Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 1 SC475723 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 children’s home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to nine children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

An experienced manager has been appointed. She has submitted her application to become registered with Ofsted.

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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 27 October 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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: 22 October 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Ofsted has taken enforcement action against this home since the last inspection. A monitoring visit on 21 July 2020 resulted in two compliance notices being issued under regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 40 Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 2 (notification of a serious event). A second monitoring visit took place on 2 September 2020 which resulted in the compliance notices being met. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/08/2018 Full Good 31/10/2017 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children told the inspectors that they are happy living at the home. Children make progress while living in the home. Social workers attribute this to the positive relationships that children have with the staff team and the support provided to children to improve their life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children have improved school attendance. Staff consistently encourage children to recognise the importance of education and to enjoy their time in school. Direct work and key-work sessions engage children well and are focused on children’s specific needs. Key-work sessions help children to overcome barriers to their learning and focus on future aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to rebuild relationships with their families. The staff team works together with children’s families to ensure that children have safe and consistent boundaries when they stay at their family members’ homes. Consequently, children have improved relationships with their families and some children have returned home to their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children’s placements have ended on an emergency basis. These were risk-led decisions made by the provider to ensure the continued safety of one child, and to reduce the impact of another child’s risks on the rest of the children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children lead healthy lifestyles and attend routine health appointments. A dedicated clinical team provides regular support and consultation to the staff team, to enable them to meet the emotional care needs of the children. The therapist and clinical psychologist know the children well. They provide individual therapeutic support for children on a day-to-day basis and additional crisis support when required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to pursue their hobbies and interests. They attend social activities such as judo, football practice and horse riding, which helps to improve their confidence and self-esteem. Incentive programmes and rewards are individualised. They help children to work towards specific targets associated with positive behaviour.

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

Children said they feel safe. The relationships of children living together are monitored well by the staff team, to reduce any potential risks. Impact risk assessments for children admitted to the home have improved under the oversight of the current manager. This has contributed to the effective matching of children together in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 5 Staff have a good understanding of risks for children, including recognising behaviour that requires immediate intervention to safeguard children. This includes acting in relation to suspected child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation and when children may try to harm themselves. When a serious incident occurred, the staff team took immediate action to safeguard the child and implemented continuous supervision until the child could be seen by a clinical professional and a safety plan agreed.

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

Risk assessments provide staff with a clear account of triggers for children’s behaviour and effective de-escalation strategies. The use of restraint has reduced for some children because of effective changes to behaviour management techniques. Consequently, police involvement is minimal and is only used to help children understand the consequences of negative behaviour towards others.

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

When children go missing from home, staff are proactive in their approach to reduce any further incidents. The staff team encourages children to be open about who they are spending their time with. Lessons learned reviews are completed by the senior leadership team, to consider any trends or patterns associated with children’s missing from home incidents.

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

Allegations are responded to thoroughly and managed without delay. There have been no formal complaints made by children about the operation of their home, which demonstrates that children can raise concerns informally and they are listened to.

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

For one child, records do not clearly demonstrate if their medication has been administered when staying at a family member’s house. In addition to this, staff have not obtained medical guidance to clarify when the child’s prescribed medication should be administered, or to determine the impact of missing frequent dosages on the child’s health. That said, there has been no reported impact on the child’s health to date.

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good

Following a recommendation made at the last visit, the manager has not taken suitable action to ensure that return-home interviews are taking place regularly. Records do not provide effective tracking to demonstrate that concerns have been escalated to the child’s placing authority, or evidence when interviews have taken place following the manager’s challenge. The manager should also ensure that their escalation policy is used consistently with regards to chasing out-of-date documents from children’s placing authorities, such as children’s statutory review minutes.

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good

An experienced manager supports the staff team. She has brought positive change to the operation of the home and is clear about how the service should be delivered. Both staff and professionals reported a positive impact on the quality of care provided to children. Consequently, the morale within the staff team has improved. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 6 Following several staff changes in previous months, the manager needs to sustain the current staff team stability, to promote continuity of care for children.

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good

The manager has failed to implement clear recording systems to evidence that child welfare checks while at family homes, and children’s mobile phone safety checks, are taking place as they should. Furthermore, there is inconsistent recording in relation to the outcome of the checks or any concerns identified by staff completing the checks.

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good

The manager recognises the potential in individual staff and is keen to develop them through regular supervisions. Some staff have not received training that is specific to the needs and risks of children, for example self-harm, suicide and ligature, substance misuse, ADHD, and bereavement training. Team meetings have not taken place regularly over a period of three months. This is essential to promote consistency of practice and care in the home. However, the meetings that have taken place are child focused and provide the staff team with additional learning.

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good

The manager is developing her understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. She has good aspirations for the home. This is reflected in the progress the home has made since the manager has been in her role.

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good

The review of the quality-of-care report provides a good account of the progress children have made. Regular feedback is obtained from children, families, staff and social workers about their experiences of the home. However, this is not included in the current report to consider a full evaluation of the quality of the service provided. Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 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

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, the manager should ensure that return-home interviews are taking place and, where this is not the case, effective tracking demonstrates that concerns have been escalated to the child’s placing authority and evidences when interviews have taken place following the manager’s challenge. The manager should also ensure that their escalation policy is used consistently with regards to chasing out-of-date documents from children’s placing authorities. 25 November

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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

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

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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)(c)(h)) 25 November Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 8 Specifically, the manager should ensure that enough staff have training that is specific to the needs and risks of children, for example self-harm, suicide and ligature, substance misuse, ADHD, and bereavement training.

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Requirement Due date

The manager’s monitoring should ensure that there are clear recording systems in place to evidence that child welfare checks at family homes, and children’s mobile phone safety checks, are taking place as directed, and any concerns or outcomes are recorded clearly in children’s case files.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records are kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. Where the home has questions or concerns about a child’s medication, they should approach an expert such as a General Medical Practitioner, community pharmacist or designated nurse for looked-after children. Specifically, there should be thorough oversight and clear records to demonstrate if a child’s medication has been administered or refused when children are staying at a family member’s house. In addition to this, staff should seek medical guidance to clarify when children’s prescribed medication should be administered and the potential impact of missing frequent dosages on the child’s health. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that they demonstrate every effort to

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Recommendations

achieve continuity of staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need (regulation 31(1)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)  The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high- quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. Specifically, team meetings should take place regularly with the staff team. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including

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Recommendations

under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. Specifically, the manager should ensure that the feedback they obtain from children, staff, social workers and families is included in the review of quality-of-care report, to demonstrate they have considered a full evaluation of the service provided. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 9

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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: SC475723 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC475723 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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