Lincolnshire Secure Unit

Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 1 SC042921 Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this secure children’s home

This secure children’s home is operated by a local authority and is approved by the Secretary of State to restrict children’s liberty.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The children’s home can care for up to 12 children aged between 10 and 17 years. The home was caring for 12 children at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The home provides care for up to 11 children placed by the youth custody service and one child placed under section 25 of the Children Act 1989.

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Information about this secure children’s home

Admission of any child under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 who is under 13 years of age requires the approval of the Secretary of State placed by local authorities.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The commissioning of health services at this home is the statutory responsibility of NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Education is provided on site in dedicated facilities.

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Information about this secure children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2008.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

Children's education and learning good Children's health requires improvement to be good How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 2 The secure children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 10 January 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2023 Full Good 16/11/2021 Full Good 18/05/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with staff and said that they are happy living in the home. Staff know the children well and are able to quickly establish trusting relationships with them. All children said that they have members of staff who they can go to if they have any concerns or worries, and they commented positively about how the staff care for them. One child said, ‘I give the staff four stars out of five.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that they listen to, and when possible act on, children’s views and wishes. Children’s care plans and records are detailed, include all of their needs and describe strategies for staff to use to meet these. Managers regularly review these documents to highlight and celebrate the progress that children make. Staff are proud of the children’s achievements and treat them with respect and compassion. This approach helps the children to feel safe and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The interventions team and key work team carry out reflective sessions with children. This work focuses on the reasons for the children’s placements and supports them to discuss sensitive issues and have difficult conversations. These sessions also help children to start to understand how their actions and behaviours may harm themselves and others. This enables children to be more insightful and to make more positive changes in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy social, leisure and enrichment programmes that enhance their childhood experiences. These allow children to be children. The staff team put an immense effort into planning a wide variety of stimulating activities, such as strategic games, crafts for Christmas and three-way chess.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have regular contact with family and friends. This maintains meaningful relationships and on-going connections with those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise children’s mobility and release on temporary licence This is because they understand that this helps children to learn essential social skills as they engage with the community in preparation for leaving the home. Children’s views are pivotal to this process to ensure that when children are away from the home they continue to feel safe and supported.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are ready to leave the home their moves are planned and implemented well, resulting in a positive end to the placement. The resettlement worker goes above and beyond to support children's educational, vocational, social and welfare needs once they have left the home. They maintain regular professional contact which ensure that children do not feel abandoned. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 5

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Children’s education and learning: good

The head of education provides strong leadership. Senior leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in education and have addressed the shortfalls identified at the last inspection.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teachers know the children well. They design curriculums that are much broader than the content needed to achieve qualifications. Children study a suitable range of academic, and vocational subjects. Leaders have introduced a new science course which provides children with foundational knowledge in electronics, biology and chemistry.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teachers manage learning in the classroom well and adapt resources to meet the needs of children of different abilities and ages. Most children behave well and have respectful relationships with teaching staff. Consequently, children are able to focus on their studies.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Leaders and managers collect an appropriate range of information about children's starting points. Teachers assess children’s initial understanding in mathematics, English and reading. They use information from the education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and psychological assessments to identify children’s additional learning needs. Teachers use this information well to plan individual support that prepare children for their next steps. This means that children make good progress in English, mathematics, science and technology from their starting points.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Teachers teach the content well. They use a variety of relevant, interesting and appropriately challenging resources and activities. Children respond well to the activities that teachers plan. Through skilful teaching they learn more and remember more about new topics. Children who stay in the home for an extended period, take recognised qualifications and achieve them. Teachers use feedback to help children improve their understanding of topics that they have been taught. Teachers identify children’s areas for development. Children respond very well to immediate oral feedback and make improvements.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Children participate in lessons and activities that improve their personal skills. They cook increasingly complex dishes and take more control when working in the kitchen. Children develop their understanding of personal finance and produce simple budgets. They participate in discussions and activities that explore attitudes towards others. These activities take place in a caring and inclusive environment.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Leaders have written a well-considered reading strategy. Teachers use phonics well to teach children to read. However, in recent weeks due to absence, staff have supported fewer children in reading for pleasure.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Leaders provide appropriate professional development and access to a range of professional qualifications for teachers. This improves their quality of teaching over time. Teachers and learning assistants work together well but do not always pre-plan Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 6 the academic learning support that children need. As a result, this support is not as effective as it could be.

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Children’s education and learning: good

From the point of admission into the home, staff encourage children to think about their next steps. Teachers provide well-structured, regular, individualised opportunities to think about their career ambitions. Children benefit from high-quality independent careers education, information, advice and guidance. They enjoy and learn from visits from potential employers at appropriate points during their time at the home.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Children’s health: requires improvement to be good.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Children benefit from partnership working between the health team, care staff and education staff. Together these professionals identify children’s health needs, devise suitable plans and deliver services to reflect these needs.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Bi-monthly multi-disciplinary meetings help the health, care and education staff to regularly share information about children's changing health needs and care plans. Nevertheless, the health team do not have access to up-to-date EHCP’s for all children. They are not included in the annual review of these plans. As a result, children’s EHCP’s, which move with the children when they leave the home, may not accurately describe all the child's health needs.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The process for medicines being dispensed following GP prescribing is confusing and ineffective. The oversight of this area of practice is ineffective and some children do not receive their prescribed medication. For example, one child did not have an asthma inhaler and another child did not receive a short-term medication to treat anxiety. This is detrimental to children’s health and well-being.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The current staffing vacancies and the long-term sickness of key members of the health team have significantly reduced the team’s capacity to meet all children’s health needs. The speech and language therapist and physical health nurse posts have recently been recruited to but other essential posts, such as occupational therapy and psychology, remain vacant. Several children have been waiting too long for a speech, language and communication assessment, and some children have not received the occupational therapy that is specified in their EHCPs. As a result, not all children’s health needs are fully identified or understood. In turn, not all supportive strategies and provision are in place to meet particular children’s needs.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The nursing team provides specialist targeted education sessions to children. For example, sleep hygiene and relaxation techniques to help children’s sleep patterns, emotional regulation and coping strategies. Personal, health, social and economic teaching sessions are consistently carried out to complement children’s knowledge. This helps them to learn strategies to support their health and well-being and to better understand their own health needs.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The healthcare team provide education and care sta ff with additional training to help them to respond to children’s physical and emotional needs e ff ectively, such as all Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 7 staff have completed training on foetal alcohol syndrome to enable staff to meet the individual needs of some children.

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Children’s education and learning: good

The safe movement and storage of medication has been strengthened since the last inspection. Thorough audits and medicine checks are in place. This increased oversight means that medicines are managed safely in the home.

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Children’s education and learning: good

Health staff access regular clinical supervision and training. These staff are creative and adaptable in their approach to working with children and are committed to helping children to achieve the best possible health outcomes.

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

Children are kept safe by staff who are alert to any risks and vulnerabilities. This means that staff are able to implement plans and strategies to manage and reduce risk and ensure that children’s well-being and welfare are protected and promoted.

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

The use of knowledge and skills from the multi-disciplinary teams means that there is an understanding of children's behaviours, and any specific needs can be met on an individual basis. For example, children are closely supported and helped to stay safe at times of crisis or if they are at risk of self-harm.

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

Children are helped to understand their past histories and trauma. As a result, they are able to reflect on their behaviours and develop coping mechanisms. Staff enable and nurture them to develop new strategies and this helps them to move forward positively. For instance, they are growing their tolerance and learning to control their emotions when they are anxious or distressed.

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

The use of single separation, when children are locked in their room and children being managed away, when a child is with one staff member away from their peers, is closely monitored to ensure that it is fair and proportionate. These measures of control are used to keep children, their peers and staff safe and are not used punitively.

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

The use of physical restraint is proportionate and appropriate. This ensures that children are kept safe, and that their dignity and self-worth are valued and respected. The use of physical restraint is scrutinised by managers from the home as well as external professionals. This means that practice is transparent, reflected upon and, if required, learning points are implemented in the best interests of children.

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

The use of wrist restraints has been implemented in recent months. The registered manager confirmed that the use of this form of physical restraint will be rare, used only when no other method of physical restraint can be safety deployed, used subject to a child’s individual risk assessment and used in line with regulations and be subject to oversight by senior managers and the health team The initial review of these restraints did not identify how long these wrist restraint had been actually worn by the children although the use had been recorded. The templates for recording this have now been amended. The use of the wrist restraints has not been used for long enough for any trends or patterns to be analysed as yet. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 8 Conflict management is an established practice across the home. Staff work with children to help them to empathise, reflect and move forward more positively following

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

incidents. This supports children to repair relationships with peers or staff and learn to understand how their behaviours can affect others.

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

Staff know what to do and who to inform if they have any concerns about a child’s well-being. Any concerns about a child’s safety are shared with relevant external agencies to ensure that plans can be implemented to keep children safe. This system ensures that there is a prompt and efficient response to any concerns.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and senior team lead by example. They are child centred and committed to providing nurturing and individualised care to children. Equally, they ensure that the home is a positive safe environment for children. The succession planning for the changes in the care leadership team has meant that there has been a seamless transition and children have benefitted from the continuation of consistent care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children benefit greatly from being cared for by staff who are skilled and knowledgeable. Staff receive a detailed induction and complete mandatory and more specialist training. There is a focus on ensuring that staff gain professional qualifications, which includes the QCF level 3 and the Trauma Informed Programme and Practice in Secure Settings diploma. This equips staff to meet the very individual care needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are positive about their work with children. The majority of staff feel well supported and are confident in the leadership of the home. Staff receive regular formal supervision and appraisals. Supervision sessions focus on the care of the children, staff well-being, development and training. Therefore, staff feel well cared for and this creates a positive environment for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff and children benefit from the well-established communication systems. These range from daily handovers to the raft of information-sharing meetings, including care staff meetings, formulation meetings and the children’s meetings. This makes sure that all staff across the home are clear on what is happening for children and the running of the home. This allows everyone, including the children, an opportunity to express their views.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is great collaborative working with families, other professionals and agencies. They all say that staff are approachable and welcoming, and that there is good communication and information sharing. Professionals and parents convey the positive change and progress of the children while living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are listened to, and their complaints are taken seriously. Swift action is taken to investigate and resolve any matters raised. There is a child-focussed approach and Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 9 response. Staff give importance to explaining the outcome of complaints to children verbally and in writing. This demonstrates that children’s views are taken seriously and listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children and staff benefit from the ethos of the home to continually improve practice and enhance children's experiences. For example, there are opportunities for children to apply for ‘in house’ jobs and earn extra money and to complete BTech qualifications in gardening. For staff there is the development of a reflective space and the introduction of a mentor programme for those undertaking QCF qualifications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal monitoring systems are thorough, methodical and well organised. All staff with delegated monitoring duties are diligent. Shortfalls and deficits are quickly detected and addressed. Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 10

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Statutory requirements

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

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10 (1) (a)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that leaders and managers in the home should work with GP and pharmacy partners to develop robust and effective internal and external processes for medicines to be dispensed following GP prescribing.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders should reconsider their current recruitment plans and move at pace to fill vacant posts for Occupational Therapy and Psychology. 28 March 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a child’s day to day health and well- being needs are met. In particular, healthcare staff should have access to the Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) for children in the home and contribute to EHCP annual reviews. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the ethos of the home supports each child to learn. In particular, ensure that more children are reading for pleasure, and, provide teachers and learning assistants with time to plan their roles to maximise their impact on children’s learning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 29, paragraph 5.18)

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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) Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 11 Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards.’ Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 12

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Secure children’s home details

Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council

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Secure children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

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Inspectors

Debbie Foster, Social Care Inspector (lead) Gary Turney, Social Care Inspector Paul Taylor, Social Care Inspector Martin Ward, His Majesty’s Inspector, Further Education and Skills Geraldine Bates, Children’s Services Inspector, Care Quality Commission Inspection report secure children’s home: SC042921 13 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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