Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 1 SC482411 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services 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 owned and is registered to provide care for up to six girls who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC482411 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/04/2021 Full Outstanding 06/08/2019 Full Good 22/08/2018 Full Good 18/09/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The house has a homely feel to it. Children like their bedrooms and have made them their own. However, there are areas of the home that need redecorating and additional resources to improve the overall experience for children. For example, the kitchen and bathrooms look tired and worn.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships have been very positive between staff and children. Staff speak highly of the children. One child said, ‘I really like it here. Staff are nice and they make it feel like a home and they care. I can speak to them, hug them, and I put a lot of trust in all of them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s placement plans are very good. They are detailed and cover all areas of the child’s life, including health and education. They are used daily by staff and are reviewed and updated regularly, whenever there is a change that affects the care for the child. This helps staff to work in specific ways with each child to help them make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been good work by staff and managers to ensure that children can access education provisions. However, at present, there are some children who are having difficulties at school and are not attending. Continued efforts are required to ensure that children are helped to structure their learning at home while the issues are addressed. This will help children to achieve in the careers they have chosen.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s wishes and feelings are seen as important to staff. Regular key-work sessions and children’s meetings take place, and children regularly add to their ‘my views about where I live’ booklets. As a result, children feel able to talk to staff about important things in their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported by staff to follow their chosen religion. This has included going to faith youth groups and services of worship.

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

Children’s risk assessments are clear and detailed. They are individual to each child and address levels of risk, what might trigger certain behaviours and how staff should manage these. The risk assessments are frequently reviewed and updated. Staff use them as a daily tool. Therefore, staff are informed of current risks and ways to help reduce these for children.

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

Allegations made by children are taken seriously. Managers take swift action to address these. Investigations appropriately include safeguarding partners, which helps children to know they are listened to and keeps them safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 4 Some children regularly go missing from the home. This is relatively new behaviour for some children. Managers and staff have found this difficult. Staff are following agreed processes, including searching the local areas. Meetings are held with social workers and police to address continued risks for children. This allows new approaches to be identified to keep children safe from the known risks of being missing from care.

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

Staff work closely with children who self-harm. They carry out key-work sessions, where children are able to discuss their feelings. Specialist help has been requested for some children. Risk assessments address ways of working with individual children. As a result, children have been helped, and self-harming behaviour has been managed well.

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

There are safe practices in the home which help to protect children, for example in relation to the recruitment of staff, storage of sharp items and the storage and administering of medication.

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good

Staff are provided with a good induction programme and comprehensive training. This includes information on safeguarding practices, de-escalation and physical intervention, and an authoritative parenting model which is used by the home. Staff receive the correct guidance and training to work with the children.

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good

The manager has not met her aim of providing staff with regular supervision sessions. This is to supervise staff twice monthly during their probation period and for a minimum of once every other month thereafter. There have been some large gaps when staff have not received supervision. This is required to support and develop staff effectively.

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good

Team meetings are productive when they take place. However, there have been times when there has not been a meeting for many months. As a result, staff are not having this time to develop as a team and be supported to address current issues.

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good

The manager has not used any quality assurance tools to audit practice. Therefore, management oversight of the home has not been evidenced. The new responsible individual has recognised this as a weakness. She has carried out a thorough audit, which has already identified areas for improvement. An audit template has been introduced, which the manager will be required to complete monthly.

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good

The manager has, until recently, not received the support she requires from senior management. This has been acknowledged by the new responsible individual. This has left the manager feeling isolated in her role. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 5 The manager has not ensured that records have been completed by staff in a timely way. Some records have not been updated within appropriate timescales. As a result, some information is not shared with others quickly enough.

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good

Leaders are open and honest about times when they have struggled. They are aware of their own and the team’s strengths and things that require improvement. They talk passionately about returning to providing outstanding services and outcomes for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to ensuring that robust quality assurance and monitoring systems are in place, used regularly, and kept up to date. 31 March 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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the frequency of team meetings. 31 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 31 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 7 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the frequency of staff supervision and the manager achieving her target of twice a month while staff are in their probation period and a minimum of every other month thereafter.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive and provides appropriate boundaries in relation to children’s behaviour. The home must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. This specifically refers to the manager implementing the required redecorations and bathroom and kitchen replacements. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that the ethos of the home supports each child to learn, emphasising the value of independent study and reading for enjoyment. The home must make available suitable facilities, equipment and resources for learning and ensure that the home’s routines do not form barriers to children wishing to use the home resources to study. Staff must support children with home study by encouraging them to learn independent study skills and

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Recommendations

helping them to practise those skills. This specifically refers to structuring children’s days when they are not in school provisions. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. This specifically refers to records being completed in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: SC482411 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1, Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Shaun Caplis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482411 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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