Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 1 SC482517 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children aged between 11 and 17 years old with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager is appropriately qualified and registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 18 October 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/10/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/12/2021 Full Good 11/03/2020 Full Good 27/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 3

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, four children have places at the home. However, one child has not lived in the home for a number of months and is being supported by staff to live with a family member.

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improvement to be good

Key-work sessions are completed regularly but vary in how creative and engaging they are. Children who have lived in the home for some time have made some progress, for example in developing sufficiently trusting relationships with staff to disclose an inappropriate text message that was sent to them. One child who has been out of school for some time has a school place identified for them to start in the autumn term, and they have been engaging in online education.

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improvement to be good

The home is spacious, with a large lounge and separate games room. It is clean and comfortably furnished. The secure, private garden has a trampoline and football goals, and the children say they enjoy playing football there. Children’s rooms are personalised to varying degrees. An annexe flat, attached to the main house, has a well-equipped kitchen and a large bed-sit room.

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improvement to be good

Children say they get on well with the staff. A social worker said they have observed positive relationships between their child and staff during their evening visits. Children described one member as a ‘banging cook’ and told the inspector that they look forward to whatever he prepares. At the start of the school holidays, children enjoyed a short holiday and a trip to the ice rink. In addition, children go shopping in the nearby town and spend time watching music videos. Staff are exploring opportunities for children to get involved in regular activities outside the home, such as ice-skating lessons and after-school clubs, but arrangements for these are not yet in place.

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improvement to be good

Children are encouraged to eat a healthy diet and are supported to attend routine health appointments.

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improvement to be good

Since the previous inspection, one child has moved on from the home, following a protracted period when the local authority was seeking an alternative placement for them. Staff supported them to move on in a planned way.

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improvement to be good

Recently, staff have struggled to manage the relationships between some of the children in the home. Staff have called the police on two occasions when situations have escalated and they have been unable to safely intervene. A social worker commented that she thinks that sometimes staff could intervene earlier to prevent such escalations. The recent difficulties have led to a safety plan being put into Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 4 place, with the agreement of the children’s social workers. This is to manage behaviours and prevent incidents from escalating while they work on improving relationships between the children. This is showing some early signs of impact, and there have been fewer incidents in the last few weeks.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are not always rigorous or analytical. One assessment was updated following a potentially serious incident. However, staff did not analyse what had happened or put in place sufficient measures to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident happening again. Consequently, at the time of the inspection, the possibility of a similar incident occurring had not been sufficiently reduced. Action was taken during the inspection to rectify this.

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improvement to be good

Some children have had periods of unauthorised absence from the home, but there have been few incidents of children going missing from the home. On one occasion, when a child did go missing from home, staff followed the process in place. The process has subsequently been reviewed following difficulties in contacting the police via the 111 number.

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improvement to be good

Satisfactory recruitment processes are in place to reduce the risk of unsuitable people being employed in the home. An allegation about staff conduct that was made recently was dealt with promptly and reported to the appropriate safeguarding professionals.

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good

The registered manager is qualified and experienced. The requirements of the last inspection have been met.

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good

Recruitment has continued to be a challenge since the last inspection. A small core staff team has worked hard to maintain staffing levels during a period when staffing capacity has been detrimentally affected by long-term absences and vacancies. Supplemented by a consistent group of agency staff, staffing ratios have been maintained, and reliance on the registered and deputy managers to fill shifts has reduced. Despite the staffing challenges, staff feel supported and supervision takes place regularly. Staff are up to date with mandatory training and have opportunities to attend other training, which they describe as helpful.

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good

Managers assess the needs of children moving into the home alongside the needs of children who are already living at the home. However, in one case, the quality of this assessment was negatively impacted by poor or inaccurate information provided by a local authority. This was identified by the registered manager and escalated to the commissioners of the placement.

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good

The quality of professional relationships with social workers is variable, and partners are not always working together effectively. There is evidence of examples of the manager and responsible individual challenging local authority delays in planning for children. However, one social worker has also expressed concern about the quality Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 5 and timeliness of communication from the home.

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good

One child has not lived in the home for some months and, in line with the local authority care plan, staff have been supporting them to live with a relative some distance from the home. While this arrangement may be in the best interest of the child, the home is only able to complete face-to-face visits three times a week or to support specific events, such as a recent hospital stay. Consequently, the amount of care and support they are able to offer this child is limited and is not in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 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 care planning standard is that children receive well- planned care from the home and have a positive experience of admission and transition processes.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires that 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, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1) (2)(a)) 30 October 2023

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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 (2) (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must analyse incidents to ensure that effective measures are put in place to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident happening again. 30 October 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that each child is helped to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support in the future. In particular, key-work sessions should be designed to engage children and use a range of methods suitable to the individual children to do this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27) Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 7  The registered person should seek to develop the home’s effective working relationships with each child’s placing authority and with other relevant persons. In particular, they should maintain regular communication with children’s social workers. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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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: SC482517 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Janet Fraser, His Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC482517 9 regulates and inspects 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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