Children's Home run by Bay View Child Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 1 SC463926 Registered provider: Bay View Child Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is managed by a private provider and is registered to provide care for up to six children.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not currently have a registered manager. The acting manager has applied to Ofsted for registration.

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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

Date of last inspection: 27 October 2021

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/10/2021 Full Good 30/10/2019 Full Outstanding 16/10/2018 Full Outstanding 23/10/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home are happy and healthy. They make progress while living in the home, for example by engaging in hobbies, building trusting relationships and developing aspirations for their future. The progress and achievements of children are regularly celebrated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped and supported to engage in education. Good routines support children to engage, and they have excellent attendance levels. At the time of the inspection, two children were in the process of completing their end-of-school exams. They are expected to achieve good results and have plans to attend higher education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s emotional and mental health needs are being met. The home employs a counsellor who spends time supporting children in the home and works regular shifts. She engages with children and builds strong, positive relationships them. As a result, children are comfortable with her, seek to engage with her and are benefiting from the therapeutic support provided.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Where children have outstanding health needs, these are being addressed through regular, good-quality direct-work sessions. This means that staff provide children with relevant advice and guidance to support progression in line with their care and placement plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation and communication with children are excellent. Children are routinely asked for their views and opinions, which are used to improve the quality of care provided. Children’s meetings are well planned and provide children with relevant and valuable information, using visual aids and media. Consequently, children feel involved in their care and want to contribute.

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

Children are settled in this home and enjoy spending time here. As a result, incidents of children going missing from home are rare. When they do occur, children do not stay away from home, and they return of their own accord. They do not stay away from home overnight.

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

Clear and detailed risk assessments provide staff with comprehensive protocols and procedures to follow in the event of an incident. Assessments also include preventative strategies, which are followed and known by staff. These help to prevent incidents before they occur, which reduces the risk of harm to children and results in good help and protection.

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

There have been occasions where it has been necessary for staff to intervene and restrict children’s movements. Interventions are proportionate and appropriate. Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 4 Following incidents, children and staff are helped to understand and reflect on incidents, and mediation is completed when necessary. As a result, relationships between children and staff are maintained and remain positive.

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

There have been allegations made by children towards staff following incidents where children have been in crisis. Allegations made have been managed in line with safeguarding policies and procedures and shared with the necessary professionals. Supported reflection and discussions held with children by the manager have helped them to understand their own behaviours and staff’s response during these times. As a result, children have taken responsibility for their own behaviours and no longer wish to pursue the complaints made against staff.

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

The manager’s evaluation of incident records is consistent, and records have been scrutinised in relation to staff’s practice and behaviour management. Evaluations are reflective and include lessons learned. Staff participate in detailed debriefs following all serious incidents in the home. This has helped them to improve their practice and utilise a more therapeutic and child-centred approach to behaviour management.

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

There has been one occasion where staff have not acted in the best interests of the children living in the home. This has the potential to compromise their safety. This specifically relates to persons associated with staff being made aware of the home’s location and subsequently attending the address. Complications arising from this resulted in children feeling unsafe on one occasion, which does not represent good safeguarding practice. At the time of the inspection, this issue was being appropriately addressed. The new manager and responsible individual are taking further steps to address shortfalls across the organisation through staff induction processes and by reviewing the necessary policies and procedures.

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

Safer recruitment procedures have been followed. This ensures that all those who work in the home with children are suitable to do so. It is recommended that leaders and managers overseeing employees have oversight of staff employment files and ensure that any supplementary information is included where necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Comprehensive impact assessments demonstrate that the manager carefully considers children’s needs and risks prior to them moving into the home. Furthermore, matching is robust, and the impact children may have on each other is well thought through. Therefore, children have positive experiences of moving into the home and have good relationships with their peers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Complaints made by children are taken seriously and are thoroughly investigated. Children are confident in raising complaints and say that issues have been resolved to their satisfaction. Furthermore, where children raise minor worries or dissatisfaction, the manager reviews these in the same robust manner as she does complaints. As a result, children feel listened to and valued, and they believe that their views and opinions matter. Children say, ‘The manager really listens to us, she is excellent, she helps us with everything and resolves all of our issues.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 5 The stable staff team provides good continuity of care for children. Staff feel supported by the acting manager and senior leaders. They receive regular supervision and are expected to participate in additional supervision and discussion, where the manager believes this to be beneficial, to promote staff’s development

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

and understanding. Practice-related issues are addressed without delay and steps are taken to develop staff’s practice and understanding, where required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The acting manager promotes a nurturing and therapeutic home environment and is passionate about achieving positive outcomes for the children. She knows the children well and advocates on their behalf to obtain positive and realistic changes to children’s care plans. Because of this, one child is benefiting from more time with those who are important to him. Another child has increased access to social media in line with his peers. This helps children to build on their positive social networks outside of the home and extend their support systems.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been improvements in general management oversight of the home and its systems since the appointment of the acting manager. Improvements made have secured better reporting and recording systems in the home as well as more child- friendly processes. Feedback from professionals is positive and demonstrates confidence in the leadership and management of this home. The acting manager has applied to register with Ofsted. Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 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

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the practice of staff in the home does not hinder children’s safety or make children feel unsafe. 3 July 22

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Recommendation

 The registered person should maintain good employment practice and ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. In particular, those responsible for the home should carry out an effective review of staff employment files to ensure clarity of information and, where relevant, demonstrate actions taken in respect of safer recruitment practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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 children’s home: SC463926 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bay View Child Care

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3 to 5 Dalton Square, Lancaster, Lancashire LA1 1PP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Thompson

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Inspector

Natalie Bennett, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC463926 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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