout’ sessions are some of the ways children voice their opinions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children learn a range of skills which will help them to be independent in later life. The skills they learn are ironing, how to use public transport and helping with the weekly shop. The children complete visual task cards so they can track their own progress. For their efforts they achieve rewards which they are proud of. Inspection report children's home: SC475703 5

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

The children’s individual risk assessments are regularly updated. These help staff understand the risks to each child. The risk assessments provide staff with direction around how to reduce and manage any risks, to help keep the children safe.

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

The predictable routines help the children to feel safe. As a result, incidents of challenging behaviour reduce. The children actively contribute towards their own behaviour support plans to help inform staff what works for them when they are upset. The use of physical intervention is a last resort. The staff use a range of other strategies to try and support children in crisis. Strategies include talking to children and listening to how they feel.

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

The children complete individualised work around topics such as keeping themselves safe, sexual exploitation and managing their emotions. As a result, children’s risk reduces, particularly in relation to sexual exploitation and self-harm.,.

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

When children go missing from the home, the staff follow missing from home procedures. They try and contact the child by phone, and they go out and look for them. The staff work closely with other professionals, such as the police and social workers, to try and find the child and bring them home safely.

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

The staff are confident to follow procedures to protect the children. The staff complete safeguarding training and additional training around risks such as self- harm, child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and online safety.

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

The manager acts quickly to follow through any safeguarding concerns. She works closely with the designated officer from the local authority to ensure correct action is taken to protect children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate and dedicated to her role. She leads the team by example. She knows the children very well and balances her management duties alongside spending time with them. The manager’s positive relationships with the children ensure that they feel comfortable to go and tell her their views any time. She actively listens to what they say and, where possible, follows through requests. Where it is not possible to grant wishes, she explains why.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager understands the service’s strengths and areas for development. She has a development plan which focuses on improving the care for the children. The manager’s monitoring systems help her to track patterns in the children’s behaviour and progress. Her tracking systems allow her to see any issues for individual children so she can address them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff feel well supported by the manager. The staff receive regular supervision. Some supervision records do not reflect on care practice or have clear focus on children experiences, needs and plans. This is a missed opportunity to develop Inspection report children's home: SC475703 6 individual staff practice and care for the children. There are other opportunities for the staff to explore and reflect on their practice in team meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The regulatory body is not always notified of significant events without delay. The delay hinders their oversight of safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager advocates for the children. She provides professional challenge when needed to ensure the children receive the help they require. She ensures there is good communication between professionals to make sure the children’s needs are met. The services she works closely with are teachers, therapists, social workers and the police.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This home is operating in line with its statement of purpose. The children live in a nurturing, caring and stimulating environment where concerns affecting both their past and their future are addressed and supported. Inspection report children's home: SC475703 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 registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii) and (e)) 01 October2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 29 October2021

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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: SC475703 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth, LA6 2PR

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Inspectors

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC475703 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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