Children's Home run by Frances House Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 1 SC403462 Registered provider: Frances House Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This private children’s home is registered to care for up to five children. The home’s statement of purpose states that children living in this home may have a range of social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection three children were living in the home. They spoke with the inspectors about their experiences of living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2016. She is suitably experienced and qualified.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/04/2021 Full Good 10/12/2019 Full Inadequate 17/04/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with the staff team. They feel listened to and they trust staff. Social workers, children’s families and key professionals are very complimentary about the care provided to children. One professional reported that the staff team provides a good level of support to children during difficult times in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made progress in their education. Since the last inspection, the approach to encouraging children to engage in their education has improved. The staff team works positively with teaching staff and other education professionals. Children have incentives to support them to improve their education attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team supports children to see their families, in line with their views and wishes. They help children to restore and sustain positive relationships with their family when possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that staff prioritise children’s health needs. Children are supported to access external health agencies when they require support for their additional health needs and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Inspectors found that there is limited evidence of the work undertaken with children, to be able to track their progress in preparing for adulthood. The senior leadership team has developed an independence skills assessment programme to support children who are preparing to live independently. However, this programme has not been formally implemented with the children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are regularly consulted about their experiences of living in the home. They engage well in house meetings and make suggestions about how their home could be improved. Their meetings take place before staff meetings, so that the team can consider children’s views and feedback. The manager ensures that all children’s requests are acknowledged and appropriately actioned.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some areas of the home require redecoration to repair wear and tear. Some of the communal areas look bare and need additional furnishings to make them look more homely. The manager has identified these areas in her development plan and has requested to have the work done. This should be made a priority.

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

Children feel safe and secure in their home. Social workers reported that, for some children, this is the most settled they have been. This is because the staff team understands children’s individual risk behaviours and how to safeguard them effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 4 When children move into the home, children’s plans consider their shared risks and how these risks can be effectively managed. Children’s individual risk and behaviour management plans are reviewed regularly. This ensures that the staff are vigilant to children’s changing needs. Staff are skilled in using a range of de-escalation techniques and, because of this, incidents of staff needing to hold children to keep them safe are rare.

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

Children have frequently been reported to the police as missing from the home. However, children rarely go missing together. Staff are proactive in trying to prevent children from going missing from the home and to return them safely. The senior team works consistently with placing authorities and missing-from-home coordinators to agree strategies to reduce risks for children.

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

Safeguarding incidents and allegations have been managed appropriately to safeguard children and others involved. The manager promotes effective multidisciplinary working, ensuring that the staff team communicates regularly with relevant professionals, such as the exploitation team, police and substance misuse agencies.

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

The staff team undertakes purposeful direct work and training with children following all incidents. Individual sessions provide additional opportunities for staff to talk through any concerns with children and educate them about making safer choices.

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

Some consequences given to children have not been recorded. This is because the senior leadership team has not provided clear guidance about what constitutes a consequence for negative behaviours. Additionally, the monitoring of consequences is not robust and the manager does not evaluate the effectiveness of each individual consequence to determine whether it should be used again.

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good

Senior leaders work well together as a team. They are positive role models for the staff team. They understand the children’s needs and advocate on their behalf. This includes challenging professionals when they have concerns about care planning or safeguarding decisions.

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good

The manager recognises the home’s strengths and areas for development. She and the deputy manager are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service. However, it was identified during the inspection that on one occasion, the management team failed to provide suitable direction to the team, resulting in a serious incident occurring. The management team had also missed opportunities to ensure that a child’s contact plan fully considered the potential risks and strategies for staff to follow to promote a child’s welfare when they spend time with a peer. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 5 A stable staff team provides consistency and continuity of care to children. Staff feel well supported by the senior team. Staff say that the management team is approachable and there is an open-door policy in relation to staff sharing any concerns. Staff receive regular practice-related supervisions and additional support

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good

The manager monitors staff training effectively. When required, she requests training that is specific to children’s individual needs to equip staff with the skills to be able to support the children. The manager is trained to deliver several courses and this provides an opportunity for additional face-to-face training for the staff team.

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good

A monthly monitoring tool is in place, to ensure that the senior leadership team has clear oversight of the operation of the home. The manager’s review of the quality of care evaluates progress made by children and identifies areas of support that the children require. In the report, she sets action plans, with agreed timescales to address any shortfalls and to improve children’s overall experiences of living in the home.

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good

The quality of the independent visitor reports has improved. The visitor regularly consults with children, staff, external professionals and families. The reports are now sent to Ofsted within the required timescales, and they provide appropriate recommendations to drive improvements in the quality of care provided to children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 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 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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)(a)(h)) 23 June 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

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; 23 June 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 7 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. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff help each child to prepare for their move from the home when they are moving to live independently. This includes supporting the child to develop practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of its children and is a homely, domestic environment. Homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC403462 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Frances House Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 73 Albert Road, Colne, Lancashire BB8 0BP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pamela Forrester

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Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Susan Garner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC403462 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 who are looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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