Children's home run by Guidance Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 1 Registered provider: Guidance Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private company. It provides care for up to two children. The home specialises in caring for children with social and emotional difficulties and special educational needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in July 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 requires improvement to be good

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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: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 2

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Recent inspection history

Not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 3

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improvement to be good

Some children make progress when living in the home, but not all children’s experiences have been positive. Staff offer support and guidance and when children engage and access this support, they make measurable progress. However, some children display high risk-taking behaviours and staff are not always able to de- escalate incidents. For one child, this has resulted in them being placed away from the home for a significant amount of time. Due to this, their progress has been limited.

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from living in a welcoming and homely environment. The home has a modern kitchen, dining and living area. This is used well, with children spending time with staff cooking, eating and relaxing. Children’s bedrooms are decorated to reflect their individual interests. Children have contributed to the decoration of the home, with certificates of their achievements proudly displayed for visitors to see.

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improvement to be good

Staff care about children and actively support them to maintain positive relationships with their family and friends. In relation to this, parents report that they are happy with the support their children receive. One parent said, ‘They do everything. I have family time every Saturday, without fail, they are always there.’

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improvement to be good

One child has been successful in re-engaging with education and is being supported by staff to attend regularly. However, one child is not registered with a school and there has been limited progress in finding them an education provision. For this child, there is no additional education support in place. This means that their educational attainment is compromised, and their days are unstructured.

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improvement to be good

Staff actively support children to be active and pursue their personal interests. Staff try and engage children in regular children’s meetings to seek their views about what they want to do. This has resulted in one child taking part in local leisure activities. This supports children to develop their social skills and form age- appropriate relationships.

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improvement to be good

The inspector spoke to one child about his experiences of living in the home. The child says he is happy at the home and feels that the staff support him well. The child said, ‘I am happy here, I have no worries. I like that the staff take me to the youth club and to see my mum at the weekend.’

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improvement to be good

There have been a number of incidents in which children have caused considerable damage to the home. Staff have struggled to de-escalate situations and required support from the police. This resulted in one child being arrested. Staff struggling to Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 4 manage high risk-taking behaviours leaves children at risk of being involved in an incident and criminalised.

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improvement to be good

When incidents have taken place, staff have completed detailed reports of what occurred. Children’s individual risk assessments are also updated when incidents occur. However, some incident reports have not been shared with Ofsted as required by regulation. This limits the regulator’s oversight of incidents in the home.

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improvement to be good

There has been a decrease in the frequency of incidents, which correlates with one child being away from the home on a temporary basis. No meaningful direct work has been carried out with the child during this time. This means opportunities have been missed to reduce risks effectively before the child returns to the home.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from home, staff actively search the local and wider area. When staff have reported children missing, the police have sometimes recorded them as absent from home. This means that the police have not been actively searching for children. This has been appropriately challenged by staff and managers. However, records of missing-from-home episodes do not detail this challenge.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities of the children in their care. At times, it has been necessary for staff to undertake room searches in response to safeguarding concerns. During searches, weapons have been found in the children’s bedrooms. This places all children and staff at risk of harm. Staff have referred children to a specialist service to reduce these specific risks.

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good

The home is managed by a suitably experienced manager who is passionate about achieving better outcomes for children. The manager is well respected by her staff team, who report that she is extremely supportive. One staff member said, ‘She is great, contactable at any time of night for advice and support. She is a calming influence and great with the children.’

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good

The manager leads a core staff team who care about the work they do. Children are familiar with staff and benefit from the continuity of care provided by a small staff team. When staff members have periods of sickness, this is covered well by other core staff. This means that agency staff have not been required, and children continue to receive a consistent level of care from familiar faces.

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good

Some staff have said that they feel more experienced staff are needed to help manage the risks in the home. The responsible individual has recognised this as an area for improvement and will call on experienced staff in the wider organisation to help resolve this.

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good

Staff have regular access to relevant training opportunities and supervision with the registered manager. The manager is closely supported by the wider organisation to Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 5 ensure that the staff are sufficiently skilled and keep up to date with training . Some staff members told the inspector that they would like further training in de- escalating situations.

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good

The home’s statement of purpose details the quality and purpose of care. However, the registered manager has not provided Ofsted with a copy of this as required by regulation. This restricts the regulator’s oversight of the proposed quality of care to the children. A requirement has been made to rectify this.

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good

Some children’s files do not include all their required statutory records. The manager has requested these from the local authorities but has had limited success. This means that children do not have access to all the information needed to understand their plans. Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)) 19 October 2022

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 19 October 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

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or 19 October 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 7 there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the skills to respond to each child’s individual behaviour. When necessary, they should manage conflict, maintain constructive dialogue and react appropriately if challenged by a child in their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.14)  The registered person should ensure that when the placing authority or another relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, the home must challenge them to meet the child’s needs (see regulations 5(c)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)

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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: 2685998 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Guidance Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 172 Mains Lane, Poulton-le-Fylde FY6 7LB

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Inspector

Rob Neild, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2685998 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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