Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 1 SC482517 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home provides care for up to four children between 11 and 17 years old who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and is registered with Ofsted.

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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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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 requires improvement to be 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 for children's home: SC482517 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/03/2020 Full Good 27/02/2019 Full Good 09/10/2017 Full Good 14/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Four children live in the home. Three children have lived in the home for over a year, and another child has recently moved out in a planned way. Children make very good progress and say that they feel supported and listened to by staff. One child said, ‘This is the best place I have lived; staff can read me like a book and help me even when I do not realise I need their help.’ This demonstrates that children have positive experiences of being in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have good relationships with staff. Staff know the children well and talk about them with warmth and affection. Children say that they feel valued, and one child said that ‘staff are like family’. Children feel able to share their worries and concerns with staff, and they feel confident that these will be addressed. Consequently, children feel cared for and are happy in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are attending full-time education. Staff promote good school attendance and support children to achieve well educationally. Staff challenge other agencies when there are barriers to children achieving their full potential. One child shared, ‘Staff fight for me, and they will push and push when things are not going well.’ As a result, children are looked after by staff who are ambitious and have high aspirations for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a homely and welcoming environment. Children say that they love their home, and professionals who visit say that the environment is warm. The children have designed some areas of the home, and their bedrooms are decorated to their personal taste. As a result, children take pride in their home and their environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to develop their independence. The home has a separate annex area to support children who are ready to move out of the home to live independently. This allows children to develop their independent living skills with the support of staff. Consequently, children feel more confident that they will be able to live independently when they move out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The impact risk assessments of children moving into the home are recorded poorly. The assessments do not fully consider the risks and the impact that the children may have on each other, and some information is recorded inaccurately. As a result, poor matching may have a detrimental impact on the progress and well-being of children. Positively, children in the home currently are well matched and the poor recording has not yet resulted in serious shortfalls. Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 4

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improvement to be good

Children rarely go missing from the home. There has only been one missing incident since the last inspection. However, risk assessments lack clarity on what actions staff should take when children go missing. On one occasion, staff did not report a child missing to the police and they did not inform the local authority in a timely manner. This delayed the attempts to identify the child’s whereabouts, which could have resulted in them being seriously harmed when missing.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments of children lack sufficient detail. For example, some risk assessments do not accurately reflect the level of risk to children. On one occasion, staff’s recording following an incident of self-harm did not reflect what actions they took to safeguard the child. The risk assessments do not clearly outline what actions staff should take when children self-harm. Consequently, poorly written risk assessments that lack clarity may result in poor staff practice and serious harm to children.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently have a good understanding of how to support some children to manage their own risks. On one occasion, staff used inappropriate victim-blaming language when talking to a child about risks of child sexual exploitation. Staff do not support all children to develop their understanding of risks in relation to internet use, and staff have not thought creatively about how they can support all children to be safe online. As a result, staff do not always support children to develop skills to make informed decisions about risks.

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improvement to be good

Physical restraint incidents are not appropriately recorded. For example, debriefs undertaken with children lack detail and are not used as a reflective opportunity for the child. Staff debriefs are not reflective and lack detail. Staff do not record a detailed description of physical interventions and this practice does not support effective monitoring of such incidents. Consequently, staff do not support children to understand why a restraint has been used, and staff are not consistently given an opportunity to fully reflect and identify any learning opportunities from incidents to improve their practice.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager ensures that allegations made by children are appropriately actioned. All relevant agencies are informed of the concerns raised by a child. This means that concerns about people working with children are taken seriously and managed in a manner that is fair and supportive to the staff involved, and it also protects children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a strong advocate for children. She has been the registered manager for many years and has provided consistent leadership to the home. The registered manager knows the children well and has high aspirations for them, which filters down to the staff. Consequently, children are making good progress in the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 5 The registered manager ensures that the home is properly staffed and resourced to meet the children's needs. The children are very settled. This is because of the stability of the management and staff which ensures that children have consistent adults working with them. This supports children to develop positive and trusted relationships with the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about working in the home and the relationships that they have developed with the deputy manager and registered manager. Staff say that they feel supported by their leaders. The registered manager ensures that staff receive regular supervision which focuses on their strengths and developmental needs. Consequently, children are cared for by staff who feel valued, and this is evidenced in the care staff provide to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that they escalate concerns with external partners when necessary to do so. A professional described the registered manager as a tenacious person who is a voice for the children in her care. For example, the registered manager has challenged a local authority for not progressing a care plan for a child; when concerns have not been addressed effectively, she has escalated this further. This means that children are cared for by staff who advocate for their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff understand the care plans for children, but the recording of the plans is poor. The care plans are lengthy, and some of the information is recorded inaccurately. This may have an impact on the effectiveness of the care plans and may result in shortfalls in the care provided to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent person’s report does not consistently include consultation with children. As a result, children are not consistently given the opportunity to share their views with the independent person to help continue to improve the care provided to them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual is not ensuring that the registered manager is receiving regular supervision. This means that the registered manager’s developmental needs are not regularly reviewed and that the responsible individual is not having consistent oversight of the progress of the children and the home in formal supervision. Consequently, practice issues that may have an impact on the care provided to the children may be missed. Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should ensure that risk assessments are sufficiently detailed and that staff have a good understanding of what actions they should take to safeguard children. 8 February 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 7 The registered person must ensure that—

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

In particular, staff should ensure that the recording of physical restraints of children includes all the relevant information. 8 February 2022 Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children's care plans are clear and contain relevant information that informs the child's care. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 11.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that matching risk assessments considers how the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in their care plans and that they have fully considered the impact the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the manager receives regular supervision. If they are unable to do so, alternative arrangements should be made. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person's report should include consultation of children in the home. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 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 for children's home: SC482517 10

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Mazviita Makiyi, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC482517 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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