Children's home run by Lancashire County Council in Preston

Inspection report children's home: SC039673 1 SC039673 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This is a local authority children’s home. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six children. At the time of the inspection there were 6 children living in the home.

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Information about this children's home

There is a manager in place who registered with Ofsted in 2019.

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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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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/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC039673 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/01/2020 Full Outstanding 11/12/2018 Full Outstanding 11/12/2017 Full Outstanding 10/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC039673 3

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inadequate

Children’s progress and experiences have been variable. Some children have had posiitve experiences and are making progress in education. For other children, poor risk management is having a negative effect on their safety and welfare and limiting their progress.

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inadequate

Children report that they get along well with one another. However, relationships between children have not always been posiitve. Children have taken responsibility for providing support to other children who are having a difficult time. Expectations have been placed on one child to support staff in managing other children’s behaviour. This places inappropriate roles and expectations on children that affects their emotional well-being.

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inadequate

Furthermore, children are not being given support to develop positive relationships with one another. Staff are unable to manage the complex dynamics within the home. Therefore, staff are not preventing children from harming one another or effectively managing the impact of children’s risks and behaviours on other children living in the home.

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inadequate

One child moved into the home during a period when risks for other children were increasing. Ineffective decision making meant that the child has been adversely af- fected by the dynamics in the home and the risks associated with other children.

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inadequate

One child has had a posiitve experience when moving into supported accommoda- tion. This child was supported to develop their independence skills and staff from the home continue to offer support, which is helping them to manage this transition.

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inadequate

Children’s health needs are understood, and children are supported to attend routine appointments. Appropriate referrals have been made to ensure that specialist help is made available for children who need it.

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inadequate

Children said that they can talk to staff and that they know how to complain. How- ever, one child did not receive adequate support when they made a disclosure to staff. The parent of this child also made a complaint about a related issue. The man- ager did not respond to this complaint and therefore failed to address the concerns that were raised.

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inadequate

Children have opportunities to attend hobbies and sports clubs. There are photo- graphs displayed around the home of children engaging in positive activities and staff are making memory books that children can take with them when they leave.

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inadequate

Some areas of the home are decorated to a good standard. Staff celebrate children’s artwork, and this is displayed in the home. However, children’s bathrooms and the Inspection report children's home: SC039673 4 communal landing are not maintained to an acceptable standard which does not constitute a homely and welcoming environment for children.

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

Safeguarding practice in this home does not promote the welfare of the children suf- ficiently. Staff do not always respond effectively to concerns about children’s safety.

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

Children have been at risk because staff have not taken effective action when they are missing. Staff try to find children when they are missing, however, staff re- sponses are inconsistent. Staff have not reported children missing to the police within appropriate timescales and have not acted in accordance with children’s indi- vidual plans. Significant delays in reporting children missing to the police, does not demonstrate effective or robust safeguarding practice. Furthermore, management oversight of incidents had not identified these shortfalls and inadequate safeguard- ing practice continued.

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

Managers and staff have failed to recognise and respond to all risks for children. Staff have not been trained in safeguarding matters, such as county lines, which means that they do not have the necessary skills and knowledge to keep children safe.

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

Staff have not responded appropriately when children have expressed intentions to harm themselves. Staff failed to implement a safety plan or monitor a child’s welfare following a significant incident. One child who had expressed suicidal intentions was able to leave the home again the following day and staff did not know their whereabouts or make attempts to contact them.

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

Children’s risk assessments do not clearly identify all known risks for children. Risk assessments are not routinely updated, and some risk assessments contain conflict- ing information. Risk assessments do not clearly set out what actions staff should take to address risks for children. Some risks have been incorrectly classified as low risk, which does not support staff’s understanding of how to keep children safe. Chil- dren have been at risk due to the inconsistent and ineffective actions taken by staff.

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

Children do not always benefit from clear and consistent boundaries or effective behaviour management strategies. Sanctions for children are not restorative in nature and some sanctions have been repeated despite them having no impact on behaviour. Manager’s oversight of these records has been poor. Staff continued to use ineffective behaviour management strategies, which does not support children to reflect upon and improve their behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a suitably qualified manager in post who registered with Ofsted in 2019. Staff find the manager to be approachable and supportive. Inspection report children's home: SC039673 5 The manager has failed to meet the requirements and recommendations, in relation to risk assessments, that were made during the monitoring visit in July 2020. Management oversight of children’s risk assessments and incidents has failed to identify shortfalls in safeguarding practice. Therefore, ineffective safeguarding practice has continued, which has placed children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

On some occasions children have been cared for by an insufficient number of staff, which has placed children at risk of harm. For example, a significant event took place, however staffing levels were not adjusted. This meant that when further incidents occurred, the staffing levels were not sufficient to allow for risks to be managed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff have received regular supervision which means that opportunities for the manager to develop staff practice have been missed. Regular team meetings have taken place, however, issues raised have not been followed up. For example, the lack of rewards for children was raised in a team meeting by the manager. Despite this, some children have not had any rewards since they moved into the home. This does not demonstrate that staff are consistently promoting positive behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When children had been restrained documentation is not consistently completed. Records of restraints are unclear and fail to provide an accurate account of what has occurred. This means that the manager has not evaluated the appropriateness or effectiveness of the measures used, which does not promote children’s safety and welfare. Inspection report children's home: SC039673 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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)) 6 March 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 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; 6 March 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC039673 7 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(d)(f)(h))

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)) 6 March 2022

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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; 26 March 2022 Inspection report children's home: SC039673 8 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; 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")— 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 (1)(a)(b)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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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 the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of their children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children's homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than 'institutional' impression. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC039673 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: PO Box 78, County Hall, Fishergate, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector

Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC039673 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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