 | Copyright © Lancashire Childrens Homes | |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Taking Photographs | This chapter has been refreshed and additional links have been added into Further Information. |
| Female Genital Mutilation | A new Section 8, Other Harmful Practices has been added. The Health and Care Act 2022 has made it illegal to carry out, offer or aid and abet virginity testing or hymenoplasty in any part of the UK. It is also illegal for UK nationals and residents to do these things outside the UK. Information has also been added on Breast Flattening which is an offence as set out in CPS legal guidance on So-Called Honour-Based Abuse. |
| Leadership and Management | Section 2.2, Appointment of Manager has been updated in line with updated Ofsted Guidance - Social Care Common Inspection Framework: Children's Homes. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| How We Support Pur Children's Homes - Stability, Support and Disruption Meetings | This document has been added to the manual. |
| Next Update: October 2024 |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Health Care Assessments and Plans | Information in relation to allergies has been added into Section 2, Health Care Plans. |
| Provision and Preparation of Meals | Information in relation to allergies has been added into Section 1, Responsibility and Risk Assessments. |
| First Aid, Home Remedies and Medication | A new Section 2, Allergies has been added. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This chapter has been amended in line with revised Keeping Children Safe in Education. A new Section 2, The Difference Between an Allegation of Harm and a Concern has also been added. |
| Staff Qualifications | This chapter has been updated and should be re-read. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Supporting Children and Young People with Disabilities | This chapter has been added. |
| Staffing and Safe Recruitment | This chapter has been added. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Case Recording | This chapter has been updated in relation to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. |
| Positive Relationships and Behaviour Management | This chapter has been updated to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Information was added into Section 2, Positive Behaviour Support, Section 6, Risk Assessment and Section 9, Recording and Reporting. |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | This chapter has been updated to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Added into Section 12, Recording and Management Review, information on holding a restorative conversation with the child following physical intervention or restraint. |
| Searching Children/Bedrooms | Additional information has been added in relation to the arrangements around gender of staff undertaking searches. |
| Missing Children | This chapter has been updated to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Information was added into Section 6, Action to be Taken if a Child is Missing, in relation to Philomena Protocols. |
| Self Harm and Suicidal Behaviour | This chapter has been amended to include a link to Self-harm: Assessment, Management and Preventing Recurrence NICE Guidance. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Providing Personalised Care | This chapter has been updated. |
| Contact with Parents/Carers/Siblings and Others | Section 3, Supervised Contact has been updated to reflect a finding by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman that the supervisor's observations of the contact must be clearly recorded in the child's record and shared with the parents within 3 months of the visit. |
| Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Taking Photographs | This chapter has been updated. |
| Education | This chapter has been updated. |
| Leisure and Activities | This chapter has been updated. |
| Health and Wellbeing, Health Notifications and Access to Services | This chapter has been updated. |
| Drugs | This chapter has been updated. |
| Positive Relationships and Behaviour Management | This chapter has been updated. |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | This chapter has been updated. |
| Searching Children/Bedrooms | This chapter has been updated. |
| Countering Bullying and Peer Abuse | This chapter has been amended to reflect Keeping Children Safe in Education Statutory Guidance, the outcome of Ofsted’s thematic report, Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges (June 2021) and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. See Section 2, Definition of Bullying and Peer Abuse and Section 3, Responding to Bullying. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People and Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This chapter has been updated. |
| Safeguarding Children from Radicalisation and Extremism | This chapter has been updated. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This chapter has been updated. |
| Surveillance and Monitoring | This chapter has been updated. |
| Staff Supervision and Appraisal | This chapter has been updated. |
| Placements and Admissions | This chapter has been updated. |
| Care and Placement Planning | This chapter has been updated. |
| Looked After Reviews and Disruption Meetings | This chapter has been updated. |
| Moving to Another Placement | This chapter has been updated. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Consultation and Participation | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Equality and Diversity | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Female Genital Mutilation | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Alcohol | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Health and Safety | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Risk Assessment and Planning | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Leadership and Management | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Recording and Reporting of Incidents | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Whistleblowing or Raising Concerns at Work | This procedure has been added to the manual. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Use of Restraint and Physical Interventions | A link to Ofsted Guidance: Positive environments Where Children Can Flourish has been added. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Residential Child Care – Key Principles | This chapter has been updated. |
| Information Sharing | This chapter has been reviewed and updated throughout to reflect updated advice on information sharing contained in the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Staying in Touch, the Safe Use of the Internet, Social Media and Taking Photographs | A link has been added in Further Information to the NSPCC Report Remove Tool and the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) Digital Passport. |
| Staff Qualifications and Employment Checks | A note has been added regarding the checks which employers must carry out to ensure that any person applying to work in the home has the right to work in the UK. See Section 3, Safe Recruitment and Employment Checks. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Blood Borne Viruses (BBVs) | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout. |
| Recognising Abuse and Neglect | This guidance has been updated to take into account revisions to the Statutory Guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This guidance has been updated to take into account revisions to the Statutory Guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | A fourth bullet point has been added into Section 1, Introduction to reflect the revised guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. The new bullet point means this procedure now also covers situations where an individual has behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children. This is to capture concerns around transferable risk; for example where a person who works in the home is involved in a domestic abuse incident and this may have implications for their suitability to work with children. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines | This new chapter provides information on Child Criminal Exploitation, including county lines. It covers signs and indicators that children are being exploited, and offers guidance on how staff in Children’s Homes can respond to keep children safe from harm linked to criminal exploitation. |
| Surveillance and Monitoring | This new guidance is based on information for Children’s Homes Providers published by Ofsted. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This procedure has been reviewed and updated throughout. |
| Notification of Serious Events | This procedure has been updated to reflect the latest Ofsted guidance for social care providers on the types of incident which they consider to be serious, and which therefore will require notification to the regulatory authority. |
| Staff Qualifications and Employment Checks | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Notification of Serious Events | This procedure, which sets out which agencies and individuals should be notified when a serious event occurs in relation to a child living in a Children’s Home, has been updated to reflect revised guidance issued by Ofsted in August 2019. The revised guidance sought to clarify what is meant by a ‘serious event’ with the aim of reducing the overall number of notifications made to Ofsted, and in particular reducing the number of repeat notifications made as a result of submitting additional / updated information. |
| Moving to Another Placement | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. Section 2, Arrangements for the Transfer or Discharge has been updated to include a note on the actions placing authorities are required to undertake if a young person is moving from the home into an unregulated placement. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Information Sharing | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout to reflect Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and the revised DfE Information Sharing Advice for Practitioners Providing Safeguarding Services to Children, Young People, Parents and Carers. |
| Recognising Abuse and Neglect | Section 6, Sexual Abuse and Section 8, Bullying (including Online / Cyberbullying) have been reviewed and completely updated. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation | Links have been added to resources for practitioners working with children who have been, or are at risk of, Child Sexual Exploitation published by Barnardos and Research in Practice. |
| Care and Placement Plans Guidance | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated as required. Information in relation to Pathway Plans has been updated to reflect that care leavers can request support from local authorities up to the age of 25 years. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Information Sharing and Confidentiality | This chapter has been updated. |
| Access to Records | This chapter has been updated. |
| Education | This chapter has been updated to reflect amendments introduced by the Children and Social Work Act 2017. These changes relate to the status of ‘previously looked after children’. A previously looked-after child is one who is no longer looked after in England and Wales because they are the subject of an Adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live, or when the child is to live with any person, or has been adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. A new Section 5, Safeguarding in School has been incorporated. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Residential Child Care – Key Principles | Section 3, Achieving the Key Principles has been updated to reflect the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018, and explains that children in residential care should be helped to understand the types of personal information which is kept in their case records, what it is used for, who it will be shared with and how long it will be kept for. The child’s right to access their case record should also be explained to them. |
| Children’s Guide | This chapter has been updated following the publication of the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018 to recommend that Children’s Guides contain information for children and young people on the data / records which the home keeps on them, as well as explaining the right of children and young people to access their case file. |
| Case Recording | This guidance has been reviewed and updated following the publication of the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018. |
| Contact with Parents/Carers/Siblings and Others | Section 2, Different Types of Contact has been updated to take account of the use of mobile communication with regards to contact. |
| Health Care Assessments and Plans | Section 1, Health Care Assessments has been updated with regard to consent to medical treatment. |
| Smoking and Alcohol | This chapter has been extensively updated and should be re-read throughout. |
| Preparation for Leaving Care | This chapter has been significantly updated and reflects the provision of the Children & Social Work Act 2017, where there is a requirement for local authorities to publish Personal Adviser support to all care leavers up to the age of 25; publish their Local Offer for care leavers; and have regard to seven ‘corporate parenting principles’. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Case Recording | Section 17, Records should usually be Retained After Closure has been updated to include a link to Children’s Services – Retention of Records table which provides an overview of the retention requirements for different types of Children’s Social Care Records. |
| Provision and Preparation of Meals | Section 2, Preparation of Meals has been updated to reflect that children’s views are sought and help to shape the menus and food items available. |
| Smoking and Alcohol | Section 1.1, E-cigarettes/Vapes has been added and links to Electronic cigarettes – NHS and Drinkaware have been added into the Related Information section. |
| Countering Bullying and Peer Abuse | This chapter has been updated thoughout and should be re-read. |
| Offending and Anti-Social Behaviour – Guidance on when to Involve the Police | Section 1.1, Missing Children has been revised to take account of the revised College of Policing definition of missing and absent. |
| Recognising Abuse and Neglect Guidance | This guidance has been reviewed and updated to reflect current Government guidance on safeguarding children and the responsibility which is shared among all professionals to keep children safe and promote their welfare. |
| Referring Safeguarding Concerns | This guidance has been reviewed and updated throughout to reflect current Government guidance on safeguarding children and emphasises that keeping children safe and promoting their welfare is a responsibility of all staff working in the home, not just managers and key workers. |
| Missing Children | This chapter has been updated thoughout and should be re-read. |
| Identifying and Supporting Children and Young People Vulnerable to Violent Extremism including Radicalisation | Section 1, Introduction / Definitions has been updated to include additional information for staff on what is meant by the term extremism; an explanation of the processes by which young people can be exposed to the messages of extremist groups has also been added. |
| Representations and Complaints | Contact details for the Children’s Commissioner Help at Hand Service have been added to this chapter. Any looked after child living in a residential care home can contact the Help at Hand Service for support, advice and information. |
| Self Harm and Suicidal Behaviour | Section 2, Planning and Prevention has been updated to provide additional guidance for staff on how to respond to young people in our care who are feeling suicidal or who are self harming. A note has also been added on the importance on offering appropriate support to staff members and other young people living in the home when incidents of self harm have taken place. |
| Notification of Serious Events | The title of this chapter has been revised to ‘Notification of Serious Events’ to provide clarity and better reflect terminology used in the Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards. |
| Looked After Reviews | This guidance has been reviewed throughout and updated to include additional detail on the circumstances in which Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) should look to bring forward a child’s Looked After Review. See Section 2, Frequency of Looked After Reviews for full details. |
| Moving to Another Placement | This chapter has been updated thoughout and should be re-read. |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Providing Personalised Care | This guidance has been updated to include information on the role of residential care workers in supporting young people who are experiencing gender identity issues (see Section 3.2, Gender). |
| Case Recording | A note has been added into Section 17, Records should usually be Retained After Closure to remind all staff no children’s social care records should be destroyed while the National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is on-going. |
| Social Visits (Including Overnight Stays) | This chapter has been extensively updated and should be read throughout. |
| Advocacy and Independent Visitors | This chapter has been updated to add a link to the Children’s Society ‘Advocacy services for children and young people – a guide for commissioners’. This guide outlines the legislative requirements of local authorities in the provision of advocacy support to children in need and looked after children. |
| Health Care Assessments and Plans | A link has been added to Children’s Attachment: Attachment in Children and Young People who are Adopted from Care, in Care or at High Risk of Going into Care - NICE Guidelines (NG26) in the Related Guidance section. |
| Sexual Health and Relationships | Section 3, Pornography has been updated to include advice for staff on how to deal with issues relating to young people’s access to pornography online. |
| Missing Children | Section 1, Definition has been updated with a link to the College of Policing’s definition of missing and absent. |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This chapter has been extensively updated and should be read throughout. |
| Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation | Section 1, Introduction has been updated to take account of the change of definition in: Child Sexual Exploitation: Definition and Guide for Practitioners (DfE February 2017). |
| Updated Chapters | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Allegations Against Staff and Volunteers | This chapter has been significantly updated and should be re-read. |
| New Chapters and Features | |
| Chapter Title | Details |
| Generic Induction Booklet for Children's Social Care (Lancashire Children's Services) | A link to this booklet has been added. |
| | Copyright © Lancashire Childrens Homes | |
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