Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 1 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 children’s home is operated by a private company. It provides care for up to five young people who are male and aged between 11 and 17 years old.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since February 2016.

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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 inspection 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 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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/10/2019 Full Outstanding 20/09/2018 Full Good 19/12/2017 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy trusting and nurturing relationships with staff. A child said, ‘The staff have always been there for me, and they have never let me down. I can talk to them about anything. They really have looked after me and supported me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive care and support from staff who know them well and understand their needs. Children make good progress, especially those who have lived at the home from many years. However, there have been some difficulties for a former resident, which resulted in the child having some poor experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child who is about to leave said that he could not have done this without the support of the staff. Other children said that they now have the confidence to travel independently to and from school and to see family and friends.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive support to develop their independence skills. However, their plans do not identify their individual strengths, needs or progress. This means that areas where additional support is required to help children prepare for their next steps may not be identified or addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are aspirational in their support for children’s learning and education. They work tirelessly to source the right educational support college placement or apprenticeships to help children achieve their individual goals. One child said, ‘They [the staff] are very supportive in my course and are trying really hard to sort my education.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work very well with the families of the children. This is echoed by the complimentary comments from parents. Staff help families and the children to rebuild their relationships, so much so that one child is now enjoying weekend stays with family and is hoping to return home. The social worker said that this would not have been achieved without the staff’s support.

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

Children live in a safe and comfortable home. Inspectors raised concerns about the safety of the outbuilding in the rear garden, and action was taken to address this.

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

Risks to children’s safety and well-being have decreased significantly from their starting points. However, their individual risk assessments do not always reflect the current concerns or how staff are to minimise these. This includes the plans and processes for assessing children’s safety when staying with family members.

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

The incidents of children going missing from care have significantly declined. In most cases, staff are aware of the action to take to try to locate a child. However, Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 4 for a former resident, their plans were not clear, meaning that there could be a delay of up to 15 hours before they were reported missing, potentially placing the child at the risk of harm.

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

Children have developed their understanding of safe behaviour and can manage their emotions in ways that are not harmful.

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

Staff receive training in positive behaviour support. They have a good understanding of children’s needs and why they may behave in certain ways. This helps them to respond to challenging situations in a consistent and positive manner. As a result, there has only been one physical intervention in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a suitably qualified and experienced manager in post. The manager has high aspirations for the children and a good understanding of their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The current staff team is mainly male, meaning that there is a gender imbalance. The manager is aware of this and is striving to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are supported well by the manager and deputy and are confident to talk to them about any concerns that they may have. Staff training is positive and helps staff gain the knowledge and skills to meet the children’s needs. However, the workforce development plan is not reflective of the current staff team or their training needs. This has not been identified through the home’s monitoring systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monitoring of the home has slipped since the last inspection. The manager’s monitoring and independent person’s monitoring have not identified several shortfalls in record-keeping, such as the physical intervention records, risk assessments, key-worker records, and missing-from-care records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of record-keeping is not consistently good. Many records are not signed and dated by the author. Some records lack sufficient detail and fail to tell the story of the event or of the discussion with the child. Furthermore, some records and documents contain inappropriate language to describe the child and the behaviour that they are displaying, for example describing a child who is in crisis as having a ‘paddy’ or ‘tantrum’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with professionals involved in children’s care and is proactive in engaging new services to meet children’s changing needs. Parents and professionals are highly supportive of the manager and staff and the support that they provide to the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 5

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(d)

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Requirement Due date

In particular that the children’s risk assessments are sufficiently detailed and reflect their current needs and that the outhouse in the rear garden is made safe. 8 April 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 the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 8 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 6 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; and

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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)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 8 April 2022

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that each child is fully prepared to move on from the home. That each child has their own bespoke independence plan that identifies their individual goals, strengths and areas for development. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that where possible that the staff team is reflective of different gender groups. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 54, paragraph 10.22)  The registered person must ensure that records and documentation are recorded to a consistently good standard so that they tell the child’s story. Furthermore, staff should not use inappropriate language to describe children, such as ‘the boy’, or their actions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 1221700 7

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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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Inspectors

Chris Scully, Social Care Inspector Marie Cordingley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1221700 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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