Children's Home run by Outbound Care in Blackpool

Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 1 Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private organisation. It provides care for one child who may have social and emotional difficulties or a learning disability.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was being cared for at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2021, having managed the home since September 2020. The manager is also registered for another home within the organisation.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/06/2022 Full Outstanding 14/12/2021 Full Good 28/01/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child has positive relationships with the manager and staff. Staff are nurturing in their approach and care for the child with kindness. Staff take time to listen to the child and understands their needs. This supports the child’s progress and emotional well-being. The child has made progress in all aspects of their life since living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a calm and welcoming environment. The child takes pride in their bedroom and has been supported to personalise it to reflect their own taste and personality. Since the last inspection, the rear garden has been developed and offers a pleasant seating area for children. The kitchen area has been improved through the removal of a tumble-dryer. However, a number of the home’s internal doors, including the child’s bedroom door, would benefit from being painted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who come to live at the home are allowed to have pets. One child has been given a kitten. This gives individual children some responsibility and helps them to learn how to care safely for animals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff team have good relationships with the network of agencies involved with the child. They strongly encourage and motivate the child to engage with specialist services. The staff work in partnership with health professionals to ensure that the child’s health needs are met and that they have access to necessary health services. There are robust health plans in place to make sure that the child’s specific health needs are managed well by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff have worked alongside a range of educational providers to make sure that the child’s educational needs are met. This has included supporting the child to receive individual tutoring at the home and direct educational work provided by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family time is supported in line with relevant plans, which ensures that the child can maintain relationships that are important to them. The manager and staff work with the family and placing authority to promote meaningful and safe time between the child and their family. They share any concerns about family time with the relevant professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer support and guidance to the child and try to engage them in positive activities. Staff help the child to understand their emotions and become socially aware. Children who live in the home are taught positive ways to resolve conflicts, which helps them to form and maintain positive relationships. Staff ensure that the child has opportunities to contribute towards the daily running of the home and their care planning. Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 4 The child receives consistent and well-planned care from a stable and dedicated staff team. The child has recently been on holiday to a lodge in the Lake District for a week. This was supported by three members of staff.

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

Staff demonstrate their role and responsibilities in keeping the child safe. They are trained in and have a good knowledge of safeguarding procedures. Staff communicate well with other agencies and share information when necessary to ensure that the child is safeguarded. Before a child moves in, the manager has assessed any known risks and has been confident that the staff team is able to meet the needs of the child.

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

Staff have a thorough understanding of the child’s risks and have developed effective behaviour management techniques. Risk assessments are informed by the child’s own input. Plans are frequently updated and give clear guidance to staff to ensure that that there is a consistent response to the child’s behaviour. However, written risk assessments do not always record all of the risk-relevant information that they should.

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

Staff are proactive in delivering interventions in accordance with risk and behaviour management plans. Staff complete one-to-one work with the child to help them to learn how to stay safe. This work covers topics such as vaping, mobile phone use, social media and online safety.

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

Good behaviour is encouraged and incentivised. Staff are effective at de-escalating situations. Professionals stated that staff were ‘resilient, understanding and consistent’ with the child. Staff very rarely need to use physical interventions. When it is used, physical restraint is proportionate and necessary. When there are episodes of challenging behaviour, prompt follow-up work is undertaken to support the child to learn and reflect on their behaviour.

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

The stability of living in the home is helping the child to feel safe and secure. As a result, missing-from-home incidents have reduced significantly. When missing-from- home episodes have occurred, staff have followed the child’s plans and the child’s welfare has been protected.

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

Children’s meetings are held regularly and the child makes suggestions about the running of the home, which the manager listens to and considers the suggestions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an experienced manager in post who holds a relevant childcare qualification. The manager has high aspirations for any child who lives in the home and takes appropriate action and advocates for the child when the need arises. This ensures that the child’s views, wishes and feelings are heard. The manager and staff work well with outside professionals to ensure that the child receives the right support in areas such as health and education. Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 5 There is a stable staff team in place. The child receives consistent care from adults whom they know and trust. The manager and staff receive supervision in line with policy and procedure and use this time well to reflect on the child and their practice. Staff said that they feel well supported by the manager and that they have the opportunity to discuss their professional development. Team meetings take place

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

regularly, where they discuss the child and reflect on practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a range of training that helps them to understand how to meet the child’s needs. Staff are encouraged to access relevant qualifications when required. Training opportunities for the staff are comprehensive and relevant to the child’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager strongly promotes professional development. He uses a range of learning tools to support staff to develop their knowledge and understanding of their roles. He undertakes single-subject supervisions and has introduced quizzes as part of team meetings and developed incentive schemes. This promotes good morale within the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is effective internal and external oversight and monitoring of the care provided to the child and the daily running of the home. However, some shortfalls in the processes for ensuring that staff were aware of updates to risk assessments were identified during this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes positive use of the feedback provided by the independent visitor to support the continued development of the home. Leaders and the manager notify Ofsted of significant events which occur at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered person manages his time effectively given that he is dual-registered and ensures that he attends the home on a daily basis for the benefit of the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home provides a nurturing, supportive and homely environment that meets the needs of the children. They should ensure that the doors on the first floor are painted. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. They should ensure that all risks are accurately recorded. They should ensure that robust processes are in place to ensure that all staff are made aware of any information which is relevant to the child’s risks. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: 2523036 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Outbound Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2, Metropolitan Business Park, Preston New Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY3 9LT

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Inspector

Steve James, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2523036 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 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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