Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 1 SC359836 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 children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to six children. At the time of the inspection, there were four children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2020.

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This monitoring visit

This home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 19 and 20 April 2022. Following this inspection, three compliance notices were issued, in respect of regulation 12, the protection of children standard, regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, and regulation 14, the care planning standard.

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This monitoring visit

This visit was carried out to monitor the action taken by the provider to meet the compliance notices.

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This monitoring visit

Safeguarding practice in this home is not promoting children’s safety or welfare. Since the last inspection, missing-from-home incidents have increased for some children. Despite these known concerns, the children’s risk assessments do not provide sufficient information for staff to follow to keep children safe.

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This monitoring visit

Staff practice in response to children who are missing from home is inconsistent. Not all staff look for children or take appropriate action to keep children safe. Furthermore, when children have made disclosures after missing-from-home incidents, staff have failed to follow child protection procedures and report and record all information to relevant professionals. This is a missed opportunity to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 2 Staff have not taken sufficient action to safeguard children following significant incidents of bullying. Recording of incidents is poor and does not provide detail about the actions taken by staff. Information also does not include how children were supported during and after bullying incidents. This poor practice does not demonstrate an understanding or insight into the effect of bullying on children’s emotional well-being and does not protect children from harm.

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This monitoring visit

Managers and staff are still not responding effectively to all disclosures made by children. Practice remains inconsistent. A failure to listen and respond to children who have made safeguarding disclosures does not protect and safeguard them.

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This monitoring visit

Risk assessments do not provide staff with clear guidance on how to manage existing and emerging risks to children. Furthermore, risk assessments have not been updated when new risks are identified or existing risks change. This does not ensure that staff have all relevant information to keep children safe.

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This monitoring visit

Staff have recently attended a team workshop. They received informal training relevant to the needs of the children. However, there are ongoing shortfalls in relation to poor safeguarding practices, which indicates further training and development are required.

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This monitoring visit

There are continued shortfalls in relation to the registered manager’s monitoring and oversight of children’s records. The registered manager has missed opportunities to identify and address shortfalls in practice. Furthermore, they do not have a clear overview of significant events and have failed to identify any potential learning to improve practices in the home.

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This monitoring visit

Failure to monitor standards effectively or act when concerns are identified means that poor practice and poor standards of care continue. Children do not receive a good standard of care that protects them and keeps them safe.

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This monitoring visit

Leaders and managers have failed to evidence that they have reflected on previous shortfalls in care planning processes or that they understand their responsibilities in improving practice.

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This monitoring visit

A case review was held following this inspection. It was the decision of the case review that the compliance notices had not been met. Three further notices were issued in respect of regulation 12, regulation 13 and regulation 14. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/04/2022 Full Inadequate 09/11/2021 Full Good 08/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/11/2018 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 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

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

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)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b)) 24 July 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. 24 July 2022 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 5 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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)(c)(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)) 24 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 24 July 2022

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 6 way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC359836 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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Inspector

Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC359836 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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