Children's Home run by Sandcastle Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 1 Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. The home provides care and support for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified and experienced and has been registered with Ofsted since January 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/04/2022 Full Good 12/01/2022 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/09/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 3

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inadequate

There are two children living in the home, and two children have moved out. There are significant shortfalls in safeguarding practice, management of risk, and leadership and management oversight of the home. This means that children’s safety, well-being and experiences have been affected. Staff do not always understand children’s individual needs and relevant plans. The overall experiences of children are compromised by poor safeguarding practices.

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inadequate

Children do not have adults they can trust. Children spoken to were unable to identify who they would go to if they were worried or had a concern. Children told inspectors that they were unclear about how to make a complaint. One child said that they do not feel cared for. For example, when a child was admitted to the hospital, she was there without any staff to support her. Staff told inspectors that if it was their own child, they would have stayed at the hospital.

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inadequate

Children are not supported to develop a sense of belonging. Children, staff and managers do not understand care planning arrangements or children’s long-term plans. One child said, ‘I don’t know how long I am here for or what I need to do to go home.’

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inadequate

Children do not have access to full-time learning and are receiving little education. Children were observed spending lots of time in their bedrooms without any encouragement from managers and staff to engage in any informal learning or independent study.

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inadequate

Transition plans for children to move in and out of the home are poor and do not evaluate how children’s individual needs will be met. Furthermore, the needs of the children already in the home are not considered.

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

There are serious and widespread failings in the understanding and management of risk. The registered manager and staff are not able to consistently identify when children are at risk of harm. This means that there are missed opportunities for staff to take effective action to reduce potential risks to children. For example, staff who spoke to inspectors did not know the actions they should take to support and guide children. Staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in protecting children.

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

Individual risk assessments are not consistently updated and do not contain clear actions for staff to take. Staff do not know what they need to do to keep children safe. Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 4 The registered manager and staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in protecting children and have not taken effective action when there have been serious concerns about children’s welfare, despite receiving training. Inspectors found many examples where professional curiosity is lacking in relation to the risks that children may face in the community, for example about the risks that children may face in the community regarding exploitation, missing from home, online safety and self-injurious behaviours. Strategies to minimise the risk of harm have not been considered when children are accessing online communication forums.

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

Physical intervention in the home is rare. Restraint records show that only one is reported to have taken place. However, this was not completed in line with the home’s policies and procedures. There is no oversight of restraint practice and no evidence of appropriate debriefs with children. This means that the children’s wishes and feelings are not considered.

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

Children say that they do not always feel safe and protected. Children are not supported to understand or manage their behaviours and feelings safely. Consequences are repeated despite proving to be ineffective. When decision making around behaviour support was explored, staff said, ‘We give the consequence of loss of free time as we don’t know what else to do.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Effective monitoring and review systems are not in place. Children’s individual plans are not consistently reviewed and evaluated by managers. These plans do not sufficiently identify how children’s needs can be met or consider any improvements to improve the quality of care staff provide for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not ensured that children’s plans comprehensively identify their individual needs; these are not updated to reflect current care arrangements. Placing authority care plans are not in place for all children, and the challenge from leaders to obtain these plans is not sufficient.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not taken sufficient action to address the requirements identified at the previous inspection or to consider the impact this is having on the progress and experiences of each child. This means that two requirements are restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recording in the home is of poor quality. Staff rosters do not reflect actual hours worked, including those of the manager. There is insufficient management oversight of the quality of care. Records are inconsistent and do not include information that should alert managers to the fact that further enquiry is necessary. The style and clarity of children’s records are poor and blame the child, for example by stating ‘makes allegations to get own way’ and ‘attention seeking’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision and team meetings take place, yet these are not reflective, or practice based. Training is largely completed online, with no review of learning. Staff have Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 5 attended safeguarding training. However, the shortfalls identified at this inspection demonstrate that training is ineffective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager accepts the significant shortfalls identified at this inspection. Due to the serious and widespread failings identified during this inspection , compliance notices have been issued under regulation 7, the wishes and feelings standard, regulation 8, the education standard, regulation 12, the protection of children standard and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review; and

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii); 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 7 ensure that each child—

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with; and

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Requirement Due date

what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the views of each relevant person are taken into account, so far as reasonably practicable, before making a decision about the care or welfare of a child. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii) (iii)(d)(i)(iii)(e))

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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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; 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 8 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

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x)(b))

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 9 understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 10 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; that arrangements are in place to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(e)(i)(ii)(f)) 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 11 Specifically, children should benefit from up-to-date placing authority care plans that inform care planning arrangements. Furthermore, children should have appropriately considered plans in place to support moves in and out of the home.

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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

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

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)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Any incidents of physical intervention should be recorded accurately and contain details of the child being consulted about the measure used. 11 June 2023 Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 12 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; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure children’s records are accurately updated and reflect their journey living in the home. 11 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, rotas must contain the actual hours staff have worked, including the registered manager. 11 June 2023

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: 2595112 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sandcastle Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 49 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool FY3 9DG

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Inspector

Nichola Croft, Social Care Inspector Sally Griffiths, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2595112 14 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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