Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care for four children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2022

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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: 2645184 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience positive and well-planned moves into the home. They visit the home and meet the staff team before they move in. Staff consider children’s wishes and feelings before they move in. One child said, ‘The staff helped me when I first came here, and I was able to learn about the home before I moved in.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carry out regular key-work sessions with children, including life-story work. This helps children to understand their backgrounds and to build connections with those adults who are important to them. A parent said, ‘[Name of child] is helped each week to visit me. The staff bring him, and when I meet them they are all so nice. They have helped our family to stay in touch.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a broad range of activities in and around the home. This promotes adventure and new skills. One child is learning to ice skate, another is having horse-riding lessons and one of the children is having junior driving lessons. This means that children have regular positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to become more independent. Children learn to manage their finances and prepare their own meals. They also learn to manage their own personal care needs. This helps to build confidence and prepare children for their futures. A social worker said, ‘[Name of child] has grown in confidence and has been supported to develop.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with education and seek to overcome barriers to education. One member of school staff said, ‘The staff attended every meeting with respect to [name of child], supporting attendance, attainment and regulation in school.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to spend time with people who are important to them. The manager advocates for children and supports increased time spent with loved ones. In addition, staff support children to spend time with friends when it is appropriate to do so. This ensures that children maintain important relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a spacious and warm environment. The home is furnished to a high standard with bright, tasteful decor. Children choose how they want to decorate and personalise their bedrooms. However, locks on some of th e internal doors make the home feel less homely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s physical and emotional health needs. They use a therapeutic model of care to consider the underlying causes of children’s behaviours and help children to manage their emotions. This enables staff to sensitively support children who have experienced traumatic events. Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 4

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

Children feel safe and supported. Staff take effective action to safeguard children and work closely with agencies. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘The joint working and communication from the staff team is brilliant.’

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

Staff complete risk management plans for each child. This enables staff to identify and understand children’s risks. Staff and managers review plans regularly and discuss them in handover each day and in team meetings. This helps staff to maintain consistency when protecting children from harm.

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

Children rarely go missing from home. Staff keep children safe by following robust missing-from-home protocols for each child. This ensures that staff can act quickly to prevent incidents from occurring.

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

Allegations and complaints are responded to appropriately to safeguard all involved. The staff are confident in their use of whistle-blowing. Professionals are notified promptly to ensure that there is a transparent approach. Children can identify trusted adults in the home who they can make a complaint to. All complaints are thoroughly investigated, and any lessons learned are discussed as part of reflective sessions.

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

Safe recruitment processes for all staff are thorough. There is a robust checklist system in place to ensure all recruitment checks are completed. This includes keeping records of any agency staff used. Consequently, only suitable adults can work in the home.

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

Restraints used have been minimal and proportionate, and only as a last resort. Children and staff have reviewed most of the incident reports. This helps them to reflect and learn and further supports the identification of themes, which supports keeping children safe. However, one child sustained an injury during an incident that was not robustly followed up with the local authority or reviewed as part of the overall evaluation and debrief.

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

The home has robust and detailed records in place to support safe administration of medication. However, the records for one child were incorrect. This has not had an impact on the child but does have the potential to cause confusion.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a thorough knowledge of the children. She listens to children’s views and consider their wishes and feelings. This promotes children’s development and progress. Staff speak highly of the manager. One staff member said, ‘I really can’t praise her enough.’ Another said, ‘She is a wonderful manager and teaches me a lot so I can fulfil my role to the highest standard I can.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 5 Staff attend regular team meetings and supervision sessions. This helps staff to reflect on their performance and to identify training to meet children’s needs. This also keeps staff focused and motivated in their roles. However, the manager does not have a system in place to ensure clear oversight of staff supervisions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff undertake mandatory training as part of their induction, and this is refreshed regularly. Staff access a broad range of training courses to enhance their skills, knowledge and practice. This includes bereavement training to help them support each other and the children. However, systems currently in place do not support the manager with effective oversight. As a result, some courses have expired and staff require refresher training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager conducts appraisals with staff annually. Staff reflect on their work and set targets for the year ahead. However, appraisals do not include the views of children or key individuals. This limits the manager’s understanding of children’s experiences and the ability of leaders to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager shares information with other important people in the children’s lives. One social worker said, ‘The manager is great. She stays in touch and always contacts us to share good news, and when she needs to share concerns. I couldn’t ask for anything more.’ However, the manager has not always challenged the local authority or escalated requests effectively to ensure that children have relevant documents in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the care provided. She makes effective use of external monitoring to quickly identify and address any shortfalls. Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 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 maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children’s case records contain up-to-date plans from the local authority.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 20 April 2023

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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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; is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the registered person ensuring that locks are removed from internal communal doors. 20 April 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 7 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

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they have systems in place to support their oversight of training and staff supervisions. 20 April 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. The medication administration record sheet being used to support children when away from the home should match the records kept in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure records of restraint identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge, including injuries. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that staff appraisals include the views of other professionals who have worked with staff over the year, and the views of

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Recommendations

children who have been cared for at the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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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: 2645184 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 12, Venture House, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Jennifer Quest, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2645184 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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