Children's home run by Pelican Care Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 1 Registered provider: Pelican Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately operated and is registered to provide care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. Children may also have been diagnosed with learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since May 2020.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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Overall experiences and progress of

Date of last inspection: 21 September 2021

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/09/2021 Full Good 02/06/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and settled. They receive care from a kind and caring staff team. Staff are interested in the children and take time to get to know them. This allows children to form trusting relationships with the adults looking after them. As a result, children feel safe and secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children living in this home are in full-time education. Children are supported by staff to achieve good school attendance and to make good academic progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s achievements are always celebrated. Staff take pride in children’s achievements however big or small. One child recently attended her school prom despite her anxieties. Staff helped her choose a dress, took her to get her hair, makeup and nails done, took photos and went with her to the event. The child reported feeling that staff were proud of her. The care children receive encourages them to reach their potential and has a positive impact on their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work well in partnership with a range of agencies, communicate openly with family members and challenge other professionals when necessary. These efforts to advocate on behalf of the children ensure that they are always receiving the best possible care and services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a warm and welcoming home. The children have been supported to personalise their bedrooms, and photos and mementos are displayed throughout the house. Children report feeling happy here and say that the home has a loving family atmosphere.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly undertake key-work sessions with children. Frequently, these sessions are conversations between staff and children, offering advice in response to a situation. However, staff do not have a plan in place to outline what work needs to be completed, the regularity or the desired outcomes. The behaviour support plan for one child identifies that she would benefit from work being carried out in relation to relationships. However, this has only taken place in the form of conversations during or after a crisis in her relationship. This reactive approach will limit the progress children can make in better understanding their own experiences and making more positive choices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Plans for children moving into the home do not consider their needs and risks in detail. As a result, a child has had to move out of the home in an unplanned way. The manager took important learning from this and has adapted the transition and impact risk assessments. More background information is now gathered; however, an analysis of this information is not always completed. Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 4

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

Children are being kept safe. Staff have a good understanding of how to safeguard children. Staff understand their role and responsibilities in a range of safeguarding scenarios, including those they have not yet faced in practice. As a result, safeguarding incidents are rare and children’s overall safety is improved when moving into this home.

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

The staff team uses consistent rules and boundaries. Emphasis is placed on positive rewards and nurturing relationships. Physical intervention is not used in this home as the experienced team uses effective de-escalation techniques to prevent crises. Children understand the rules and feel that they are treated fairly.

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

The quality of risk management plans is inconsistent. Plans do not always contain vital background information. For example, for one child, the manner and extent of her previous self-injurious behaviour was not detailed. In addition, plans do not always provide staff with clear strategies to follow in the event of an incident. The quality of risk management plans was an issue highlighted at the previous regulatory inspection, but the manager’s oversight has not been sufficient to ensure that the assessments are of good quality. Although children’s safety has not yet been impacted, effective assessments of risk are essential to ensure that staff have all the information they need to keep children safe.

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

Children have been reported missing from home. There is a clear missing-from- home protocol in place and staff always follow this. Children living in the home say that they feel happy and protected.

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

Staff have completed a range of mandatory training. They have also completed training which is specific to the needs of the children they are caring for. This helps staff to have a good understanding of the experiences of the children. Staff are equipped with the skills to meet children’s needs and keep them safe.

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good

A suitably qualified manager has been in post since May 2020. The children report feeling particularly cared for and supported by the manager. The manager seeks to inspire the team to adopt the relationship-based approach to care.

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good

The registered manager carries out a quality of care review every six months. This report offers a description of events in the home, but the manager has not evaluated the information gathered. Also, the action plan lists activities which should be done as standard. This is a missed opportunity for learning and so will limit how effectively the review can improve the care children receive.

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good

An independent person visits the home each month. Feedback has not regularly been sought from children, family members or professionals. As a result, the visitor does not gather a complete view of the quality of care being offered. Some reports Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 5 provided contain factual inaccuracies and the visitor rarely provides any actions to assist the manager in improving the service. This is a missed opportunity for learning and development.

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good

Children are cared for by a stable staff team. When new members of staff join the team, the manager follows robust recruitment processes to ensure that they have the skills and experience to meet the children’s needs. When potential recruits do not have photographic identification, the manager does not check their identity using verification of a recent photo. Although not the case to date, this could potentially allow an individual to fraudulently join the team.

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good

The leadership team is not aware of the local authority ‘local offer’. This information has therefore not been shared with the staff team or been considered in any assessments or plans for children. This could prevent children from accessing local resources and services which would be of benefit.

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good

Staff feel supported by the management team. Staff benefit from regular supervision and annual appraisals. Supervision sessions are child focused and offer an opportunity for practice reflection. As a result, staff can make valuable improvements to the quality of care for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the report provides useful actions which provide a plan to improve the quality of service, rather than actions which the provider should be taking as standard.

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Requirement Due date

Also, the registered person must evaluate and analyse the information gathered so as to understand the impact of the care being provided on the children living in the home. 30 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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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. 30 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 7 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.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must make sure that the independent visitor regularly speaks to the children living in the home and a range of professionals and family members.

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Requirement Due date

Also, the registered person must ensure that the written report provided by the independent visitor is of high quality, contains no errors and accurately reflects the work they have undertaken.

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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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff have clear information within children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans on the actions to take if an incident was to occur.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, impact risk assessments and transition plans must include a clear assessment of each risk and how the staff will meet the children’s needs. 30 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and 28 February 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 8 positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that key- work sessions are properly planned and carried out with a clear aim that is helpful to the child and a measurable outcome. Records of key-work sessions should be thoroughly recorded to demonstrate that children are being supported to understand their own risks and gain the skills they need to be able to keep themselves safe.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that managers and staff are aware of the ‘local offer’ which sets out the support available for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 26, paragraph 5.4)  The registered person should maintain good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. Specifically, there should be robust systems in place to verify staff identification within the recruitment process, including a recent photo. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 9

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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: 2592781 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pelican Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Holden Associates, V12 Suite, Merlin Park, Ringtail Road, Burscough, Lancashire L40 8JY

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Inspector

Nicola Shaw, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2592781 11 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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