Children's Home run by Seaside Child Care Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 1 Registered provider: Seaside Child Care Ltd 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 private provider. It provides care for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in May 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home.

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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: 21 January 2025

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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: 2780495 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/01/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed trusting relationships with staff, which helps them to have meaningful discussions about difficult subjects. This ensures that children’s voices are heard and are evident in all areas of their care. This is a strength of the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress with education from their starting points. One child attends school every day after increasing their attendance on a tailored plan designed to meet their needs. A child who recently moved into the home engages in daily educational activities to support a reintroduction to education after years of non-attendance. This supports the child to keep to a set routine, which provides structure and focus to their day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children with health issues in a sensitive way. Referrals are made for support to specialist services around the misuse of substances. The team continues to work with children to consider the negative impact of electronic cigarettes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know children well and are adept at understanding the signs that their mental health has declined. Staff work with the professionals involved with children to understand their behaviours and how they can continue to support children’s emotional well-being. The registered manager has considered ways to support a child’s engagement in psychological assessments to benefit their long-term emotional and physical health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to engage in activities that support their physical and emotional well-being. This includes going to the gym, playing pool with staff and going on days out to nearby attractions. Children’s bedrooms are personalised around their interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s independence is well supported. One social worker said that their child has been well prepared to care for themselves in their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of maintaining and supporting the development of relationships with people who are important to children. This helps to develop a network that will support the child as they progress into adulthood.

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

Recent plans to move a child into the home were not robust. Leaders and managers did not assess staff’s ability to support the child’s needs and reduce risk. The similarities between this child and children already living in the home were not fully considered. Incidents of substance misuse and going missing from the home were not fully assessed to prevent these risks from occurring. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 4 Risk assessments for individual children are detailed. The registered manager works with staff to ensure that strategies are used consistently to manage children’s behaviours in a positive way. Staff reflect on how their approaches work, and they understand the importance of consistent rules and boundaries to help children feel safe and secure.

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

Children rarely go missing from home. This helps to demonstrate that children are settled living in the home.

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

There is minimal use of physical intervention to support children. Staff manage incidents well, and they work effectively with professionals and children’s family members.

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

Recordings of incidents are detailed and demonstrate children’s engagement with staff. Staff have regular meaningful conversations with children to support their understanding of risk and how to stay safe. Children are encouraged to engage with specialist services that support children around going missing from home and substance misuse.

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

There is effective oversight of incidents by managers and leaders, who work with staff to consider improvements to practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate about his role. He knows the children well and advocates for them to ensure that their views are heard, understood and acted on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager reflects on his own practice and supports the team to do the same. He leads by example and works alongside staff to develop their therapeutic care and professional curiosity. As part of his oversight of the home, he considers patterns and trends. He actively challenges staff practice to ensure that there are improvements in care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are proud of the care that that they provide for children. They describe the registered manager as a leader who knows what he wants from staff and helps them to develop in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff meet regularly. They focus on the care being given to children and reflect on recent incidents to consider how they can improve on their practices. Supervision is also carried out regularly. The registered manager challenges staff appropriately when needed and sets clear expectations about the standard of the care required for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Annual appraisals of staff practice consider the staff and registered manager’s views on their practice and development opportunities. Those completed do not include feedback from the children being cared for or from professionals working with staff. The manager has developed specific forms with children to support them to share their views of staff. This helps to identify any shortfalls in staff caring practices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 5 There are family relationships between staff working in the home. The company has a policy in place, but there are no documents to support staff understanding of how this works on a day-to-day basis. This means that there are no clear expectations for staff to support safe working practices. The registered manager accepts this shortfall. Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must consider the potential risks between children as part of their risk assessments and identify measures to manage this. 30 November 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff appraisals take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should ensure that good employment practices are maintained. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff, where staff members are related to each other, safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 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: 2780495 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Seaside Child Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 54 Wood Street, Lytham St. Annes FY8 1QG

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Inspector

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2780495 9 and inspects 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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