Children's home run by North East Lincolnshire Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 1 SC394101 Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who plan to live in a medium- to long-term residential setting.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/11/2019 Full Good 24/10/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 3

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improvement to be good

Children’s care is not always planned effectively. As a result, staff are unable to support children and help them to manage their relationships to prevent harmful situations.

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improvement to be good

The lack of care planning means that children’s experiences of care and their progress are affected. In response, the manager has reduced the number of children in the home. One child has moved into another home as staff were unable to manage the presenting behaviours of the group of children. The move was not well planned and resulted in further poor experiences of care for the child. However, incidents are now reducing, and children are starting to make progress again in some areas.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to understand the importance of attending school. Children who have been out of school for a significant period now attend on a reduced timetable. This helps them to build their confidence. Other children are in employment, which is helping them to gain skills and experience to prepare them well for later life.

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improvement to be good

Children work with staff on a topic every month to help them understand the importance of staying healthy. Staff support children to attend routine appointments. For some, this is a new experience, which is improving their health. Efforts to educate children about the risks of substance misuse and smoking are not yet effective. Ongoing substance misuse negatively affects children’s mental and physical well-being. Children have access to specialist services to help to improve their emotional health.

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improvement to be good

Children are building their relationships with staff by spending time with them. Activities they enjoy together include ice skating, trips to the beach and shopping. These and other activities help children to develop their social skills and confidence. Staff listen to children and support them to develop their own identity.

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improvement to be good

Children preparing to move on from this home follow an individualised independence plan. The work they complete includes cooking, budgeting, and learning about housing options. This plan helps them to learn the skills they need to live as an adult.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always manage children’s behaviour positively. Some incidents have lasted for a significant length of time. Incidents have involved self-harm and exploitation risks. Staff have struggled to de-escalate these situations and the police have been called to assist staff. However, following action taken by the manager, Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 4 incidents are now reducing and a restorative and therapeutic approach to support children is being promoted.

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improvement to be good

There is a recent increase in one child leaving the home at night and going missing. The risk assessment in relation to going missing from home is not clear. It does not provide staff with the steps that they must take to keep the child safe. Consequently, on some occasions when the child goes missing, there is a delay in staff searching for the child. Not all care plans have relevant information about children’s known associates, which has resulted in inconsistent responses from staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff work closely with children to help them understand danger. The risks they learn about include online safety, safe relationships and staying safe in the community. Children also learn how to manage their self-harming behaviour. They have self-care kits, which the children help to put together. These kits help them to manage their emotions and become increasingly calm.

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improvement to be good

Staff know how to follow procedures to report concerns about children. They know who to report concerns to and feel confident to do this. When children make disclosures, the manager makes sure that she acts on the information quickly and follows safeguarding procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders fail to learn from previous poor decision-making around the admission and matching of children’s needs. This results in an escalation of risk to all children and, in one case, placement breakdown. The registered manager continued to raise concerns to senior leaders around the placement move for one child. This was not escalated further when delays continued. This left the child experiencing further poor care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager’s monitoring systems are not effective. For example, when significant incidents occur, these are considered in isolation. The manager does not have an overview of the themes and frequency of incidents to help build an understanding of the ongoing risks to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite increased incidents of a child going missing late at night, the registered manager has not reassessed staffing levels. The staff are often asleep when this child goes missing and, on some occasions, this leads to a delay in response times by staff when children leave the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager carries out regular reviews of the quality of care. The reviews do not fully reflect the impact of the care provided to children. The lack of reflection on and learning from incidents does not help the manager to form a focused improvement plan. It is a missed opportunity to improve the service for children. Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 5 Staff feel well supported by the registered manager. They feel that they can talk to her and ask her questions. They receive regular supervision where they talk about the children and their role. Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 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, the 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

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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(v)(vii)) 1 November 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

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; 1 November 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 7 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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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)(d)(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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 1 November 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)) 1 November 2022

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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: SC394101 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: North East Lincolnshire Council, Civic Offices, Knoll Street, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire DN35 8LN

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Inspectors

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Louise Hollick, Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC394101 9 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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