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

Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 1 SC006014 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 can provide care for up to three children who may experience emotional and/or behavioural needs. The organisation offers an education service and therapeutic support from an external contractor.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of this home was registered by Ofsted in April 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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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: 25 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2020 Full Outstanding 21/01/2019 Full Good 09/01/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 02/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from living in a warm and nurturing environment. They are cared for by a highly supportive and committed staff team that demonstrates a good insight into each child’s needs. Care practice is highly individualised, and staff are successfully supporting children to make good progress, relative to their individual circumstances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

What children think is important to staff. There are plenty of opportunities for children to express their opinions, make choices and be involved in the decisions about their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the visit, two children were living at the home. Staff have worked extremely hard to support the children to re-engage with their education. This has been a particular challenge for one child who has been reluctant to accept the help and support of staff. However, staff have persevered with this child, who has managed to achieve some qualifications. The child’s social worker said: ‘The staff have done a lot to put [name of child] in a more stable position. Getting qualifications is an amazing achievement and he is now talking about going to college. Despite the challenges, they have done really well.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support children to attend health appointments and maintain a healthy lifestyle. When necessary, staff engage the services of therapists and other specialist health professionals. This ensures that children’s known, and emerging, health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Medication is administered safely. However, the arrangements for storing controlled medication do not meet the required standard. The manager took steps towards resolving this during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The concept of family is high on the agenda for the manager and staff. They have worked effectively with the children and their family members to rebuild and improve relationships. This has enabled one child to achieve his overall goal of returning home to live with his parents, and the other to re-establish contact with his grandmother. A parent wrote: ‘I personally think that the staff have done an amazing job and words could not express how thankful we are.’

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

Staff know the children well and take a good-parent approach to helping them make the right choices to stay safe. They work closely with specialist safeguarding services to address specific risks, such as child criminal exploitation. For both children, this risk has reduced significantly. A professional said: ‘[Name of child] has been much more stable since he has been at the home. The work that we have done has been able to progress because of the consistency and stability he has. The staff are Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 4 brilliant and [name of child] is much more motivated not to be involved in criminality.’

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

Risk management plans are detailed and provide clear responses for managing known or emerging risks. Incidents of risk-taking behaviour are rare. However, when incidents do occur, such as going missing from care, staff are proactive in their response and make every effort to secure a safe return. However, children are not routinely being offered an independent return home interview.

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

Staff act as positive role models and encourage children to behave positively. Good behaviour is acknowledged using praise, affirmation and reward. Negative behaviour is proportionately challenged, using restorative techniques that encourage children to reflect and put right their misdemeanours. Children have responded well to this approach and there have been no incidents of physical restraint since the last inspection.

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

Managers adhere to safe recruitment practice. Rigorous assessments and checks are undertaken prior to staff starting work. Potential matters of concern are fully explored, and robust action is taken when incidents of concern arise.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is run effectively by a qualified and experienced manager. She is supported by a competent deputy manager and together they lead a stable, enthusiastic and committed staff team. Collectively, they provide children with a good standard of care that promotes their individual progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff promote an ethos of care that is based on family living. Little touches to the home, such as flowers on the table, an overflowing fruit bowl and the background noise of the radio, create a feeling of informality and homeliness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are enthusiastic about their work and highly complimentary about the support they receive from the leadership team. They are provided with regular formal supervision that gives them an opportunity to develop their own practice, contribute to care planning and influence how the home is run and developed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good access to regular training means that staff have the right knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children in their care. Handovers and team meetings are used effectively to support good communication. Suitable arrangements are in place to ensure that permanent staff who are not qualified can achieve a relevant qualification. However, this does not currently extend to a member of the bank staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers are clear about what needs to be done to support children to achieve their aims and goals. They work closely with professionals and parents to ensure that children receive the holistic support and care needed to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are detailed and provide a comprehensive picture of each child’s needs, experience and progress. Internal documents, such as care plans and risk Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 5 assessments, are frequently reviewed and updated. However, supporting documentation from external agencies, such as the education, health and care plan and outcomes from a medical assessment, has not been acquired in a timely manner. Although there is evidence that the manager has chased this information, she has failed to escalate to a suitable challenge when it has not been provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes good use of quality assurance processes, including the scrutiny of the independent visitor. She demonstrates a good understanding of what the home does well and is proactive in addressing any identified shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Suitable action has been taken to address the requirement and two of the three recommendations from the last inspection. Due to the time elapsed since the visit, it is difficult to assess whether the recommended improvements to the shower room were completed. However, at this inspection, it was recognised that both the shower room and bathroom need to be refurbished if they are to replicate the high standards seen in all other areas of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, escalate and challenge relevant persons to ensure that they provide statutory information in a timely manner. 30 September 2021

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, make the necessary improvements to the first- floor bathroom and second-floor shower room. 30 September 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that controlled medication is stored and recorded in line with the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person must ensure that any child returning from an episode of being missing is offered an independent return home interview by the child’s placing authority. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including bank staff, can acquire a professional qualification relevant to their role in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.8)

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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: SC006014 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: 158–160 Birkrig, Digmoor Parade, Skelmersdale WN8 9HP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Fletcher

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Inspectors

Paul Scott, Social Care Inspector Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC006014 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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