Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC359836 1 SC359836 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by the local authority. It is registered to provide care for up to six children who may have social and emotional difficulties. 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 registered with Ofsted in September 2020.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 19 April 2022. Following that 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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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At a monitoring visit on 8 June 2022, the inspector found that these notices had not been met. Three further notices were issued in respect of the same regulations.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At a further monitoring visit, on 26 July 2022, the inspector found that all three compliance notices had been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC359836 2

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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: SC359836 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress because of the quality of the highly individualised care that they receive. Staff understand children’s individual needs and ensure that these are addressed in the home’s child-centred care plans. This includes any cultural needs for children, which are respected and well understood by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff set high expectations for children around education. Children are supported and encouraged to develop good routines which help them to engage positively with schools and colleges.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs. They work with primary healthcare services effectively, to ensure that children’s health needs are met. Children are given age-appropriate advice about health matters which supports their understanding and enables them to make informed choices in relation to their own health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good help and support to prepare them for independent living. This includes practical support to gain necessary skills, such as budgeting and cooking, and emotional support to prepare them for the responsibilities of maintaining their own tenancy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are listened to and feel confident to share their views in children’s meetings and directly with the manager and staff. When children raise an issue or ask for something, the manager and staff make sure that the child understands what action has been taken. The manager and staff consider ideas raised by children and will implement these whenever possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have the opportunity to enjoy activities and explore their hobbies and interests. Children have thoroughly enjoyed their individual holidays this summer, with some children going abroad and having the opportunity to explore different cities and cultures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There have been significant improvements in the process for admitting children to the home. These improved processes have ensured a positive recent move into the home for one child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a spacious home which is maintained to a high standard and provides a welcoming environment. Staff model high standards in the home and support children to reflect this standard in their own bedrooms. Inspection report for children’s home: SC359836 4

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

Risks to children are managed effectively by staff who understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe.

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

There are individualised risk management plans in place which provide clarity for staff on the actions that they must take to reduce risks. These risk assessments are reviewed regularly and updated whenever there is a change in risk or a new risk emerges.

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

There are risks to children who have been missing from care. However, staff take appropriate action and work effectively with external agencies to reduce these risks.

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

There have not been any incidents of holding children since the last inspection. This indicates that staff can de-escalate challenging situations and help children manage their emotions.

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

Positive behaviour is promoted consistently by staff through individualised incentives and praise. Children’s behaviour is improving because staff are helping them to make positive choices and develop their maturity and understanding of acceptable behaviour.

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

Staff rarely use consequences and prefer to use positive reinforcements to support children’s behavioural development. When consequences have been used, such as supervised spending, staff have recorded these in line with regulation. The manager has reviewed these for effectiveness and ensured that they were restorative in nature.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a manager in post who registered with Ofsted in September 2020. Staff said that the manager is approachable and that they feel well supported in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported by two deputy managers. The management team has a good understanding of the strengths of the home and the areas for further development. The staff are an effective team that has shown commitment to driving the improvements in the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have received training in a variety of subjects that are relevant to the needs of children. Staff are encouraged to reflect on their learning, in supervision and team meetings, to ensure that this is implemented in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable and committed team of staff in place and the manager does not need to use agency staff. This means that children are cared for by staff who know them well. Inspection report for children’s home: SC359836 5 Managers use weekly meetings and monthly monitoring tools effectively to ensure that they have robust oversight of all significant events in the home. These processes have been instrumental in sustaining the improvements in management monitoring arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have challenged other services effectively when there have been concerns. Prompt action is taken to organise a learning review to consider how areas of concern can be addressed to ensure these do not reoccur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has taken swift action in relation to a recent complaint about noise disturbance. The manager ensured that there was appropriate learning from the complaint and this has resulted in a positive resolution to the concern.

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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: SC359836 6

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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, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector

Emma Thornton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC359836 7 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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