Children's Home run by Trax MX Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 1 Registered provider: Trax MX Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in September 2021 to provide care for up to six children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. This home is operated by a private provider. There is a manager in place who registered with Ofsted in September 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

A school, operated by the same provider, operates on the same site. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 14 December 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted website.

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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 widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 3

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inadequate

All the children live in their own individual accommodation set within the large grounds of the home. Many of the children living at the home have a history of being at high risk of exploitation. Some children have experienced multiple placement breakdowns prior to coming to the home.

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inadequate

Children who live at this home experience varied outcomes. One child, who is at risk when he goes missing from care, is more settled and is engaging well with the activities on offer at the home. For other children, poor risk management is having a negative effect on their experiences and safety, and this is limiting their progress.

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inadequate

The registered manager does not use robust risk assessments to inform his decisions about admitting children to the home. For example, one child has been admitted to the home without the manager assessing the risk this child may pose to the children already living there.

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inadequate

The manager’s failure to sufficiently assess children’s compatibility prior to their admission to the home means that children are not always well matched. As a result, relationships between children have not always been positive. Staff have struggled to manage these relationships safely and one child has experienced bullying and intimidation from another child, that was not handled appropriately by staff.

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inadequate

Children living at the home are subject to a high level of surveillance that is not proportionate to the identified risks for individual children. This surveillance is in the form of closed-circuit television (CCTV) and audio recording in the communal areas in their individual lodges. Although there is a policy in place regarding the use of CCTV, risk assessments fail to identify how this high level of surveillance meets the individual needs of children and promotes children’s safety. Furthermore, video and audio recordings are not being viewed or monitored by staff. Managers informed Ofsted that recordings are stored and can only be used to replay past events after at least 24 hours has elapsed since any given incident. There is no system in place for staff to regularly review the CCTV footage. As a result, this form of surveillance is not an effective strategy for responding to immediate safeguarding concerns for

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inadequate

children. This level of surveillance does not promote children’s welfare or show regard to their need for privacy.

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inadequate

Children told the inspectors that they are not always cared for by the same staff. Some children said that when unfamiliar staff care for them, the staff try to implement different rules. This means that children do not always receive continuity or consistency of care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 4 Children’s accommodation is decorated to a good standard. However, children have disabled the smoke alarms in two bedrooms, which would prevent the detection of fire. Staff have not been able to stop the children doing this. One of these children regularly smokes in his bedroom. This is a fire hazard and presents a risk to children and staff.

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inadequate

A seventh child has been admitted to the home since the last monitoring visit. The manager and responsible individual have, therefore, operated outside of the home’s conditions of registration, which is an offence under section 24 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

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

Poor safeguarding arrangements at the home leave children exposed to potential risk of harm.

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

Managers and staff have failed to take appropriate action when children are at risk of harm. For example, one child with a history of exploitation continues to have unlimited and unsupervised access to his smartphone, despite there being a legal court order in place which states that all access to the internet will be fully monitored. Staff are aware that this child has data on his phone and that he can use it to access the internet. Staff have not been able to challenge the child effectively about this phone and it remains in the child’s possession. Furthermore, staff have not monitored the internet sites being visited by the child. This child is known to be speaking to people during the night, but staff have not undertaken any checks to ascertain the identity of these people. Staff have therefore failed to adequately protect the child, leaving him at risk of further exploitation.

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

The registered manager and staff have failed to take sufficient action to manage children’s relationships safely. One child made serious and repeated threats to harm another child. These threats included sending the child an image of a knife. Despite this, staff did not undertake a search of the bedroom of the child making the threats until the following evening. This delay failed to safeguard either of the children. Furthermore, the registered manager did not review the exact nature of the threats made until he was alerted to their content by the inspectors during the inspection. The manager did not undertake a risk assessment of the threat one child posed to another and there was no risk management plan in place to ensure the child’s safety.

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

The registered manager has failed to adequately assess significant risks to the safety and well-being of children. For example, one child made threats to harm himself and police had to be called to support staff to manage the situation safely. The registered manager has not adequately assessed the risk of self-harm to this child. In addition, there is no risk management plan in place to support staff to manage these behaviours consistently and safely.

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

Managers have failed to conduct a sufficiently robust investigation into an allegation made by a child. Children were not offered the opportunity to talk to an independent Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 5 person about the allegation and the registered manager did not talk to all the children who live at the home to seek their views about the concerns raised. The poor quality of this investigation does not safeguard children.

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

The manager has failed to notify Ofsted of some significant incidents that have taken place at the home. This hinders Ofsted’s ability to ensure that the provider has taken the necessary action. In addition, the manager has failed to inform the placing authority of a child who was assaulted by another child at the home during an argument.

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

Staff have not always completed written records of physical interventions within the timescales required by regulation. A requirement has been made to address this.

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

Staff have used their own vehicles to transport children. Managers have failed to undertake the necessary safety checks to ensure that this arrangement is safe for children. For example, managers have not checked whether staff hold a driver’s licence, the appropriate level of insurance or whether the vehicle is roadworthy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor leadership and shortfalls in management oversight are having an adverse impact on the well-being of children and the progress that they are making. For example, the registered manager has admitted children to the home without adequately assessing whether children pose any risks to each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to adequately assess known risks to the safety and well-being of children. This means that staff are not provided with written guidance to support them to manage risks safely and consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Internal and external monitoring systems are not sufficiently robust to identify the shortfalls in the quality of care provided to children. For example, records of staff training in first aid, fire awareness and safeguarding have not been updated. This makes it difficult for managers to identify gaps in essential training and monitor training renewal dates. Furthermore, the registered manager struggles to use the electronic recording system in use at the home. This has compromised his ability to identify gaps in recording and analyse incidents for patterns and trends.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of record-keeping is inconsistent. For example, there are multiple inaccuracies in the admissions and discharge book. In addition, the records of staff rosters are not always legible. The quality of record-keeping has been raised as an area for improvement by the independent person, but the manager has failed to make improvements. A requirement is made to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Six requirements have been made to address the shortfalls identified during the inspection. Three requirements are subject to compliance and the progress the provider is making will be closely monitored by Ofsted. Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(d)) 16 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— 16 March 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 7 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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)(a)(b)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring and surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring and surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(d)) 16 March 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any [other] incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 16 April 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

the name of the child; 16 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 8 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. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)) 16 April 2022

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: 2635351 9

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Inspectors

Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Mandy Williams, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2635351 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 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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