Children's Home run by Nurture Childcare Services Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: 1238043 1 Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children who are unable to live at home due to emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since January 2021.

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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 15 September 2020 to carry out an assurance 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 and their welfare is not promoted.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children's home: 1238043 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/06/2018 Full Good 22/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: 1238043 3

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inadequate

Children’s progress is mixed. Children living in the home are relatively settled. One child’s emotional well-being has improved since coming to the live in the home. A child who has recently moved into the home has begun a college course of her choice and is reported to be doing well.

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inadequate

One child’s outcomes for education are poor and she only attends education for 8 hours each week. Staff do not support the child to engage in any other educational activities. The provider has access to an in-house education coordinator; however, this has not been fully considered when planning her education.

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inadequate

A child’s bedroom, viewed by the inspector, was dirty and unsafe for the child to remain in. The child was moved to another room in the home, and staff supported the child to obtain items of her choice to make her room feel personalised. Furthermore, another child’s bedroom contained a health and safety hazard that placed the child at significant risk of harm.

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inadequate

Both children told the inspector they liked living in the home and that they both feel that staff care about them. Staff use praise and positive reinforcement to help children develop and promote their well-being. As a result, children have forged secure, positive relationships with staff.

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inadequate

Children moving in and out of the home have not always done so positively. At times, this has not been well planned. A child’s placement continued, despite escalating concerns which resulted in staff being assaulted on several occasions. The child’s placements ended because the home could not meet the complex needs of the child and keep her safe.

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inadequate

Children can share views on the care and daily routines of the home. Positive relationships with staff enable children to raise any concerns at any time. Children know how to complain and who to talk to if they have a concern.

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

Children are at risk of significant harm. Risk management is poor. This means that children are not always effectively safeguarded.

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

The staff demonstrated knowledge and understanding of risks to the children and of some of the protective strategies in place. However, staff were not clear on how to ensure children were kept safe when spending time in their bedrooms. The quality of written risk assessments is variable and at times information is inconsistent. This is a recording issue that reflects weaknesses in the manager’s monitoring of the paperwork. Inspection report children's home: 1238043 4 Incidents requiring physical intervention are not consistently managed. At times, debriefs for staff have not been held. When debriefs have taken place, there has been a significant delay. Consequently, if anincident is not followed by a debrief there is a lack of sufficient oversight to ensure that physical intervention was carried out safely. This additionali recording issue reflects weaknesses in the manager’s monitoring of the paperwork.

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

Children do not have access to all areas of their home. The living room and kitchen doors are locked at night; this is a health and safety risk and creates an institutional environment. Children have been able to lock themselves in the living room, which increases the risk of peer-on-peer bullying in the home. As a result, this increases the risk of harm to children.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted by staff. Consequences are proportionate. As a result, staff help children to manage their behaviours in a safer way.

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

Staff and the manager have undertaken a range of training in safeguarding matters. This ensures that they have some basic knowledge of safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management in the home are poor. The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since January 2021. The manager evidenced some understanding of children’s needs. However, he is not leading the home in a way that ensures children reach their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring in the home is poor. The manager failed to ensure staff monitored children’s bedrooms which resulted in a child’s bedroom being found to be unkempt and inhabitable. Staff had previously raised concerns with the manager about their worries for children’s bedrooms; however, the manager did not take action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Furthermore, there has been a failure, on the manager’s part, to make some improvements, despite shortfalls being pointed out to him by the independent person. Failure to monitor standards effectively or take action when concerns are identified, means that poor practice and poor standards of care will continue, and children will not benefit from an improving service. A number of shortfalls were also identified in the children’s records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In discussion with the inspector, the manager demonstrated a lack of insight into the shortfalls in standards of care and safety. He was not able to articulate that areas requiring improvement had been identified, or how they would be developed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision of staff is poor. One supervision session had taken place late at night in a hospital. Staff had had to take a child there because they were in crisis. This evidences poor planning by the manager. Supervision records lack detail and do not allow staff to reflect on their experiences with children. Inspection report children's home: 1238043 5 The staffing team is now permanent. However, the manager has undertaken regular shifts in the home. As a result, this has had a negative impact on the manager’s ability to undertake his role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Ineffective decision-making, about one child moving into the home, resulted in the child’s ending in the home being negative.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff told the inspector they felt supported in their roles. External feedback is positive. This evidences that the manager and staff work effectively with professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are either qualified to the appropriate level or are currently undertaking the relevant course. This means that the children receive support from suitably qualified staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff work effectively with a number of agencies, including social workers, mental health teams and police. The manager ensures that external professionals receive regular updates on the children’s progress. Inspection report children's home: 1238043 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities, and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(b)) 7 November 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff— 7 November 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1238043 7 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished, and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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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; 7 November 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1238043 8 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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)(d)(f)(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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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 the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or

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Requirement Due date

the child requests a review of the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(i)(ii)(iii)) 7 November 2021

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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

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure; 7 November 2021 Inspection report children's home: 1238043 9 a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result 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 confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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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) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: 1238043 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Nurture Childcare Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71 Edge End Lane, Great Harwood, Blackburn BB6 7QD

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Inspector

Rachel Springford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1238043 11 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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