Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 1 SC039248 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in January 2021.

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This monitoring visit

This home was judged to be inadequate at the full inspection in February 2022. As a result of that inspection, five compliance notices were issued. During this monitoring visit, inspectors monitored compliance with these notices.

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This monitoring visit

Inspectors identified concerns that children living in the home are frequently smoking cannabis. Records reflect that there are an increasing number of occasions when staff suspect that children have used cannabis or when they have found drug paraphernalia in the home. The manager and staff have found evidence of small amounts of a substance, believed to be cannabis, in addition to empty plastic bags and plastic pots that they suspect have been used to store cannabis.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff have also found evidence of children smoking in their bedrooms. During the inspection, the inspector raised concerns that two children’s bedrooms smelled strongly of smoke and that one child, aged 13, had placed a sock over the smoke detector in their bedroom.

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This monitoring visit

Staff have taken some practical steps to reduce the risk of fire, such as spraying the soft furnishings in children’s bedrooms with fire retardant spray. However, staff are not consistently following the strategies in children’s risk assessments in relation to children smoking and misusing illegal substances. Furthermore, the manager has not Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 2 identified these shortfalls in staff practice. Poor risk management and ineffective management oversight has left children at risk of harm.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff have carried out room searches and found that some children have dangerous items in their bedrooms, including bladed articles. Although staff have been able to recover these items, the concerns around children being in possession of weapons are significant and ongoing.

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This monitoring visit

Ineffective decision-making around children moving into the home has created a challenging group dynamic. Staff have not been able to manage relationships between the children living in the home and there are concerns about the potential for children to pose risks to one another. Therefore, leaders and managers must ensure that the shortfalls in the matching process are addressed before another child moves into the home. In addition, systems must ensure that the welfare of other children is not adversely affected by another child moving into the home.

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This monitoring visit

Staff have struggled to implement routines and boundaries in the home. Incidents of challenging behaviour have increased and staff have, on some occasions, required police involvement to manage children’s behaviour. Therefore, re-establishing good routines and boundaries within the home is a priority. This must happen before any new children are introduced to the home.

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This monitoring visit

The manager has taken action to address the shortfalls in safer recruitment practices. The manager has undertaken an internal audit of staff files which identified a number of issues. Immediate action was taken to address the identified issues and recruitment files now contain all of the required information.

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This monitoring visit

Home conditions have improved since the last inspection. Children’s bedrooms have been redecorated and all identified repairs have been completed. The manager and staff have ensured that hygiene and cleanliness are maintained to an acceptable standard.

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This monitoring visit

Following this visit, inspectors issued four compliance notices and a notice restricting accommodation at the home. This restriction of accommodation notice will provide an opportunity for staff to reflect on the identified shortfalls at the home and take steps to eliminate and reduce risks to children. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2022 Full Inadequate 10/03/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness 24/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/02/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 4

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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

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

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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)(v)(vi)) 8 May 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

promotes their welfare. 8 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 5 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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)(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 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)) 8 May 2022

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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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

the name of the child; 8 May 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 6 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;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

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")—

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Requirement Due date

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) (2) (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Julia Toller, Regulatory Inspection Manager Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC039248 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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