Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 1 SC064735 Registered provider: Lancashire 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 operated by a local authority. It provides care for up to three children who may have emotional or behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in February 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection there were three children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Good 03/07/2018 Full Good 17/01/2018 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a high standard of care and support from staff who know them well and understand their needs. Children make good, and in some cases outstanding, progress. For example, two children who have lived at the home for several years have grown in confidence and self-esteem, which has enabled them to embark upon full-time apprenticeships and develop positive social networks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children express confidence in staff and describe trusted and secure relationships. Currently, children get along well with each other. However, there have been some difficulties between previous residents, which resulted in one child having some poor experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff closely support children’s health and ensure that they receive appropriate care from the relevant services. Children have experienced demonstrable improvements in their health. For example, one child no longer requires medication for anxiety and has been able to stop taking this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have high aspirations and are engaging well in education or training. Their individual hobbies and talents are encouraged, and they have opportunities to develop new skills. One child is currently taking driving lessons, and another has recently had a trial for a local football team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use innovative and creative ways to help children feel involved in their community. Children have taken part in charity work and positive activities, such as making blankets for local older people. This has helped to develop children’s sense of belonging and inclusion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to develop their independence skills. However, their plans do not identify their individual strengths, needs or progress. This means that areas where additional support is required to help children prepare for their next steps may not be identified or addressed.

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

Children live in a safe and comfortable home. They say that they feel safe and well cared for and confirm that they are able to talk about any worries with staff.

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

Risks to children’s safety and well-being have decreased significantly from their starting points. Children have developed their understanding of safe behaviour and are able to manage their emotions in ways that are not harmful. Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 4 Risk management is effective. Staff are aware of concerns relating to individual children and the actions required to keep them safe. However, information in some risk management plans is limited and could be improved to support consistent practice.

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

Children do not go missing from this home. This is highly positive progress for some children who had a history of doing so before they moved into the home. There is guidance in place for staff to follow if a child does go missing from the home.

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

There have been some incidents where children have behaved negatively towards each other. The manager responds promptly to such incidents and takes measures to address them, which include direct work with children, additional staff training and the involvement of external agencies, where appropriate.

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

Staff receive training in positive behaviour support. They have a good understanding of children’s needs and why they may behave in certain ways. This helps them to respond to challenging situations in a consistent and positive manner. As a result, physical restraints rarely occur in this home.

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

Staff sometimes use sanctions to help children understand the impact of their behaviours. Sanctions are not always proportionate or relevant to the behaviour being addressed. This means that they may not be meaningful or helpful to the child. The manager has recognised this as an area for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitably qualified and experienced manager in post. The manager has high aspirations for children and a strong understanding of their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with professionals involved in children’s care and is proactive in engaging new services to meet children’s changing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home faced significant challenges when some children and staff became ill with COVID-19. Highly effective emergency plans were implemented, which included the manager and some staff ‘locking down’ with children in the home. This demonstrated commitment to the children and meant that they received consistent care at a difficult time.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team, which results in consistency for children. Staff speak highly of the home’s leadership and describe good levels of support and supervision. Suitable action has been taken to meet a requirement made at the last inspection to ensure that all staff receive an annual appraisal.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with a range of training to assist them in their roles. The majority of staff hold nationally recognised qualifications in children’s residential care and have access to learning in areas relevant to children’s individual needs. Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 5 Monitoring is effective. The manager has good oversight of standards of quality and safety. In addition, complaints and adverse incidents are carefully reviewed to ensure that any potential learning is identified and addressed. This helps to ensure that the home is constantly improving. Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that young people receive practical, individualised support to prepare for their move away from the home. This support should take into account the young person’s individual strengths and needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Children’s placement plans should include clear details of the steps the home will take to

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Recommendations

manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: SC064735 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: PO Box 78, County Hall, Fishergate, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspectors

Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’ s home: SC064735 8 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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