Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 1 SC440309 Registered provider: Lancashire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated and managed by a local authority and is registered to provide care for up to six children with social and emotional difficulties. There are six children currently living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been employed since August 2023 and has applied to register 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: At a full inspection on 22 August 2023, the home was judged to be inadequate. Following the inspection, Ofsted issued five compliance notice. These related to regulation 6, the quality and purpose of care standard, regulation 12, the protection of children standard, regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, regulation 21, privacy and access, and regulation 25, fire precautions. On 3 October 2023, a monitoring visit was undertaken and all compliance notices were met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/08/2023 Full Inadequate 21/03/2023 Full Good 30/11/2021 Full Outstanding 30/07/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved out of the home following a significant safeguarding incident. The endings for these children were unplanned and happened with limited notice. One child has moved into the home and there a total of six children living in the home at the moment.

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improvement to be good

New furniture and redecoration of some areas of the home has helped improve the home environment. However, further improvements are needed. For example, children’s bedrooms are not decorated to reflect children’s individual personalities. In addition, one child’s bathroom has mould.

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improvement to be good

Children have good relationships with some staff, including their key workers. However, recent changes to the staff team, mean that children have not yet developed trusting relationship with those staff who are new to the home.

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improvement to be good

Four of the children are in suitable education and are progressing well. Two children are not in education. However, alternative informal education is being provided, and the staff are are working closely with the virtual school. One of the two child will start in a new education placement in January 2024, and the other child has applied to commence an apprenticeship.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote healthy lifestyles and children’s health needs are met. Children are helped to attend appointments and seek medical help when required. For children with specialist health needs, these are known and understood by staff, and children are helped to attend regular review appointments.

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improvement to be good

Children are helped to learn new skills in readiness for living on their own. As a result, children feel ready to move on from the home and live independently.

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improvement to be good

Some children have experienced bullying behaviours while living at the home. Staff have taken appropriate action in relation to this concern. This has included completing direct work with those children effected. Bullying is no longer a current concern.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond appropriately to immediate safeguarding issues. However, staff are not aways clear on when to notify external agencies of new concerns or incidents. The manager is aware of this shortfall in knowledge and has planned a team meeting to provide training to the staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 4 There have been occasions when children have been missing from the home. When children are missing, there is a shortage of staff available to actively search for children. As a result, children are missing for longer periods than is necessary.

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improvement to be good

On occasion children have caused damage to the home. This has included damage to fire doors. The manager has reported this; however, this is slow to be replaced. As a result, this area of the home is not fire safe.

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improvement to be good

Children’s individual assessments and plans are detailed and show a good understanding of children’s needs. Staff keep these up to date and include any learning from any behavioural incidents. They contain clear strategies with guidance to help staff reduce risks to children. As a result, staff are consistently following children’s up to date care plans and some risks are reducing. For one child, the risk of exploitation has significantly reduced.

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good

The home has not had a registered manager since March 2023. The current manager has been in post since August 2023. They are experienced. The manager has a good understanding of the home’s areas for improvement. She has clear plans to improve the support staff offer to children, however, these are in their infancy and not yet embedded into practice.

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good

The manager completes a detailed assessment which considers the children’s suitability to live alongside each other. For one child, potential safeguarding issues were identified within this assessment. A senior manager made the decision for the child to move into the home and the manager’s challenge has been ineffective. As a result, children’s safety and welfare have been compromised.

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good

Supervision and team meetings do take place regularly. Supervision and team meeting recordings do not detail staff’s reflections on their practice and the needs of the children in their care, however, staff and the manager say this is happening regularly. As a result, recording is minimal, and staff are unable to use these to improve their practice.

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good

Staff have trust in the manager. Staff say they are happy at work and the manager is approachable. One staff member said the manager is, ‘a breath of fresh air’. Staff feel supported and listened to.

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good

Since being in post, the manager has implemented systems and processes to ensure that she has effective oversight of the home. When there are concerns around staff practice, the manager responds to these appropriately. Identified learning is shared with the staff team, which helps to support and develop practice. Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 5

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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, 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 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that all staff are aware of safeguarding procedures and who to report concerns to.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that when children are missing from home, staff are pro-active in locating and returning them safely to the home. 30 December

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

mutual respect and trust; 30 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 6 an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(xii)(xiii))

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home. (Regulation 25 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that when in use, fire doors when damaged are fixed in the shortest time frame possible. 15 December

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place to ensure that when staff receive supervision, they are reflective and structured. Staff should be given the opportunity to regularly reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 7

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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: SC440309 8

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspectors

Cathy Wilkins, Social Care Inspector Leanne Carr, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC440309 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 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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