Children's Home run by Lincolnshire County Council in Lincolnshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 1 SC043255 Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a local authority. It provides care for up to 6 children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 6 children were living at the home. Since the last inspection, 4 children have left the home and 4 have moved in.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2024.

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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: SC043255 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/07/2025 Full Good 02/10/2024 Full Good 05/10/2023 Full Good 17/01/2023 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 3

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Summary of findings

Staff care for children with compassion, which supports positive outcomes. This is evidenced in the progress children are making, particularly in their education and behaviour. Staff take action to keep children safe, although they have not always ensured that children’s emerging health needs are met. The manager and staff have taken action to try to improve children’s relationships, however, there has been limited improvement. The manager is a strong advocate for children, however, gaps in oversight have led to missed opportunities to improve care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and provides children with ample room to spend time either individually or with others. Staff have personalised children’s bedrooms to reflect their preferences and interests, and a range of sensory spaces are available to support children’s individual needs. While staff have made positive efforts to create a warm and welcoming environment, some aspects of practice detract from the homely feel. In particular, children are unable to access the kitchen independently during the night, and the use of plastic mirrors within childrens bedrooms contribute to an institutional atmosphere. These arrangements diminish children’s experience of living in an environment that feels like a typical family home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to maintain and strengthen the relationships that are important to them. This includes facilitating meaningful time with family members and providing flexible support to ensure these experiences are positive. Staff also encourage children to develop and sustain friendships, including supporting one child to have sleepovers with a friend.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager demonstrates a commitment to partnership working by producing a monthly newsletter for families and professionals, celebrating children’s achievements and positive experiences. This was started in response to feedback from a family member.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views, wishes and feelings are regularly sought through informal ‘chill and chat’ meetings and individual discussions, with follow-up letters written in a caring and compassionate manner. Staff know children well and speak about them with warmth and pride, reflecting the strong relationships they have developed. External professionals say that these relationships have helped children to grow in confidence and engage in new experiences. However, this child-centred approach is not consistently reflected in all records, with some incident reports containing language that is not child centred and does not clearly describe childrens experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide effective support to promote children’s education and health. All children living in the home are making progress in education, including those who have Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 4 previously experienced significant periods out of education. Staff advocate strongly on behalf of children, helping one child successfully secure a place at their preferred school. Children are also supported to understand and maintain good mental health, with staff regularly consulting specialist mental health professionals to inform their practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children access universal health services and have helped one child receive treatment for an eye condition, representing significant progress given previous barriers to accessing healthcare. However, staff do not always seek timely medical advice when children display signs of emerging health needs, instead relying on their own first- aid knowledge and experience. This has resulted in some children experiencing delays in accessing appropriate healthcare or not receiving it when needed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take appropriate steps to help children prepare for moving into the home. This includes providing information about the home, arranging video calls to introduce children to staff and supporting visits to the home before they move in. Staff also seek consultation from specialist services to better understand how children’s individual needs can be met. These proactive measures help children feel informed and supported during what can be a significant transition. However, leaders and managers do not consistently demonstrate that they have fully considered the compatibility of children living together. While individual needs are assessed, there is limited evidence that the potential impact of children’s needs, behaviours and vulnerabilities on one another has been thoroughly evaluated.

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

Staff respond promptly and appropriately when children make allegations. Leaders and managers ensure that immediate safeguarding measures are implemented, seek advice from relevant safeguarding agencies and act in line with the guidance provided. When staff practice has not met expected standards, the manager has identified shortcomings through oversight and taken appropriate action to improve practice.

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

Staff provide children with consistent, individualised routines and boundaries that help to promote positive behaviour and meet their specific needs. When necessary, staff use physical intervention to keep children and others safe. Following any use of restraint, children and staff are offered opportunities to reflect on the incident, ensuring that support is provided and learning is identified to reduce the likelihood of future incidents.

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

Staff provide children with appropriate support to reduce risks associated with substance use and online activity. They speak with children about the dangers of substance misuse and, when necessary, help them access specialist services to meet their individual needs. Staff also promote children’s online safety through regular discussions, helping children to better understand potential risks and how to protect themselves. Practical safeguarding measures are in place, including internet controls in the home and routine checks of children’s electronic devices. When there are heightened concerns regarding a child’s online activity, staff work proactively with social workers and other relevant professionals to develop and implement plans that promote the child’s safety while responding to their individual vulnerabilities. Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 5 Leaders and managers recognised that previous assessments and plans to keep children

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

safe needed strengthening. They have made efforts to ensure that plans are concise and provide clear guidance to staff. Although these plans have improved, further work is needed to ensure that all plans are aligned and clear on what action staff need to take.

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

Staff help children to understand the risks associated with going missing from home and provide guidance on how to keep themselves safe. When children do go missing, staff take appropriate action to maintain contact and, when necessary, report children missing to the police in line with safeguarding procedures. However, leaders and managers have not ensured that staffing arrangements consistently support effective search activity when children are missing during the night. As a result, while staff routinely undertake searches during the day, they are not always able to do so at night, which may limit efforts to locate children promptly and reduce the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements.

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

Staff are taking appropriate steps to help children develop positive relationships with one another, in response to concerns about bullying behaviours in the home. Leaders and managers have introduced systems to monitor interactions between children, while staff work individually with children to promote understanding, improve relationships and encourage positive behaviour. Leaders and managers have also sought advice and support from social workers and specialist services to help address these concerns and inform practice. Despite these efforts, concerns about bullying between some children remain, indicating that the strategies in place have not yet been fully effective in reducing these behaviours and ensuring consistently positive relationships between all children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers communicate effectively with professionals, fostering strong collaborative relationships that promote a joined-up approach to meeting children’s needs. These partnerships support children to make positive progress and achieve improved outcomes. The manager is a strong advocate for children, providing constructive challenge to other professionals when they believe responses or services are not adequately meeting children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported through regular supervision and team meetings, which provide opportunities for reflection on practice, discussion of children’s needs and consideration of staff wellbeing. Team meetings are also used effectively to access specialist consultation, helping staff to develop their understanding and identify the most appropriate ways to support children. Staff describe these forums as beneficial and valuable to their practice. The manager similarly receives regular, high-quality supervision and has access to a wider support network for reflection and guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have ensured that staff are recruited safely and have access to a range of mandatory and specialist training. However, despite substance use and Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 6 neurodevelopmental needs being identified in relation to the current group of children, staff have not received training in these areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have established systems to monitor the care provided to children. While these systems have at times been effective in identifying areas for development and driving improvements in practice, they have not consistently provided sufficiently robust oversight. As a result, some shortfalls in practice have not been identified promptly, delaying opportunities for improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 7

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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 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—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve 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

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and 9 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 8 that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(xi)(xiii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that bullying between children is recognised and addressed and that actions taken are effective in preventing children from experiencing harm.

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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—

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(d)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff have received relevant training to meet children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that monitoring and review systems are able to identify shortfalls in staff practice and that effective action is taken to address and improve practice where required.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that plans in place to meet children’s needs and keep them safe are aligned and give clear guidance on what action staff need to take.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure there is sufficient staffing to enable staff to meet all children’s needs and take action to keep them safe. 9 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 9 Ensure that staff use child centred language that describes childrens experiences and needs when recording information about children and their care.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff recognise when children require medical advice or intervention and take appropriate action to support their health and wellbeing.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the needs of all children living in and moving into the home are understood and that effective plans are in place to ensure staff can meet the individual needs of children.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 9 September 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. This includes ensuring all areas of the home are clean and well maintained and that efforts are made to ensure that the home does not feel institutional. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 10

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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: SC043255 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lincolnshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lincolnshire County Council, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

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Inspectors

Laura Copus, Social Care Inspector Kathryn Hurley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC043255 12 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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