Children's Home run by North East Lincolnshire Council in North East Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 1 Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority owns and runs this home. The home provides care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a new manager, who has 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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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: 21 November 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: 2594189 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/09/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 3

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improvement to be good

Children’s day-to-day experiences vary. Children have recently gone through a period of instability, which has led to significant incidents in the home. Staff have struggled to positively influence the children’s behaviour on such occasions, and incidents have exposed children to harm. The failure of staff to respond to children’s behaviour does not give assurances that children are safeguarded effectively.

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improvement to be good

Staff consult with children about the day-to-day running of the home and decisions about their care. This is done through regular meetings and direct, focused work with children. When children make complaints, these are appropriately investigated. This assures children that their views are important.

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improvement to be good

Staff prioritise children’s education. They understand the importance of working with education providers and allocated teaching staff to address the challenges children face. The staff work closely with these professionals to identify and fully assess children’s learning needs. This helps to determine any additional support children may need to help them reach their full potential.

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improvement to be good

Children’s emotional and physical health needs are met. Staff support the children to live healthy lifestyles and to attend their medical and healthcare appointments. This ensures that good health is maintained.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to build positive memories of their stay in the home. A variety of activities are offered to children to encourage them to enjoy their leisure time. Some children prefer to stay home despite encouragement from staff to have new experiences in the community. Children are supported to keep in touch with their families if it is safe to do so, which promotes children’s identity and well-being.

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improvement to be good

Risk-management systems are inconsistent. Not all strategies in place ensure that children are consistently safeguarded from harm. However, the new manager has reviewed children’s risk assessments and behaviour-management plans to ensure that staff are clear on what action they should take to better protect children from harm.

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improvement to be good

Not all incidents have management oversight. In addition, the recording of some incidents is not clear and has insufficient information regarding the events. The lack of detail and clarity means it is not clear whether staff safeguard children and promote their well-being effectively. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 4 The dynamics between children in the home have been difficult. When children are unkind to each other, the staff identify and address this immediately. Children are supported to learn to be kind to each other, and helped to understand why bullying behaviour is not acceptable. This helps the children to develop socially acceptable behaviour.

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improvement to be good

When children are absent from the home without permission, staff follow the appropriate safeguarding guidelines. Staff spend time talking with the children following any missing-from-home incidents so that children have an opportunity to talk about their experiences. This reinforces to children that the staff care about them.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment is effective and helps to prevent the employment of unsuitable people to work with children. Leaders and managers carry out all necessary employment checks and verify these checks before staff work in the home.

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good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has left the home. They did not have sufficient oversight of the service, and did not use the available internal auditing tools to monitor or review staff practice, shortfalls in children’s care, records and documents. However, the new manager has taken steps to address this. The new manager is in the process of registering with Ofsted.

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good

The previous manager failed to notify Ofsted of a serious incident that placed a child at risk of harm. This prevented Ofsted from ensuring that management oversight of the incident had taken place to prevent harm to the child.

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good

Staff attend regular team meetings, training and supervision sessions to help them to reflect on and develop their practice. These are used as an opportunity to share learning and improve practice. Staff spoke highly of the support they receive from their colleagues and said that they feel like part of a team.

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good

The manager uses external monitoring by the independent visitor to review the quality of care and the progress of the children. The independent visitor’s monitoring provides challenge to the manager. The manager and staff have good working relationships with other professionals and with children’s families. This supports partnership working and means that children’s welfare is promoted.

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good

Staff at the home have positive relationships with social workers, teachers and other agencies. This provides children with joined-up care and support. Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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

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)) 8 December 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

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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)) 8 December 2023

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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.

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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 the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if— 8 December 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 6 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e) 8 December 2023

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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 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: 2594189 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Offices, Knoll Street, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire DN35 8LN

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Inspector

Evelyn Chafota, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2594189 8 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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