Children's home run by Care Assist Children’s Services Limited in West Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: SC061678 1 SC061678 Registered provider: Care Assist Children’s Services Limited 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 who may have emotional or behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and operated by a private provider.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in July 2014. At the time of the inspection, there was one child living in the home.

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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 or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Following an inadequate inspection in August 2021, two compliance notices were issued in respect of regulation 12 and regulation 13.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At the monitoring visit in October 2021 these notices were monitored and found to be unmet and two further notices were issued. A notice restricting accommodation Inspection report children's home: SC061678 2 at a children’s home was issued under section 22B of the Care Standards Act 2000. This notice was issued with immediate effect from the 22 October 2021 until the 13 January 2022.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

During this full inspection, the compliance notices were monitored and found to be unmet. Inspection report children's home: SC061678 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/08/2021 Full Inadequate 12/12/2019 Full Good 16/01/2019 Full Good 15/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC061678 4

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inadequate

Progress for children is limited by ineffective care planning. Some children benefit from external agency support. However, for some children, their significant needs have not been addressed. For example, one child has a neurodevelopmental disorder; however, staff have not received training to develop their understanding of how this may affect the child’s day-to-day life.

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inadequate

Children are not being supported adequately to prepare for independence. Children are gaining some independence skills; however, staff are not following a comprehensive independence plan which means that not all of their needs are being addressed. For example, budgeting skills were identified in local authority plans but these had not been addressed.

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inadequate

One child has shown good commitment to a training programme which has enabled them to gain employability skills.

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inadequate

Weaknesses in transition planning have meant that some children have had a negative experience when leaving the home. For example, one child was not told that their placement had ended until after the fact, and one child did not receive appropriate practical support to help them move out.

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inadequate

One child spoken to, felt supported by the staff in the home and felt that they could talk to staff about worries or concerns. The child is supported to see people who are important to them, and one professional commended staff for supporting positive family relationships.

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

Actions taken in response to safeguarding incidents have not been effective. There is limited oversight of, or reflection on, significant events, and actions taken to safeguard children and prevent incidents reoccurring are limited. Therefore, children remain at risk of harm.

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

Children remain at risk, due to smoking in their rooms, because staff are not taking effective action. Furthermore, there has been no meaningful work with children about smoking and associated fire hazards, which does not develop their understanding or help them to keep safe.

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

There has been a reduction in the number of incidents when children have been missing from the home. When children are missing, staff inform appropriate agencies and try to contact the children. However, when children return, records do not demonstrate that staff are taking action to ascertain their well-being. Inspection report children's home: SC061678 5 Despite a recommendation made at the last inspection, sanctions are still not restorative in nature and do not help children to understand the impact of their behaviours. Sanctions are not well recorded or effectively reviewed, and some sanctions have been repeated with no positive impact on behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in 2014. Staff feel that the manager and deputy manager provide a supportive environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some staff have regular supervision that they find beneficial. However, one new member of staff did not receive supervision in line with the home’s own policy. This does not support the development of good practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has missed opportunities to identify and address shortfalls in practice. Furthermore, they do not have a clear overview of significant events and have failed to identify any potential learning to improve practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Failure to monitor standards effectively, or take action when concerns are identified, means that poor practice and poor standards of care continue, and children are not benefiting from an improving service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not ensured that plans for children comprehensively identify their needs. Behaviour support plans for children are under review; however, current placement plans for children are not informed by relevant health and education assessments.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are some positive examples of partnership working, and one professional said that the home is good at keeping them up to date with important issues. However, in some cases, the manager has failed to challenge external services sufficiently which has affected the quality of care for some children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Training for staff remains incomplete in some subjects which are relevant to the needs of children living at the home. This means that in some areas, staff lack the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not notified Ofsted of a significant event. This does not support effective monitoring and therefore compromises children’s welfare and safety. Inspection report children's home: SC061678 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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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 (a)(b)(c)) 27 January 2022

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority,

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. 27 January 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC061678 7 (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 27 January 2022

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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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 27 January 2022

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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 their full 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h)) 27 January 2022

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual young people in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion, and third-party information. Information about young people should always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to them now or in the future. In particular Inspection report children's home: SC061678 8 in key-worker records and young people’s healthcare plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that all sanctions are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and proportionate and that they are relevant and restorative in nature. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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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: SC061678 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Assist Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 High Barn, Back Lane, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 6SX

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Inspectors

Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Chris Scully, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC061678 10 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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