Children's Home run by New Horizons NW Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 1 Registered provider: New Horizons (NW) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered to provide care for up to four children, aged between seven and 17 years, who may experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been registered with Ofsted since August 2020.The current manager has been registered since August 2020.

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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 18 March 2021 to carry out a monitoring 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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides a welcoming and homely environment in which children make good progress. It has a relaxed atmosphere which children enjoy. This helps them to remain calm and reduces their anxieties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build positive relationships with staff. This helps them to talk about their feelings and express their emotions. One child said, ‘The staff are now my real family, like my aunties and uncles.’ This helps children to develop confidence and resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make exceptional progress with their school attendance and attainment. Some children had previously not attended school for many years but are now attending full time. School staff said that children, ‘appear to have great relationships with the staff and you can see they genuinely enjoy going home and being with key staff’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities. This helps them to develop social skills. This also promotes their general health and well-being. One child said, ‘It’s fun. We’re always doing something.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well managed. Staff work closely with specialist services to meet children’s needs. For example, one child is making very good progress with his physical and emotional health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff plan carefully for when children leave the home. Staff promote positive endings and keep in touch with children to maintain their support network. A foster carer said, ‘Everything was brilliant from start to finish. The transition was well planned.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide care that is individualised to meet each child’s needs. Personalised key- work sessions help children to build a sense of their own identity.

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

The staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe and know children’s individual risks and needs.

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

The registered manager appropriately notifies all agencies of safeguarding concerns and follows safeguarding procedures. However, a significant delay on one occasion affected the regulator’s oversight of the action that was being taken to keep children safe.

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

All children have clear risk management plans which staff regularly review as part of a multi-agency approach. As a result, there have been no missing-from-home Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 4 episodes. However, risk management processes are not always fully considered for all activities and events in the home. This may affect children’s safety.

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

Pre-admission processes are generally robust. Children are well matched to the home, and they visit before they move in. However, staff should consider the location of the home when assessing its suitability for new children.

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

Children have access to all areas of the home. However, door alarms are used on children’s bedrooms without an individualised risk assessment to show that they are necessary to keep children safe. This intrudes on their privacy.

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

Behaviour management plans provide clear strategies for staff to follow. This ensures that staff only use restraint as a last resort to manage children’s behaviour. When it is used, children and staff review the incident afterwards, which helps them to reflect. The registered manager reviews all incidents to help prevent similar incidents from occurring.

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

Children respond well to clear boundaries and routines in the home. The staff help children to build positive relationships with each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and leaders promote good multi-agency working to support children. Effective relationships with schools, health providers and social care help to provide consistency in children’s holistic care. The registered manager challenges local authorities when relevant plans are not provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are clear and are child-friendly in style, which will support their understanding of their journey. Plans clearly identify children’s needs and the progress they are making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager promotes high expectations for children in the home. There is a clear aspirational ethos across the team. This means children make quick progress and achieve good outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality and regularity of staff supervision is inconsistent. Supervision is not reflective and annual appraisals are not conducted for all staff. This means that managers do not formally evaluate the performance of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers now review all records of significant incidents. Analysis of incidents helps to identify trends and any gaps in staff training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff attend a wide range of training to develop their skills and knowledge. This helps them to provide better care for children. However, the workforce plan does not contain a coordinated strategy to highlight current or future training. Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 5 The registered manager provides a regular quality of care review. The children’s views and feedback are not directly captured in this report. This affects the analysis and evaluation of the quality of care. Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 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, the 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 privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(a)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the current use of door alarms on all children’s bedrooms without clear reason. 4 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should receive regular supervision to reflect on their practice. All staff should have an annual appraisal. 4 April 2022 Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that Ofsted is notified of any incidents without delay. This relates to incidents that are specified in regulation 40(4)(a)- (d). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should ensure that children can develop positive relationships with other children. However, the registered manager needs to be aware that children may be at risk from other children visiting their home. Appropriate steps should be taken to protect children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.13)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce plan is updated to include current and planned training of staff working at the home. This should also include the professional development needs of staff. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a review is undertaken of the quality of care that focuses on the experiences of children living there. This should include feedback and comments from children about the home. The review should also include the registered person’s analysis and conclusions. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraphs 15.2 to 15.4)  The registered person should ensure that the suitability of the location of the premises is considered when planning to admit children into the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: 2594985 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Horizons (NW) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Horizons (NW) Ltd, Unit 12, Riversway Business Village, Navigation Way, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston PR2 2YP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Natalie Waterhouse

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Inspectors

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Karen Willson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2594985 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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