Children's home run by Outbound Care

Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 1 SC2507889 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 company. It provides care for one child who may have emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living in the home at the time of the inspection. The child spoke to the inspector about their experience of living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2023.

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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

Date of last inspection: 7 February 2023

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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: 2507889 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2023 Full Outstanding 10/03/2022 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child likes living in the home. They have been supported to develop positive relationships with staff, who care about them. The child says that they feel supported and is helped to maintain friendships and enjoy activities, such as pumpkin picking with friends. This helps the child to feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home into independent living. The child’s time at the home was celebrated with a party and their favourite games. As a gift, the manager and staff team captured memories and important events in the child’s life in a picture book. This keepsake helps the child to understand their journey and the positive progress they made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s physical and emotional health needs are well met. The child is supported to attend routine and specialist health appointments. Staff are nurturing in their approach and use a therapeutic model of care to consider the underlying causes of the child’s behaviour. This helps the child to understand and manage their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the potential barriers to learning and have advocated for the child to support their attendance in school. However, the support in the home when the child has refused to attend school is inconsistent. There is not always clear evidence that the child is supported to engage in learning in the home using resources and the school’s online learning platform. This does not support the child’s opportunity to thrive in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child benefits from living in a comfortable and well-maintained home. The walls are personalised with photos of the child enjoying happy occasions before and after they moved in to the home. The child has been helped to decorate their bedroom to their own taste, and they are central to the decisions made about their home. This enables the child to develop a sense of belonging and pride in the home.

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

The manager is resolute in her commitment to developing a strong safeguarding culture in the home. There are clear and effective safeguarding arrangements in place to protect the child, and effective multi-agency working underpins practice in the home.

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

Staff support and educate the child through direct work about the risks of exploitation, online safety, and building positive relationships. Consequently, the child’s awareness of risks and how to stay safe has improved. There have not been any incidents of staff needing to hold the child to keep them safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 4 Allegations or suspicions of harm are immediately shared with the appropriate safeguarding agencies and managed well. The manager has clear oversight of incidents and ensures that the child is listened to and their voice is heard.

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

There have not been any incidents of the child going missing from the home. Should incidents occur, staff know how to respond and follow the child’s safety plan to ensure their safe return.

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

Staff have access to plans that detail the child’s current and emerging risks. However, risks are not consistently identified across plans and there is a lack of guidance for staff to follow in the event of a significant incident, such as self- injurious behaviour or a concern involving the child’s mobile phone.

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

The provider follows safer recruitment guidelines. Recruitment checks are undertaken before staff start to work in the home. This promotes safe working practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by an aspirational and child-focused manager. The manager is working toward the relevant qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a strong learning culture, and the manager encourages staff to learn and develop in their roles. Staff benefit from regular supervision and appraisals that enable them to reflect and identify any actions to further develop practice in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly. Consistent, child-focused planning and the review of actions set in the meetings mean that the team is always striving to develop and improve outcomes for the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff training programme is comprehensive. The manager delivers workshops, seeks out training, and uses research to inform practice and further develop the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has clear oversight of practice in the home. However, recording discrepancies had not been identified prior to being raised by the inspector. This had not impacted on the child and is something that the manager took swift action to address. Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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 achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and 24 April 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 6 that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that clear routines are in place for children who are not attending education and that staff support children to complete educational activities and online school work.

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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

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk plans contain clear steps for staff to follow should an incident arise. 24 April 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 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: 2507889 8

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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

Kelly McCurdy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2507889 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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