Children's Home run by North East Lincolnshire Council in North East Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 1 Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of this inspection, three children were living in the home. All three children spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2021 and is suitably qualified.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/05/2023 Full Good 25/10/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/07/2022 Full Inadequate 24/05/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children build trusting relationships with staff who spend time getting to know them. Children’s moves into and out of the home are carefully planned. Staff support transitions and provide reassurance. Where possible, children have bespoke transition plans to reduce the impact of changes. When children move on from the home, they receive a memory book to take with them. These books are written sensitively and are a helpful way for children to reflect on their time at the home. Children speak positively about staff. They can raise any concerns and know how to make complaints.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational needs are promoted. Staff support children with all aspects of their learning. Staff have maintained positive relationships with educational professionals to ensure consistency in supporting children to participate in their learning journey. Staff attend informal and formal education events for all children, which one professional described as being ‘like any caring parent would’. This supports children in engaging with education and working to achieve their aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a range of activities to support them to maintain their hobbies and interests and explore new things. Staff encourage children to engage, to help them widen their experience base and access new opportunities to develop their interests and build their confidence. If relevant, staff consider different cultural influences for children to support their sense of identity and needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to maintain relationships that are important to them. Staff actively promote children seeing their families and maintaining safe peer relationships in line with their care plans. Staff support children with transport and will supervise visits and provide emotional support when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are knowledgeable in the model of care, and they benefit from consultation with a clinician available to the home. Staff use the learning from consultations to approach interactions with children so that they are meaningful and promote engagement. This provides an informed approach to help children access and engage in support from staff.

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

Children feel safe in the home. Feedback from family members and professionals who know the children is positive. They say that they have no worries about the care provided by staff. One family member said, ‘He is safe.’ Another family member said they have no worries at all with the child’s care. This means that the children and the adults who know them feel that they are safe and well cared for.

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

Risks associated with children are known and understood. Risk assessments are carried out and reviewed. They are clear and provide detailed guidance for staff to follow. Incident logs include detailed written narratives and have management oversight to Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 4 ensure that any measures or consequences used are fair and proportionate. However, some records do not record the rationale for actions following a review. This means that some measures being used have continued over a period and the time element is not proportionate to the assessed risk.

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

Staff act quickly and in line with plans to locate children who go missing. Staff search for children and ensure a multi-agency response when needed. Written records are detailed and comprehensive to support management reviews in identifying any patterns of behaviour. All children benefit from an independent return home interview.

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

Staff are skilled at de-escalation. Physical restraint is used as a last resort. This has resulted in minimal incidents and one incident of restraint being required. Children and staff have the opportunity to reflect on what happened, which promotes learning about what could be done differently in the future. However, reflection does not take place within an appropriate time frame. This means that there is a delay in the possible learning, which could impact actions taken in future incidents.

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

Children’s achievements are celebrated. Consequences are rarely used. However, where consequences are identified, there is limited evidence of a restorative approach. This means that children are not being supported to understand the impact of their actions or being given the opportunity to reflect and consider ways they could help to address the behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from a registered manager who responds to feedback and is proactive in achieving change. The registered manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the home and has plans to make further improvements. They have recruited a full team of staff who are consistent and who share the ethos of the home to provide good-quality care that makes a difference in children’s lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has developed strong working relationships with wider professionals. Feedback from professionals is positive. One professional told the inspector that communication is excellent. This promotes the multi-agency approach to support children in working towards their goals and working in partnership to advocate for children’s welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has monthly reviews to monitor children’s progress, staff performance and quality of care. Despite this, some documents have key information missing, some are out of date or are missing from children’s files. This is unhelpful to staff who may need to locate a document quickly to ensure that decisions made are in line with children’s plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular child-focused supervision. Supervision considers staff’s well- being to ensure that the quality of care for children is maintained. However, supervision lacks reflective discussion. This means that there is a missed opportunity to develop Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 5 discussions and learn about incidents or something that has worked well moving forward.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that staff training is promoted. The registered manager has taken a lead role in the development of language in documents to ensure that it is helpful to children. Staff have access to a wide range of training opportunities across different platforms to increase their knowledge base and to support them in providing good-quality care. However, some staff have not attained a recognised qualification to demonstrate that they have the appropriate knowledge and skills for the role. The registered manager has implemented a plan to address this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 6

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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, 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.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(h)) 7 Oct 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out— how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b) (3)(b)(i)(ii)) 7 Oct 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that supervision enables staff to reflect and act on how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.15)  The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: 2563216 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: North East Lincolnshire Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Offices, Knoll Street, Cleethorpes DN35 8LN

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Inspector

Kate Jackson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2563216 9 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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