Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 1 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates this home. It is registered to provide care for up to six children with social and emotional difficulties. There were six children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2016.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 20 September 2022

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/09/2022 Full Good 13/04/2021 Full Good 03/09/2019 Full Good 14/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff offer children unconditional positive regard in this home. One child said, ‘I can be a kid again, even when I’m naughty they [staff] have never said they feel disappointed with me.’ Children have built trusted relationships with staff.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to see their families, in line with their care plans. Staff take the children to see family members and family members are welcome to visit the home. Family time is important for children’s identity and sense of belonging.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use a model of care that encourages playfulness. They work hard at understanding children’s likes and interests. Children play with staff and have fun. This helps them build positive childhood memories and experiences.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and welcoming and children are able to personalise their bedrooms. However, some internal doors to communal areas have locks on them, which could prevent children from having access to all areas of their home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Not all the children are accessing formal education or educational activities. Staff have worked hard to support the children to access education but have not been able to motivate them to attend. This means that some of the children are missing opportunities to learn and to socialise with peers.

p.3

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

Children have up-to-date and highly individual risk assessments. Where necessary, children have detailed safety plans. Staff are aware of the children’s risks and what action they should take to keep them safe.

p.3

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

Staff have good knowledge of safeguarding procedures. They work in close partnership with agencies, such as children’s services and the police. A social work professional said, ‘They [the staff] are creative and have helped to create positive boundaries for [name of child].’ Children’s safety has increased since they have lived at the home.

p.3

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

A location risk assessment is in place and is updated regularly. The children’s home environment is safe and secure.

p.3

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

Safer recruitment policies are in place, which means that staff who work with the child undergo checks to ensure they are appropriate to work with children.

p.3

good

Staff are not offered regular supervision or appraisals of their work. Staff do not always have the opportunity to reflect on their work with the children or on the Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 4 children’s experiences. This means that opportunities to discuss how best to support the children are missed.

p.3

good

On two occasions, there have been serious safeguarding concerns. Staff did all that they needed to do to keep the children safe, but the manager did not notify Ofsted. This means that information was not shared with the regulator. This fails to provide transparency of safeguarding practice.

p.4

good

The leadership team completes audits of the home regularly. This helps support the manager and staff team to maintain good-quality care for children.

p.4

good

The staff have regular team meetings where they meet as a group to discuss the children and any improvements or changes that can be made to the children’s care.

p.4

good

The registered manager is experienced and knows the children, the home and the staff very well. Staff say that he is very approachable and supportive. Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 5

p.4

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.

p.5

Requirement Due date

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

p.5

Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

p.5

Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

p.5

Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child —

p.5

Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

p.5

Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 24 November

p.5

Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.5

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. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(viii)) 24 November

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 24 November Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 6 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises;

p.5

Requirement Due date

and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

p.6

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate;

p.6

Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must remove internal locks on doors to communal areas.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that staff receive regular supervision. 24 November

p.6

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: 1241782 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: PO Box 78, Preston PR1 8XJ

p.7

Inspector

Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1241782 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8