Children's Home run by Outbound Care in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 1 Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home that provides care to two children who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties (social and emotional difficulties).

p.1

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.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 9 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since January 2020

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2019

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2019 Full Good 03/10/2018 Full Good 23/01/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for well in this home. Children have individual plans and are enabled to build secure relationships with adults. Staff pay attention to the detail of each child’s individual needs and know them well. Children are supported to have positive experiences and they progress well. This builds children’s confidence and feelings of security.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Communication with children is good. Children have weekly meetings where they are consulted about their day-to-day choices, such as their meals, clothes and activities they may want to participate in. They make choices with regards to how their rooms are decorated and furnished. This helps children feel listened to and empowered to make positive decisions.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported and encouraged to attend education and employment. One of the children has an ambition to work in a specific industry, and the manager and staff have worked hard and have helped him to secure an apprenticeship.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain contact with their families where this is appropriate. Staff work proactively with families to promote meaningful and safe contact. A parent said: ‘ As a parent, I am 100% happy with the way they are looking after him.’ Children have been able to maintain family relationships, which has helped them retain a sense of identity.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote age-appropriate independence skills. Children are encouraged and supported to develop the necessary skills for the next step on their journey. Children are prepared practically and emotionally for their next steps.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain good physical and emotional health. Staff are aware of children’s individual needs and work hard to ensure that those needs are met, including working in partnership with health professionals.

p.3

improvement to be good

Not all relevant risks are currently identified in the children’s individual risk assessments, particularly with regards to exploitation. This will lead to some indicators of risk not being recognised and children being left at risk of harm.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff are offered training to help them understand and identify safeguarding issues and procedures. However, through discussions with staff, it was clear that some staff have not retained the learning, particularly with regards to the whistleblowing policy. Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 4 Children who go missing from home experience a thorough, coordinated response from staff that reduces risk. There are clear individual plans in place. Staff look for children when they are missing and are committed to ensuring children’s safety.

p.3

improvement to be good

The home has effective links with social workers, local authority designated officers and other safeguarding agencies. There is good communication about safeguarding issues. These links support a coordinated response to keeping children safe.

p.4

improvement to be good

Children’s behaviour is analysed and managed well. Staff take the time to understand what the children need individually and put measures in place to support their positive behaviours. There are clear routines and boundaries in place, and children are encouraged to behave well by receiving both long- and short-term rewards for good behaviour. Children learn that behaving well is beneficial to them, and that they will receive a positive response to good behaviour.

p.4

improvement to be good

Safer recruitment procedures are followed. Regular monitoring of staff ensure that people who are recruited are suitable to work with children.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed efficiently and effectively by an experienced manager. The manager is passionate about getting good outcomes for children and is dogged in his pursuit of the right resources for children to achieve those outcomes.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high expectations of staff, and backs this with support to enable them to carry out their work to a good standard. Staff are offered regular supportive supervision and annual appraisals. They are supported with training to ensure that they are informed about how to meet the needs of the children in their care. Children benefit from being looked after by adults who understand how to meet their needs.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works proactively with other agencies and professionals. He has good working relationships with social workers and partner agencies. One of the children’s social workers was very impressed with their contact with the manager and said: ‘He has been very proactive in meeting [the child’s] needs. He knows him well.’ This communication with other agencies and this strong advocacy for the children mean that everyone working with the children is clear about how to support them to achieve good outcomes.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Independent visitors have not seen all areas of the home on their visits, including the children’s bedrooms. This is important because this means that the children are missing the opportunity for an independent person to ensure that they have everything that they need.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some of the areas in the home are worn and outdated. The manager has a plan to upgrade these areas, and this now needs to be put into place so that the children have a comfortable homely living space. Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.5

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;

p.5

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

p.5

Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

p.5

Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi))

p.5

Requirement Due date

This relates to staff’s understanding and implementation of each individual child’s risk assessment, and their role in keeping children safe, particularly with regards to risks of exploitation. 14 March 2022

p.5

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—

p.5

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 14 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 6 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

p.5

Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that the regulation 44 visitor carries out thorough monitoring, including ensuring that the children’s rooms are seen regularly. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) 2(h)

p.6

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have full awareness of the whistleblowing policy to assist them in keeping the children safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14 paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the areas of the home that are looking worn are updated. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53 paragraph 10.9)

p.6

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: 1259061 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2, Metropolitan Business Park, Preston New Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9LT

p.7

Inspector

Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1259061 8 regulates and inspects 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8