Children's home run by ABC Care and Education Ltd in Lancaster

Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 1 SC443765 Registered provider: ABC Care and Education Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to care for three young people who may experience emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It offers emergency, medium- and long-term care.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2018. She is experienced and holds a level 5 diploma in leadership and management of children’s residential care.

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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 carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 22 September 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

Date of last inspection: 16 October 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/10/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/01/2019 Full Good 05/06/2017 Full Good 22/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite taking care to assess and match children’s needs, the home has not always been able to meet the needs of those who come to live there. These are usually children placed in an emergency where the full extent of their needs and challenges has not been identified or understood. When this happens, children move on swiftly but, nevertheless, they have been effectively supported during their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff appreciate the importance of children keeping in touch with family and friends and include and engage parents, where possible, in planning for their child’s care. Parents recognise staff’s skill in this area and value their professionalism. One parent commented, ‘Honest and appropriate information-sharing was always provided. There was a real sense that everyone was on the same page and had my son’s best interests at heart. They truly did implement everything possible to meet his needs.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children settle well in the home and share trusting and meaningful relationships with staff, with children enjoying the consistent care and support that staff provide. Social workers and other professionals speak highly of the home and the quality of care that children receive. One professional commented, ‘All staff are fully invested in [child’s name], especially the manager who is a good advocate for the children.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to follow a healthy lifestyle, eating a nutritious diet and taking part in regular exercise. Children are encouraged to make choices as part of their daily living arrangements, including planning for mealtimes and their activities. Children enjoy a good variety of activities and hobbies, including swimming, biking, and fell-walking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s mental and emotional well-being is consistently monitored and appropriately supported. As well as working closely with specialist health professionals, staff are trained in and have a good understanding of adverse childhood experiences and childhood trauma. Staff use a therapeutic model of care that has been specifically developed for traumatised children to inform the support they provide.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff proactively support children’s learning. For some, this involves providing home tuition until a school place is confirmed. For one child, who has more recently moved to the home, this has meant staff transporting him to another area to maintain the continuity of his attendance at the school he was already attending. Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 4

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

Children feel safe and well protected by staff. Those children currently living in the home are very settled and get along well together despite a significant age gap between them.

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

Staff have remained vigilant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The home has adopted stringent infection-control measures to minimise the likelihood of children and staff falling ill with COVID-19. So far, the home has remained free of the infection and has caused minimal disruption to children living there.

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

Children do not frequently go missing from this home, but, when they do, staff act promptly, following children from the home and notifying the police as required. This prompt response and adherence to procedure minimises the length of time children are missing and promotes their early return to the home.

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

The quality of relationships that children share with staff is key in keeping incidents to a minimum and ensuring that, in most cases, they do not escalate. Because of this, restraint is seldom used. Staff are skilled in talking through issues with children and aim to reach resolution through discussion when difficulties arise. Sanctions, when used, are fair and reasonable.

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

The home has a range of robust arrangements in place that successfully promote children’s safety. For example, they have safe arrangements for the administration of medication and safer recruitment practice to ensure that children are less likely to be cared for by an unsuitable adult.

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

Regular fire drills ensure that children are familiar with the procedure to evacuate the home should an emergency occur. However, staff do not always ensure visitors’ safety by reminding them of the arrangements for evacuation should there be a fire.

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

Children’s individual risks are well understood by staff and well documented in children’s records to ensure that these are regularly reviewed and relevant to guide staff. Although the home’s location risk assessment was recently updated, it failed to take account of a new identified risk that is now known to police and staff involving a child that previously lived at the home. This needs further updating as it is relevant in the consideration of future children’s suitability to live at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff team work effectively together to ensure that children receive high-quality care. The registered manager has a clear process and rationale for matching and accepting children that come to live at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although a few children’s placements have not progressed as well as they were planned, the care children received during their time at the home was tightly managed and supported to maintain children’s safety by multi-agency partners. Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 5 The manager encourages a culture of reflection and review to enhance future practice. For those children whose needs could not be met in this home, the manager has led discussions with staff to explore what lessons can be learned and used to inform future practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported in their roles, and that their suggestions and ideas are always listened to. Good access to a wide range of training opportunities, regular supervision, and annual appraisals ensure that staff can successfully maintain their personal professional development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal monitoring processes are strong and are appropriately used to evaluate the quality of care provided and inform future development planning. External monitoring arrangements have recently changed to strengthen external scrutiny of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 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 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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 21 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of a fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, make sure that visitors working at the home are aware of the arrangements should the fire alarm sound. 21 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year, taking into account the requirement in regulation 12 (2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 21 January 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 7

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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: SC443765 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: ABC Care and Education Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: International House, 61 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HZ

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Kennedy

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC443765 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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