Children's Home run by Lancashire County Council in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 1 SC035428

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Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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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 local authority children’s home provides care for one child who may have social and emotional difficulties and/or physical disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has not yet applied to become registered 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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/06/2024 Full Good 31/10/2023 Full Outstanding 25/01/2023 Full Good 18/10/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 3

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improvement to be good

At the time of this inspection, one child was living in the home. The child has recently moved to the home, and they are starting to settle in. Since the last full inspection, two children have moved out of the home. Despite staff showing great commitment to securing permanence for these children, the children left the home in an unplanned way.

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improvement to be good

One child was making considerable progress at the home. They were very settled and had positive and trusting relationships with staff who cared for them. However, the admission of another child had an adverse impact on the child’s experience of living at the home. They had to move from the home to temporary accommodation as the children could not live together safely. When making decisions about admitting children to the home, managers have not sufficiently balanced the needs of the child requiring the placement with the child who already lives there.

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improvement to be good

Children are cared for by a committed and resilient staff team. However, there has been a reliance on the use of agency staff to maintain high levels of supervision and support for children. This use of temporary staff limits children’s ability to form lasting relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff did not complete meaningful direct work with one child to help them to prepare for another child moving in. These children had previously lived together and there had been incidents of bullying. The child’s feelings were not fully explored or considered, despite there being evidence that one child presented a risk to another.

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improvement to be good

Children have made progress with their education. Staff understand the importance of education to secure good outcomes for children. Staff have successfully supported one child to re-engage regularly in formal education following a long period of non- attendance.

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improvement to be good

Staff are child centred. They look for opportunities to make children feel loved and wanted. Staff give children lots of praise for positive behaviours and positive choices. This helps to build children’s self-esteem and feelings of self-worth.

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improvement to be good

Staff are creative and playful. They ensure that restrictions to children’s liberty are not a barrier to children having fun and trying new experiences. For example, children have enjoyed trips to the circus, trampoline parks and walks in the park. When it has not been possible for children to go out, staff create games for children to play. This enhances children’s experiences of living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Some areas of the home look tired and unloved. Staff have started to redecorate communal areas, but this work has not been finished. In addition, the gardens require maintenance and the pots by the front door are full of dead plants and weeds. This does Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 4 not make it a welcoming or homely environment for children. A recommendation is made to improve this.

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improvement to be good

Risk management plans are in place and have been reviewed. However, they do not reflect all the known risks to children. For example, there is no risk management plan pertaining to a child having a watch when they had previously swallowed a watch battery. These shortfalls mean that staff are not informed about how to manage and reduce risks to children.

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improvement to be good

Records of significant incidents in the home are poor. Reports focus on children’s behaviours, and they lack important details about the staff responses. The manager has not added oversight or analysis to these records. The quality of the recording hinders the manager’s ability to evaluate whether staff are responding appropriately and effectively to children’s behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff deal with challenging situations in a calm way. Children’s plans detail the strategies staff should use to defuse incidents and manage children’s behaviours safely. These plans are regularly reviewed and adapted. However, staff have found it difficult to manage one child’s complex behaviours. De-escalation strategies were not always effective and support from the police has frequently been required to maintain everyone’s safety.

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improvement to be good

There have been incidents when staff have held children to keep them safe. All staff have completed the necessary training to allow them to do this safely. Records of these incidents are kept, and they contain management oversight. However, managers do not always record the outcome when they have requested additional information about the event or questioned the necessity to hold the child. This makes it unclear as to whether managers have taken appropriate action to address any practice concerns.

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improvement to be good

Managers work collaboratively with other professionals to try to manage and minimise risks to children. They share information with emergency services to aid their understanding of children’s behaviours. This supports a shared understanding and a more consistent response.

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improvement to be good

Bullying and discriminatory behaviour is challenged but this has had a limited impact on one child’s behaviour. In addition, there is little evidence of restorative practices that help restore children’s relationships or direct work to help children understand the impact of their behaviour on others.

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improvement to be good

Staf support children to try to learn new ways to manage their own emotions. Children are encouraged to identify strategies that may help them feel calmer when they are upset. This empowers children to have some choice and control about the way that they are cared for. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Due to an organisational restructure, the manager and responsible individual have recently changed. There is a new manager in post and he is supported by an experienced deputy manager. The new manager is registered to manage another home in the organisation. However, he has not yet applied to register with Ofsted for this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers have not robustly risk assessed one child moving into the home. This had an adverse impact on the child who was already living there. The decision to admit the child was not taken lightly, but managers did not sufficiently balance the needs and risks to the child already living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers’ oversight of recording and reporting is not effective. Shortfalls in children’s risk management plans and the inconsistent quality of record-keeping have not been identified. Furthermore, records are poorly organised, and managers struggled to locate important documents during the inspection. This impairs the managers’ and the regulator’s ability to evaluate the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

An independent person visits the home every month to make an impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding children. However, children are not always consulted during these visits. This is a missed opportunity to ensure the voice of the child informs the independent person’s assessment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been delays in notifying Ofsted about significant incidents in the home. This impairs the regulator’s ability to understand events in the home and the actions managers are taking to safeguard children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers promote a child-centred culture. Managers know the children well and form positive, secure and lasting relationships with them. Staff share their commitment to securing the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Permanent members of staff receive regular supervision which supports them to reflect on their practice. However, managers are not providing agency staff with supervision. A recommendation was made at the last inspection to address this, which is repeated at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 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 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;

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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

Specifically, risk management plans should be in place for all known risks to children. 27 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that assessments of children’s needs consider the needs of the child to be admitted against the children already in place. 27 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 7 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

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 the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring effective management oversight of the home. 27 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring meaningful consultation takes place with children about matters that affect their day-to- day care. 27 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. 27 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 8 (Regulation 40 (4)(b)(c)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, notifications should be made to Ofsted without delay.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the independent person consults with children during their visits to the home. 27 June 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place so that bank staff and agency staff receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional which allows them to 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) This recommendation was made at the last full inspection and is repeated.  The registered person should ensure that the home provides a domestic, homely environment. In addition, redecoration and maintenance of the home should take place in a timely manner. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC035428 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lancashire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ

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Inspector

Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035428 10 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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