Children's Home run by Exceptional Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 1 Registered provider: Exceptional 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 run by a private provider to provide care for up to three children who may have social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left the home in May 2022. The current manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2022 Full Outstanding 30/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/01/2019 Full Good 10/10/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to build positive relationships with children to help them to develop a sense of security and belonging. They listen to children’s views and follow up their requests, for example, in relation to seeing members of their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Pre-admission planning includes visits to the home for children before they move in. However, transition plans do not include children’s wishes and feelings, to fully capture their views. More careful planning is needed to prevent delay in ensuring that children’s educational needs can be met in the local area.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand barriers to children’s academic achievement and challenge local authorities when there are delays in identifying appropriate education. They encourage and support children to work with tutors as an interim measure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from opportunities to enjoy different activities of their choice. This helps them to increase their social interactions and to develop interpersonal skills. However, the staff team is not aware of the local offer, setting out the support available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is a missed opportunity to access additional resources for children. The home’s locality assessment report was updated during the inspection to include links to information for future use.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use rewards and incentives to help children to work towards their individual goals. These have been successful in engaging children, for example, to attend appointments to improve their health. Children are encouraged to lead healthier lifestyles by the staff promoting opportunities to become more active. Children enjoy cooking healthy meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff draw on their skills and experiences from previous working roles to help children gain insight into expectations about their career aspirations. This provides children with real-life examples from people who they know and trust.

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

The staff have a good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. They are guided by clear strategies, outlined in children’s risk management plans, to ensure that children are kept as safe as possible. Plans are updated to reflect any changes or emerging risks to children’s safety and well-being. For some children, significant risks have reduced since they moved to the home.

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

Good communication between the team and children’s families means that any safeguarding concerns are monitored and followed up. The staff help children to understand the risks of concern to adults who care for them and are persistent in Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 4 encouraging children to accept support from external agencies to improve their well- being.

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

The staff acted appropriately to ensure that a child returned safely when they were missing from home on one occasion.

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

There is good management oversight of any incidents that take place. Leaders and managers consider potential triggers to children’s behaviour and ensure that children are helped to talk about their worries and concerns. Staff work with children to help them understand how to improve their relationships and get along better.

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

There has been routine use of door chimes on external doors to alert the staff to children’s movements in and out of the home. These were deactivated during the inspection, as there is no current safeguarding concern that requires their use.

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

Children’s complaints are taken seriously. Children are informed of the outcome of their complaint and changes are made to improve staff practice.

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

The team works effectively with other agencies, including the child and adolescent mental health team and children’s social care, to ensure that they keep children safe. Managers recognise when children’s care plans are no longer effective and work with social workers to help children move to new living arrangements that can meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new manager took over the home in May after a lengthy handover period from the previous manager. She and the deputy are now focusing on the development of the team, particularly those staff who have not previously worked in children’s residential care. Staff say that they feel well supported by the management team to deliver consistent care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Unqualified staff are enrolled on a suitable training course once they have successfully completed their probationary period. The deputy manager has developed bespoke training to help key workers understand the role and their responsibilities. Training to enhance staff skills and knowledge in helping children with specific needs was identified by the previous manager. However, this has not yet taken place. Not all staff have been trained to confidently deliver therapeutic parenting as outlined in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and attend team meetings to reflect on their practice and to plan how to support children to make progress. Good use is made of consultation with psychologists to improve children’s experiences. The details of registration and supervision of professionals who provide psychological input are not included in the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals provided positive feedback about the care that children receive. The manager and staff are strong advocates for children and challenge Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 5 other professionals appropriately to promote children’s rights and their wishes and feelings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is good management oversight of children’s progress and staff practice. However, the manager does not fully evaluate how the quality of care provided helps children. External monitoring lacks regular consultation with stakeholders, including children, which is a missed opportunity to gain important feedback and children’s bedrooms are not regularly checked to ensure that they are safe and comfortable. At times, the external monitoring report lacks clarity and evaluation to provide a good understanding of practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 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

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records, unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit ("the independent person’s report") which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (2)(a)(b) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the independent person being supported to gain stakeholders’ views of the quality of care provided on a regular basis, and to check children’s bedrooms. The report should be clear about incidents being reviewed and provide evaluation of the actions taken by the staff. 22 January 2023

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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— 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 7 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should receive training to support their understanding of the model of care outlined in the home’s statement of purpose and in response to children’s individual needs.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s wishes and feelings are taken into account as part of transition planning for moving to, or on from, the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 21, paragraph 4.5)  The registered person should ensure that careful consideration is given to a child’s educational needs as part of pre-admission planning to assist the placing authority when commissioning the placement. This is to ensure that there is appropriate provision available to meet a child’s needs, to prevent drift in accessing education. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.7)  The registered person should ensure that the report on the location of the home considers the local offer for children who may have additional needs, to assist the staff team’s understanding of additional resources and opportunities that children

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Recommendations

could access. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person should ensure that door alarms, including on external doors, are used only when required to ensure the safety and well-being of those living in or working in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that the report of the quality of care includes evaluation of how the care provided affects outcomes and improvements for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)  The registered person should ensure that details of the supervision and professional registration (where appropriate) of any professionals delivering therapeutic support are included in the home’s statement of purpose, to ensure

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Recommendations

compliance with schedule 1 of the Children’s Homes Regulations. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 18, paragraph 3.32) Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 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: 1227335 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Exceptional Care Limited, Malthouse Business Centre, Southport Road, Ormskirk L39 1QR

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Inspector

Karen Willson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1227335 10 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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