Children's Home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Lancashire

Inspection for report children’s home: SC063103 1 SC063103 Registered provider: Lifetime Opportunities Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to five children. The home’s statement of purpose states that children living in the home may have learning difficulties, autism spectrum disorder and may display unwanted behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager in post is not yet registered 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 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: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/06/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/12/2019 Full Good 14/08/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home. The child previously lived in another home belonging to the same organisation. The move provided the child with opportunities to experience group living with children of a similar age. As a result, the child has had greater opportunities to socially interact with other children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children regularly attend a cooking workshop where they are supported to bake and prepare food. This helps children to learn new skills, such as counting, measuring and patience. As a result, children are provided with opportunities to develop their independence according to their individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend education and are learning and making progress. Attendance levels are high for those who attend school, and feedback about their progress is positive. One child currently has no educational placement. The child is disinclined to take part in formal education, which has created a significant barrier to learning. The manager has worked closely with the placing authority and identified courses that support additional learning, which has been successful. The child attended a wreath making class over the Christmas period. This was a significant development in the child’s progress and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to take part in activities that occur after school and in the community. Children regularly take part in various activities, such as dance classes, swimming, going to theme parks and eating out at restaurants. One child particularly loves the basket swings in the local park, so staff ensure that they visit often. As a result, children can develop their social engagement, which increases their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage in regular direct work in the form of key-work sessions. During these sessions, children’s views, feelings and wishes are explored in line with their individual communication needs. This work is effective and, as a result, children’s communication skills are developing. However, the details of key- work sessions for one child have not always been recorded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed trusting and secure relationships with the staff who care for them. The staff know the children well. They invest time in them, listen to them and are passionate about the progress they are making. As a result, children can develop an appropriate sense of permanence and identify staff who they can talk to if they are ever worried or feeling sad.

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

The manager ensures that there are risk management plans in place to support children and to help keep them safe. Some of the plans in place were too generic Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 4 and placed more emphasis on activities rather than children’s individual risks. Prior to the inspection, the manager updated some of the children’s plans. The updated plans are individualised to children and contain relevant strategies.

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

Holding a child to keep them safe is used as a last resort in conjunction with the home’s policies and procedures. There has been one occasion when a child had to be held to keep them safe. The use of this measure has been recorded; however, there is no evidence that the child was spoken to or that the incident was reviewed by the manager.

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

One child has a mobile phone which is used as a tool to communicate with staff. The mobile phone is also used to maintain regular contact with their parent, which helps to ease the child’s anxiety. This type of mobile phone allows access to the internet, social media and apps. The use of the mobile phone is not monitored by staff in the home but is monitored and managed by the child’s parent. As a result, staff have not been able to fully consider all risks associated with the mobile phone. During the inspection, the child’s social worker developed an agreement for the child’s parent to share weekly reports detailing the child’s mobile phone usage. The manager and staff will now be able to have oversight of the child’s mobile phone usage.

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

Discrepancies around medication are appropriately managed. When alerted to a medication error, the manager responded proactively. The manager carried out an internal investigation and was able to identify learning outcomes. A clear action plan was implemented to reduce the likelihood of further medication errors, including additional training and assessments.

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good

The manager has been in post since July 2022 but has not yet applied to register with Ofsted. The manager shows an ambitious vision and has high expectations for what all children can achieve. However, this is not yet embedded in the home.

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good

The monitoring of the service has not been effective. Several incidents have occurred when children have injured staff. These incidents have not been recorded in detail and they have not been reviewed by the manager. As a result, this has affected the manager’s ability to identify any potential learning opportunities that can support and develop practice in the home.

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good

There is a safe area report in place, which is up to date. This takes into consideration the local risks and hazards. However, the manager has not consulted with relevant agencies, such as the local police in the community, to obtain their views.

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good

The home makes use of internal care plans that identify children’s individual needs. The plans are child friendly and incorporate information from other relevant plans. However, one child’s care plan from the local authority is outdated and does not reflect that the child currently lives in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 5 The manager carries out a regular quality of care review. However, the review does not benefit from any feedback and opinions from children about the home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive.

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good

The manager ensures that supervision sessions take place regularly and in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Staff are provided with opportunities to reflect on their practice and the care that they provide to children. Regular team meetings also take place, which are also reflective, and provide staff with opportunities to appropriately challenge practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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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

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(v)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children who are not in education have clear structure and routines in place at the home to support independent study.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that concerns about the lack of education and plans in place for children are appropriately escalated. 10 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 10 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 7 promotes their welfare.

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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

In particular, ensure that when children display behaviour that places themselves or others at risk, this is recorded as an incident.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all incidents are evaluated, taking into consideration any possible learning outcomes that can be implemented in children’s risk management plans or to support the development of staff.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are clear systems in place in the home, to support and develop management oversight.

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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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Requirement Due date

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—

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that there are up-to-date care plans in place from the placing authority. 10 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

the name of the child; 10 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 8 details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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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 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that records of holds are stored in the home and that these are evaluated by an approved person.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that following the use of a hold, children are spoken to by an independent person, taking into consideration their feelings, views and wishes about the measure used.

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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). 10 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 9 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

In particular, ensure that consultation takes place with relevant persons and consider their views when reviewing the location of the premises.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that consultation takes place with the placing authority so that the provider can be assured that day-to-day risks can be assessed and managed. Specifically, this is in relation to ensuring that children’s individual risk assessments are up to date and reflect current risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  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. In particular, ensure that daily records are detailed and that all records of incidents or behaviours are descriptive. Key-work sessions should be purposeful, evaluative and non-stigmatising, and records should be of sufficient quality so that they are helpful to a child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when carrying out a review of the premises, they consult and consider the views of relevant persons. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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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: SC063103 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lifetime Opportunities Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3AT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Shona Wands Alderson

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Inspector

Kimmy Feeley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC063103 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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