Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 1 SC035477 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 home that provides care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in June 2018.

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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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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 15 January 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2020 Full Good 19/11/2018 Full Good 08/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/06/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are three children living in the home. All the children said they are happy living there. One child said, ‘this is by far the best home I have lived in’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are cared for as individuals and not as a group. Their care plans are task focused to ensure that the care provided is consistent and supports them to make progress in all areas of their lives. Children have good relationships with staff. Staff know the children well. Children are supported to have positive experiences and they progress well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s experiences of arriving at and leaving the home are positive. The children who have left since the last inspection have done so in a planned way. One child returned home to live with his family. Another child has moved on to independence after a very successful transition plan that allowed staff to continue to support him in his new home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children are not currently engaging with education. Staff remain persistent in their attempts to find activities that will help children to move back towards learning. There are clear education plans for children and staff work closely with children’s education provisions. This means that children’s education is promoted, while their emotional well-being is understood and addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are detailed in their plans. Children are registered with the relevant primary healthcare services. Some children require additional support from local mental health services and staff are proactive in ensuring that they can access a service. Some children make poor choices in relation to their health and staff should ensure that they support children and challenge these negative behaviours. A recommendation has been made to address this matter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain positive relationships with their families. Staff work closely with children and their families to promote positive time together. This helps children to rebuild important family relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the children to learn the life skills that they will need to live independently. Children practise cooking, budgeting and other life skills. One child has a job and staff have supported with this. One child’s family member said, ‘they don’t treat her as a child they treat her as an apprentice adult’.

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

Children said they feel safe living in the home. They feel they can talk to staff when they are worried as they have good relationships. One child’s parent said they are ‘not only keeping my child safe, but they are also teaching them to keep themselves safe’. Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 4 Some children can display behaviours that present a high level of risk. Good-quality risk assessments provide clear strategies for staff to manage these risks. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of risk and how to manage this effectively. One child has had a significant reduction in incidents of self-harm until recently when these have increased again. There is a very clear risk management plan that balances the risk with the need for the child to progress to independence.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home have reduced. Staff respond well to these incidents. Staff follow clear protocols for all children. This includes actively searching for children and encouraging them to return to the home. Consequently, children are safer.

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

Staff consistently promote positive behaviour. Consequences are proportionate. As a result, staff help children to manage their behaviours in a safer way and children are rarely restrained by staff. On the few occasions when this has happened, the interventions are minimal and proportionate. Records of these interventions are clear and children are encouraged to reflect on and comment on these records. On one occasion, managers did not review an incident of restraint within timescales. A recommendation has been made in relation to this.

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

Children are protected by the organisation’s effective recruitment practices. Staff are background checked and assessed as suitable before any appointment is confirmed. These procedures promote the safety of the children by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is forward thinking, using research to inform his practice. He is committed to the children and is well respected by staff. He leads by example and has created a positive ethos in the home. He has high expectations for the children. He is available to the children and this has helped build positive relationships with them. Staff said that they feel well supported and that the manager is approachable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children have been able to build positive relationships with staff as the staff team is stable and consistent. When additional staff are needed, these are regular staff which further promotes the consistency of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff are provided with the essential skills and knowledge for their roles through a comprehensive training package. This informs their practice and ensures that they can meet children’s individual and diverse needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Impact risk assessments are completed carefully to inform placement decisions around the suitability of new admissions. This ensures that the needs of the children are met safely as children are suitably matched.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has a clear understanding of the children’s needs and how staff work to meet these. It is clear the manager monitors practice and this feeds into care Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 5 planning for the children. This monitoring and oversight could be recorded more consistently to evidence that learning opportunities are being identified. This has been made a recommendation. Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand and change negative behaviours in key areas of health, including the use of illegal drugs. This is specifically in relation to cannabis use for one child. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are reviewed to identify effective practice. This is in relation to a delay in the responsible individual reviewing a record of restraint. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations including the quality standards', page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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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: SC035477 7

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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

Rachael Crook, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC035477 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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