Children's Home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 1 SC485318 Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since December 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 15 February 2022

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2022 Full Good 11/02/2020 Full Good 28/11/2018 Full Good 07/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 3

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inadequate

Since the last inspection, three children have moved out of the home and two children have moved in. Not all children have had a positive experience of living in the home, and some children’s placements have ended in crisis. Furthermore, the overall experiences and progress of children are compromised by poor safeguarding practice.

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inadequate

Education plans in the home lack information about the educational needs of each child. One child does not have an education plan and is not receiving any education or learning. Managers have not ensured that children with special educational needs have a current copy of their education, health and care plan readily available to staff. One child’s plan is over four years out of date. This lack of interest in children’s involvement in education fails to value children.

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inadequate

Children are not supported by all staff to learn acceptable behaviours. For example, inappropriate language in the home is left unchallenged. This does not support children to learn how to treat others with respect and to develop socially aware behaviour.

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inadequate

Children’s health plans do not contain up-to-date information about their individual health needs or health conditions. Furthermore, staff have not fully considered how a child’s diagnosis impacts on their welfare. Staff have not sought medical advice when a child has not taken prescribed medication for a considerable amount of time. This means that children’s health and well-being are not promoted or understood.

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inadequate

At the time of the inspection, the home conditions were poor and inspectors observed a number of potential risks and hazards. Children’s bedrooms were untidy and had not been maintained to an acceptable standard. Inspectors observed remanets of stale food left in a child’s bedroom. Furthermore, risks in the garden area had not been considered. This included a discarded radiator, and the concrete patio area was uneven with several paving slabs damaged.

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inadequate

Despite the shortfalls, a strength of the home is the support that staff provide to children to spend quality time with their friends and family. Staff work positively with parents to promote meaningful and safe contact, where appropriate.

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

Managers and staff do not appropriately respond to incidents that occur. Additionally, they do not implement effective strategies to safeguard and protect the children living in the home. Poor risk management, a lack of structure and routine, and unsafe home conditions have placed the children living at the home at risk of harm. Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 4 Managers and staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children and do not take effective action when there is a safeguarding concern about children’s welfare. For example, when a child has persistently been missing from home and suffered harm, appropriate action has not been taken to safeguard the child.

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

Children’s risk management plans are not up to date and do not include clear strategies for staff to follow to reduce the risk of harm. For example, despite children returning to the home under the influence of unknown substances, plans were not updated with relevant information. When managers have identified strategies to minimise risks, staff have failed to follow them. This has left children at risk of harm.

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

Managers were not aware of the safeguarding concerns identified at this inspection. It is often unclear what action has been taken following safeguarding incidents and whether all appropriate professionals have been notified. There is a lack of monitoring by managers and safeguarding concerns have been missed.

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

Behaviour management plans lack clear guidance for staff to follow. Consequences are disproportionate and children are treated differently. Children and staff say that expectations and outcomes of consequences are unfair and there is no clear rationale for the decisions made.

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

Restraint is not used in accordance with the legislative framework to protect the child and those around them. Incidents are not always evaluated, and the views of the child are not always sought.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not lead a culture that helps children aspire to achieve their full potential. The last three children to have moved out of their home have done so in an unplanned way and their outcomes have been poor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recording in children’s plans and documents is poor. Risk assessments and behaviour management plans fail to provide the staff team with appropriate strategies to manage children’s behaviour or minimise risk. Despite some staff attending training in safeguarding and behaviour management, the shortfalls identified during this visit have proved the training to be ineffective. Furthermore, it demonstrates that staff do not have the skills and knowledge needed to support the children in the home safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

On the first day of the inspection, the home’s environment was poor and unsafe for children. This had not been identified by managers and was only responded to when raised by the inspectors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of management oversight in the home because of insufficient management arrangements. For example, physical interventions and missing-from- Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 5 home reports do not contain a strong management evaluation and have not been signed off by senior staff. This has meant that shortfalls in staff practice have not been identified or addressed, and these shortfalls could continue to go unchecked .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing arrangements remain unclear. There is an overreliance on staff from other homes working in this home as well as agency staff. In addition, rotas provided by the manager do not always provide an accurate picture of the staff working in the home. Inspectors found that at times during the weekend, children are cared for by staff who are not qualified and with limited experience. This is not safe and accountable practice for staff or children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspectors could not see any evidence that staff are having reflective or developmental supervision. Furthermore, not all staff have had training to ensure that they can safely care for children. For example, not all staff are trained in restraint practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following the inspection, a case review was held, and three compliance notices were issued under section 22a of the Care Standards Act 2000. These relate to regulation 12 (the protection of children standard), regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard) and regulation 14 (the care planning standard). Ofsted will monitor the notices. Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children.

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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that the care is delivered by a person who—

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has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care; and

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is under the supervision of a person who is appropriately skilled and qualified to supervise that care. (Regulation 6 (1)(a) (2)(c)(i) (3)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the home is appropriately maintained. Children’s bedrooms should be clean and homely. The bedrooms need painting and decorating to be more welcoming.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers must ensure that staff have the relevant skills, knowledge and qualifications to safely respond to the needs of the children they care for. 1 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 1 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to some children not having any relevant plans in place. The registered person should access additional support services and request essential information, where required, to support children’s education.

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The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met.

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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 staff help each child to— 1 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 8 achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well- being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a) (2)(a)(i)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all children have relevant plans and that health and well-being outcomes are recorded. Arrangements for managing a child’s health must be clear. Staff need to understand how to respond if children refuse to take their medication.

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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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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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have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to risk management and risk assessments; these need to be robust and followed. Staff 31 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 9 need to understand when and how to take action to reduce the risk of harm to the child.

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Requirement Due date

There needs to be a consistent staff team that are appropriately qualified and skilled to meet the needs of the children. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Furthermore, the environment should be free from rubbish and broken items that present a risk to children and others. Any damage or repairs must be appropriately addressed.

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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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 31 October 2022

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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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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— 31 October 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 10 that arrangements are in place to—

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

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that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that records are accurate and appropriately dated. In addition, where children refuse medication, the registered manager should ensure that staff understand the required procedure and that they approach appropriate medical professionals for guidance. 1 December 2022

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The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(c)) 1 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date; and 1 December 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 11 are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c))

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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

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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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

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 1 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to identifying the potential risks of children being able access trains at the local station as this is unmanned. In addition, the registered person should include evidence of consultation with relevant others and ensure that the evaluations of identified risks are accurate. 1 December 2022

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 12

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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: SC485318 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspire Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 3, Craig Court, Standish Street, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1GJ

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Inspectors

Nichola Croft, Social Care Inspector Jessica Higginson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC485318 14 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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