Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children's home: 2754481 1 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a multi-building children’s home. This children’s home provides care for up to five children in up to three buildings under this single registration. It is registered to provide care for children who may have social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

A multi-building children’s home allows the provider, in agreement with the placing authority, to make child-centred decisions about where each child lives and to ensure that their individual needs are met.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered as a multi-building children’s home in December 2024. This is the first inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were three children living in two of the properties of the home. The inspector spoke to all three children during the inspection.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2754481 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers and staff ensure a sensitive welcome for children. Children are welcome to visit the home and meet the staff before they move in, which helps them to settle in quickly When children move out of the home, staff ensure that children experience a positive farewell with a meal and gifts to celebrate their time in the home. Positive endings help children with the next period of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good levels of support from a committed and experienced staff team. Staff have a positive view of the children and work hard to engage with them. This helps children to feel confident about their relationships with staff and supports the children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families and other people who are important to them. Family time arrangements are carefully considered to align with the children’s wishes and their care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers and staff work hard to ensure that children access education that meets their needs. Two children have recently completed their exams and have plans to continue with further education. One child has a tutor who completes online work with him while they wait for an appropriate school to be identified. Staff have good relationships with children’s education providers to ensure that children are supported to complete their studies at home. This approach ensures that children have clear, measurable goals in place to support their educational attainment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are met. Children are registered with local doctors and dentists. Additionally, the children have access to in-house therapy for emotional support to help them understand their life story and family dynamics. This gives the children opportunities to talk about their feelings in a safe space. This helps the children understand their identity and heritage.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Each of the homes is well-presented and maintained. They are all personalised for children and provide them with lots of space inside and outside. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to give them a sense of belonging.

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

Staff know the children and their associated risks well. There are detailed risk assessments and behaviour support plans for the children, along with effective strategies to mitigate the identified risks. These documents are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect any emerging concerns.

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

When incidents of self-harm occur, staff and managers promptly seek appropriate physical and emotional support for children. They speak to children to understand the Inspection report for children's home: 2754481 3 triggers of these incidents and put safeguards in place to try and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

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

Staff know what to do when a child goes missing from their care. Staff follow the children’s missing-from-care protocols and actively look for them. When children return, they are welcomed home and offered the opportunity to have a return home interview with an independent person. This helps staff to develop strategies designed to prevent children from going missing from care and to help them return home quickly and safely.

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

Staff undertake key-work sessions with children. These sessions help children to understand themselves and make positive changes to their behaviour.

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

The manager considers the needs of the child before they move into the home. However, the manager has missed an opportunity to consider how the new child’s needs may affect the needs of the children who already live in the home in this process. This oversight prevents the manager from being assured that she and the staff can meet the children’s individual and competing needs as identified in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child-focused and speaks about the children with warmth and enthusiasm. She is supported by a deputy manager and the responsible individual. Together, they work effectively to ensure that the day-to-day running of the home is smooth.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a wide range of forums to discuss practice and explore any emotional impact of their work. Staff receive regular reflective supervision. Clinical therapeutic consultation with the in-house psychologists is embedded in the monthly team meetings, which are well attended by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are cared for by competent staff. The provider’s training package responds to and meets the children’s presenting needs. The staff are committed to their ongoing learning, and they are up to date with the provider’s mandatory training. Staff provided positive feedback about the home. They said that managers support them well. Staff said that they receive the training and support they need to help them do their jobs well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are positive partnerships with families and other agencies, such as the local authority, education providers and the police. These partnerships ensure that children benefit from tailored support to allow them to stay safe and make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some of the children’s case files are incomplete. Supporting documents, such as the children’s statutory looked-after review minutes, their annual health assessments and their personal education plans are not consistently and quickly obtained by the manager. As a result, the staff do not always have the most up-to-date information to coordinate the children’s care, which may affect the child’s progress Inspection report for children's home: 2754481 4

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Statutory requirements

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

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular the manager must ensure that looked after review documents, personal education meeting documents and looked after health assessments are obtained and kept up to date. 30 August 2024

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Recommendation

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The Statement of Purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of the children that the home is set up and equipped to care for. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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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: 2754481 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Tustin Court, Riversway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Cherie Chen, social care inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2754481 6 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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