Children's home run by Care Afloat Ltd in West Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 1 SC062268 Registered provider: Care Afloat 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 three children. The home provides support for children who may find it difficult to manage their emotions, which has a negative impact on their behaviour. Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The organisation offers an education service and therapeutic support from an external contractor.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2012.

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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 outstanding

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/06/2021 Full Good 19/11/2019 Full Good 11/09/2018 Full Good 25/09/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has been successfully supported to return home to live with his parents. There is good evidence of staff working collaboratively with the child, his parents and professionals to support a child-centred and planned transition. A parent wrote, ‘During the whole time [name of child] spent living at the home, we built strong relationships with all staff. They have been consistently supportive and happy to work with us for [name of child]’s benefit.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have been admitted to the home since the last inspection. The needs of children moving into the home have been fully considered against the needs of children already living in the home and the skills of the staff team. This has resulted in children’s individual and group needs being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children are currently living in the home. They are at different stages of their journey, but all benefit from an individualised programme of support. Children are without doubt safer than they were before coming to this home. They are making good progress, relative to the time that they have lived in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand potential barriers to learning and make every effort to address these through partnership working. They hold education professionals to account and appropriately offer professional challenge when required. This is all done while contingency planning to ensure that children’s learning opportunities are maximised, for example sourcing a laptop and utilising online educational resources.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain, rebuild and improve relationships with people who are important in their lives. They work closely with parents and family members and support them effectively to understand their child’s needs. This is identified as an area of major strength by family members and professionals. A social worker said, ‘The manager and staff are doing a fabulous job with parents. They are always there for them. The children see this and how committed staff are to making things work for everybody concerned.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move freely around the house, as seen throughout the inspection. However, it is current practice to restrict access to the lounge, dining room and kitchen areas by locking the doors at night. This is based on an outdated risk assessment and detracts from what is otherwise a family-type home.

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

Staff are suitably trained and understand their safeguarding roles and responsibilities. They know what action to take in the event of an allegation or safeguarding concern, of which there have been none. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 4 Staff understand the need for children to take age-appropriate risks. They provide good information and support to enable children to understand and make positive choices about keeping themselves safe. Overall, children are taking responsibility for their own safety, and incidents of risk-taking behaviour are rare.

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

On occasions, there have been serious concerns about a child going missing from care. At such times, staff have been relentless in their efforts to secure a safe return. They have carried out intelligence-led searches and worked cohesively with key stakeholders. A social worker said, ‘Staff are like private investigators. They have built up a detailed picture of [name of child]’s activities when missing. It is fantastic to have such a consistent and well-thought-out approach.’

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

Children respond positively to clear boundaries and expectations and are respectful of staff and each other. When children make mistakes, these are generally low level. As a result, consequences for negative behaviours are infrequent and there have not been any incidents of staff needing to hold children to keep them safe.

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

A range of health and safety risk assessments and checks are carried out. Overall, these are effective in maintaining a safe environment. However, the person carrying out these checks is limited in some aspects of his knowledge of health and safety. For example, the inspector found some fire doors with voids where locks have been removed, which had not been identified as a potential hazard. Positively, the manager took immediate action to address this issue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is run effectively by an experienced and qualified manager, who is also responsible for another home. This arrangement works because of her commitment and the high levels of support from an established, stable and competent staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is ambitious for children and has successfully created a culture of positivity. Staff have the utmost respect for the manager and say that she provides strong leadership and leads by example. This view is echoed by professionals. One said, ‘[Name of manager] knows these children inside and out. She goes above and beyond and motivates her staff to do the same.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children benefit from the care and support provided by a highly experienced and mostly qualified staff team. Staff spoken to during the inspection clearly enjoy their work and attribute much of this to the professional and personal support they receive from the manager. Practice-based supervision, handovers and team meetings provide regular opportunities to reflect on children’s progress, their emerging needs and staff practice. This means that the manager and staff understand what is going well and are focused on promoting an improvement agenda.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a good range of training for staff, including face-to-face training in the organisation’s chosen therapeutic model. Records confirm that mandatory training is kept up to date. Research-based and needs-led training is also available. However, Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 5 some members of staff have not received up-to-date training in working with children who are at risk of substance misuse, criminal exploitation and county lines.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Links with partner agencies are exceptionally strong. Professionals spoke with confidence about consistently good standards of care that have enabled children to make good and sometimes exceptional progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Suitable action has been taken to address the two requirements from the last inspection. This has contributed to safer medication arrangements and statutory records being held for all children. Two recommendations were also made and have been suitably addressed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 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

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised. (Regulation 21 (c)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, based on children’s current risks, refrain from locking doors that restrict children’s access to the lounge, dining room and kitchen areas. 2 March 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff who carry out health and safety checks have the knowledge and skills to recognise potential hazards that may pose a risk to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12)  The registered person should ensure that all staff complete training in substance misuse, criminal exploitation and county lines. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.5)

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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: SC062268 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care Afloat Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 158 to 160 Birkrig, Digmoor Parade, Skelmersdale WN8 9HP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michael Fletcher

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Inspector

Paul Scott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC062268 8 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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