Children's Home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 1 SC480671 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Ltd

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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 home is operated by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to 8 children with social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection and two children were spoken with.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2022.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/10/2024 Full Outstanding 07/09/2023 Full Good 14/06/2022 Full Good 24/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not effectively safeguarded, and managers do not have effective oversight of the care that staff provide. Staff do not always build positive and trusting relationships with children. While some children have made good progress, the shortfalls identified have had a detrimental effect on children’s safety and wellbeing and on the progress that some children are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some children have raised concerns that staff do not build trusting and supportive relationships with them. This affects children’s feelings of safety and how they are able to trust staff and share how they are feeling. Sometimes staff have failed to effectively support children when children have been upset after incidents. One child heard a staff member talking about them in a negative way, affecting the relationship between staff and the child. Actions taken to repair this relationship were limited. Some staff’s negative and inconsistent approach at times to meeting children’s needs has resulted in an environment that can be emotionally challenging for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers do not demonstrate sufficient understanding of one child’s health needs. Health professionals have provided clear and comprehensive records about this, detailing the associated warning signs that managers and staff need to look out for to support the child’s health. Despite this, managers have not ensured that this information is fully understood by all those staff caring for the child. As a result, key warning signs that would require staff to act to protect the child are not recognised. Furthermore, no consideration has been given as to how the child’s health condition could impact on any incidents requiring the child to be restrained to keep them safe, despite one such incident occurring.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s bedrooms are not always well maintained. Staff have not always undertaken checks of children’s bedrooms to ensure that they are clean and hygienic. While managers have sought to address this with staff, this does not show children that they are deserving of a safe and comfortable environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff prioritise children’s education, with all children attending mainstream school. One child that has never been in secondary education is now attending and two children have been accepted onto a college course. This helps children aspire to a better future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children enjoy a wide range of new experiences and activities. All children enjoy going on holiday and on days out in the local community. For example, they like going to the theme parks and on boat rides. These shared experiences that children enjoy with the other children in the home help children to live well together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child was provided with good levels of support when they moved on from the home. Staff helped them to decorate their new flat in advance of the move. The child remains in regular contact with staff and joined staff and children at Christmas. This Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 4 demonstrates that, for this child, the relationships they built with staff were positive and meaningful.

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

Managers do not always follow safeguarding protocols when concerns are raised about staff practice. Follow up conversations with children do not always take place and this means that their concerns are not fully understood. It is therefore not clear whether actions taken in response are sufficient. Professionals are not always made aware of concerns that children have raised. For example, the local authority designated officer was not fully aware of concerns about a staff members practice that accumulated over an extended period of time. The limited response from managers to concerns does not promote children’s safety and welfare.

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

Staff do not always provide children with clear boundaries and interact with them in appropriate ways and in line with established procedures. At times staff text children when they are in the home with them, rather than interact with them directly, and the content of these messages has on occasion been inappropriate. This practice inhibits the development of trusting relationships and undermines professional standards in place to safeguard children.

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

When children indicate that they may harm or have harmed themselves, staff do not always take reasonable steps to reduce risk. It is unclear if staff removed objects from children’s bedrooms which children stated they had used to harm themselves. Furthermore, some incidents of children needing support for their emotional wellbeing have been minimised with the manager stating that health professionals on one occasion had overreacted. This does not provide assurances that appropriate action is taken to safeguard children and promote their wellbeing.

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

Staff are not always curious about or alert to potential risks. Staff supported a child to meet an unknown person in the local community that they met online. When the child subsequently raised some concerns about this meeting, staff did not support them to understand the potential risks of meeting unknown people.

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

Door alarms are used on some doors to alert staff if children move around the home. However, these measures are not consistently reviewed, and staff have a mixed understanding of why they are in place. One child complained about the noise affecting her while she was trying to rest due to being unwell. Such measures are an intrusive form of monitoring, and it is not clear that they are proportionate to the needs of the children.

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

A clinical therapist supports children to help understand their emotions better. Two children in particular have been helped to regulate their emptions more effectively as a result of this direct work. Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 5 Staff are proactive in their responses to incidents of children being missing from home. They contact known persons and consistently look for children to return them home safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not have effective oversight of the home. Incidents and concerns are reviewed in isolation, preventing the identification of trends in staff practice. As a result, there are missed opportunities for early intervention. Furthermore, managers do not consistently demonstrate learning from incidents or engage in reflective practice. This limits the manager’s ability to recognise patterns, reduce risk and prevent a repeat of incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff fail to model a positive and respectful environment. Children overhear staff talking about other children and other staff, at times in a negative way. This practice breaches expectations around confidentiality and can lower the children’s self-esteem.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is an ongoing pattern of some staff not completing tasks to the expected standard. Despite the manager addressing these concerns in team meetings, some practice has not improved. Supervision sessions for staff are inconsistent. Some staff are provided with regular supervision, while others experience significant gaps. Consequently, staff do not always receive the support they need, and leaders have fewer opportunities to address practice concerns. It also limits staff development and this prevents meaningful improvement. As a result, children do not always receive the standard of care they should.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior leaders have not identified when managers have not had effective oversight of practice in the home. This means that this has gone unchallenged and senior leaders have not taken actions to support the manager to improve the quality of children’s care when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has developed a tool that helps staff to understand how to embed theory from training into their practice. As this is a new resource available to staff, it is to early to assess the effectiveness. However, it is aimed to help use different perspectives to increase their knowledge of children’s needs. In addition, the manager has undertaken training to navigate a new learning system to support children to learn about risk. Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 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, 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

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2) (a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii) (b)) 26 April 2026

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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— 26 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 7 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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

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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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) (a) (b) (c) (f) (g)(ii)(h)

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Requirement Due date

*The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 26 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 8 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. (Regulation 11 (1) (a) (b) (c) (2) (a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

protect and promote each child’s welfare 26 April 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 9 provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1) (a)(b) (2) (b)(ii)(vi)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a system in place so that all serious events are notified, within 24 hours, to the appropriate people. The system should cover the action that should be followed if the event arises at the weekend or on a public holiday. Notification must include details of the action taken by the home’s staff in response to the event. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13)  Any home using CCTV or other monitoring equipment should have a written policy describing how this will support the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working in the home in accordance with regulation 24. Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. In particular, the use of surveillance must be subject to regular review and used only when necessary. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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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: SC480671 10

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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: First Floor, Harbour House, Portway, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2DW

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Inspectors

Laura Roberts, Social Care Inspector (lead) Kerry Chater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC480671 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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