Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

Inspection report children's home: SC456419 1 SC456419 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare 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

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is owned by a large national company. This home can enlist the support of a clinical care team in its delivery of care to children and young people.

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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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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children's home: SC456419 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people’s experiences and progress are hampered as they do not benefit from any placement stability.  Poor placement planning means that the registered manager does not ensure that young people’s risk assessments and care planning documentation accurately reflect young people’s known risks. Consequently, staff do not have a clear understanding of all young people’s risks, nor do they consistently implement all young people’s plans. As a result, young people’s education plans are not achieved.  The registered provider does not ensure that the bank staff who are used within this home are supervised, or have the required childcare qualifications to care for young people.  The registered manager does not provide staff with bespoke training to enable them in their work supporting young people who exhibit sexually harmful behaviour in a timely way.  The registered manager does not provide Ofsted or the placing local authorities

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Key findings from this inspection

with details of the staff’s experience, training and qualifications. Furthermore, she does not inform these agencies within the required timeframes when there are any changes to these details.  The registered manager’s monitoring of the care provided does not improve care practice in timescales that benefit young people. This is because the manager does not identify within her quality-of-care review how and when the actions that she has identified will be addressed.

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Key findings from this inspection

 A real strength of the home is the resilience and commitment that the staff team demonstrates in supporting and managing young people who engage in risk-taking behaviours. The staff remain dedicated and committed to their work.  Staff support young people to be involved in their care planning. Young people’s views are obtained regularly and acted on promptly. This supports young people to develop positive and trusting relationships with the staff team, as they feel empowered and listened to.  The home is maintained to a good standard internally and provides a warm and welcoming environment for young people. Inspection report children's home: SC456419 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2017 Full Good 06/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC456419 4

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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 order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered provider must ensure 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. In particular, they must ensure that young people’s risk management plans clearly identify young people’s individual and known risks and how the staff will support, manage, supervise and monitor young people during these times. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(i)(b)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered provider must ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. In particular, they must ensure that all bank staff achieve the required childcare qualification within the prescribed time frame. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard ensures that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at, or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard the registered person must ensure that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive 31/07/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC456419 5 experience of arriving at, or moving on from the home. This is with particular regards to ensuring that robust and effective placement planning takes place to enhance the chances of young people experiencing a sustained period of placement stability and reduce the frequency of placement breakdown. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)) The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers matters listed in Schedule 1. In particular, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose includes the details of the experience and qualifications of the staff. (Regulation 16, Schedule 1 (19)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and where appropriate revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement with 28 days of the revision. This is with particular regards to revising and updating the statement of purpose when there are any changes to the staff team. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)) 31/07/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including bank staff, receive supervision of their practice in line with the commitments identified in the home’s workforce development plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person must ensure that the necessary support is given to children to enable them to access their education or training. Support may include, for example, putting in practical care arrangements, such as ensuring that young people’s placement plans clearly identified how and when the staff team will support young people so that they can be ready to access their identified education plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.13)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role

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Recommendations

they play in the training and development of staff in the home. In particular, the provider should ensure that staff are provided with training which supports them to provide good quality care to young people who may exhibit sexually harmful behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person must ensure that the quality of care review report clearly identifies any actions required for the next six months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4) Inspection report children's home: SC456419 6

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improvement to be good

This single-occupancy home is providing care and support for the third young person who has lived there since the home’s last inspection in March 2017. Although the staff, with some additional help and support from the provider’s clinical team, try hard to build positive and effective relationships with young people to promote positive change in their behaviours, there has been limited measurable success with this.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not make any noticeable progress as they do not experience any placement stability in this home. Although the staff team is committed to providing young people with a good standard of care, poor placement planning, together with poor risk and behaviour management planning, mean that young people’s needs and levels of risk are not fully understood at the point of admission.

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improvement to be good

All young people have been admitted into the home as emergency admissions, which results in poor placement planning. The manager does not fully understand young people’s presenting needs and risks when they arrive in the home, therefore care and risk management planning is not robust. Young people’s vulnerabilities, such as travelling safely in a car, are not clearly recorded in young people’s individual risk management plans, so are not recognised or understood by the staff team. This, coupled with the fact that young people spend a very short period of time in the home, impinges on the manager’s ability to evidence any significant progress that young people make in many areas of their lives.

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improvement to be good

Young people do not benefit from good education outcomes, although the staff work well with agencies to secure an education provision for young people when they arrive at the home. The staff do not work together systematically and consistently to ensure that young people are ready and able to attend education and meet their education plans. This is because young people’s care planning documentation does not provide clear and concise information as to how the staff will manage and support young people’s early morning routines. Consequently, one young person has not been supported to get up on time and be ready to achieve the outcomes which are set in their education plan.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that young people are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians, and attend their generic health appointments. However, young people continue to engage in behaviours which compromise their health. Young people smoke cigarettes and cannabis, and some misuse alcohol. Although the staff undertake direct work with young people around these issues, and make referrals to the appropriate services for additional help and support, young people continue to engage in these behaviours and do not make any apparent progress or reduce their use of dangerous substances.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s experiences of this home are mixed. Some young people have benefited from ongoing family contact. Some young people also engage in new and positive Inspection report children's home: SC456419 7 experiences, such as swimming, and have gained a better understanding of the British culture and foods. However, other young people have continued to experience ongoing difficulties and trauma, which manifests in an increase in risk-taking behaviours, such as going missing from the home and displaying sexually harmful behaviour. Consequently, two young people’s placements have ended prematurely, with one young person being woken at approximately 3am to be taken by secure escort to an alternative placement.

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improvement to be good

Although the manager completes impact assessments on each young person’s admission, and ensures that statutory meetings are held to gain the basic details surrounding young people’s needs, pertinent questions and information around young people’s presenting vulnerabilities and risks are not requested or identified. As such, crucial information is not gathered and is therefore not available within young people’s care planning documentation. Consequently, the staff are not provided with the correct level of information about young people’s present level of risk and, more importantly, they are not provided with any direction as to how they will support young people during these times. As a result, young people’s behaviours have continued to escalate and have resulted in their placements ending prematurely, without any appropriate planning or preparation being undertaken with the young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s views are actively sought on a daily basis. The staff provide young people with a number of forums to express their views, either through formal or informal processes. By seeking young people’s views through weekly, monthly and key-worker sessions, which address the pertinent issues which affect young people, the staff empower young people to be involved in their everyday care planning. This not only ensures that their views are listened to and taken seriously by the staff team, but also supports young people to develop trusting relationships with the staff.

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improvement to be good

A strength of the home is the staff’s commitment to young people. The staff show resilience and tenacity when supporting young people with extremely challenging behaviours, and they are committed and passionate about making a positive difference to young people’s lives. That said, staff acknowledge that it has been ‘emotionally draining’ for them, as they constantly try to build effective relationships with the new young people who join the home. Staff spoken with identify their frustrations at the lack of progress that young people make within the home, but attribute this to the short amount of time young people spend in this home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are committed to keeping young people safe; however, they are ill-equipped to do so. The lack of robust information gathering by the manager at the point of admission means that important information is not obtained or highlighted. Although the manager ensures that young people have risk assessments and behaviour management plans in place when they join the home, these plans lack sufficient detail about young people’s specific individual known risks, and lack direction for staff to follow when managing these behaviours. As such, some known risks for young people, such as travelling in a car, are not known by the staff who undertake this task. This compromises the safety Inspection report children's home: SC456419 8 and well-being of both staff and young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand what to do when young people are missing from the home. They maintain contact with young people as far as possible and make contact with the police and placing local authorities as required. Staff are proactive and look for young people in familiar places, and they try to encourage young people to return home. Staff share pertinent information that they obtain through their work with young people with the police and placing authorities. When young people return home, they are welcomed by staff who spend time with them. Staff encourage young people to discuss and consider their behaviour and the potential risks that are associated with it, to reduce the likelihood of further incidents. Despite this, there has been an escalation in these particular behaviours, which continue to compromise the safety and well-being of young people.

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improvement to be good

The behaviour management strategies used within the home are ineffective in managing and modifying young people’s sexual, violent, aggressive and criminal behaviours. Consequently, young people continue to display behaviours which compromise the safety and well-being of themselves and others. Young people have continued to engage in numerous risk-taking activities, and there have been a number of significant serious assaults since the last inspection. Although the manager and staff have addressed these incidents adequately at the time, the dramatic increase in risk-taking behaviour for two young people compromised the safety of themselves, the community and the staff team.

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improvement to be good

Staff are skilled and trained in de-escalation techniques. This minimises the need for physical intervention. There has been one recorded physical intervention since the last inspection, and the record of the intervention reflects the incident sufficiently. The young person was offered support, and an opportunity to have their views recorded. At a later time, the young person was supported to consider and reflect on the incident, to enable them to modify their emotional responses.

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improvement to be good

Young people are provided with a welcoming and homely environment, and their welfare in the home is managed adequately. Safe recruitment practice ensures that only those adults who are deemed safe and suitable work with young people. Furthermore, the manager ensures that regular inspections of gas, electrical, and fire detection equipment are up to date. These inspections, and the completion of a range of health and safety checks undertaken by the staff team, ensure that the physical safety of young people and the staff is enhanced in the home.

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improvement to be good

Young people know how to complain, and the manager ensures that these complaints are investigated sufficiently. Senior managers investigate any concerns that are raised by the staff team, and action plans from this investigation inform and shape wider service delivery. The home has good links with the designated officer, which ensures that complaints against the home are managed appropriately.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of their safeguarding roles, responsibilities and procedures, as they receive training in these areas. Staff talk confidently about the provider’s whistle-blowing policies and procedures, and feel confident to use them should the need arise. Inspection report children's home: SC456419 9

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

The manager registered with Ofsted to manage this home in December 2016. She divides her time between this home and the two other single-occupancy homes. The manager has a number of years’ experience in a management role, and she has recently commenced the required management qualification. There is a suitably qualified, experienced and committed deputy manager who supports and manages the team in the manager’s absence.

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

The staff team is committed to delivering the aims and objectives set in the home’s statement of purpose. This is despite the challenges staff face with managing some extreme and complex behaviours of young people. All of the staff speak passionately about young people, and remain driven in their attempts to ensure that young people can benefit from the help and support that they provide.

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

The manager has taken sufficient steps to address the three recommendations made at the previous inspection. The manager now challenges agencies and services when they are not delivering sufficient support and services, and she has improved the quality of record-keeping, enabling staff to reflect more within their supervision sessions. The challenging of agencies and services has ensured that more young people receive independent return-home interviews when they have been reported as missing from home. Young people’s case recordings have improved, and young people’s case records contain the necessary documentation.

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

The manager has taken some action to meet the one requirement made at the previous inspection. All permanent staff members have now achieved the required childcare qualification, and processes are in place to ensure that the newer members of staff achieve this within the required timeframes. However, the quality of care that young people receive from the bank staff who are used in this home is questionable. This is because the provider does not ensure that these staff are supervised in line with their commitments, nor do these staff hold the required childcare qualification. This hampers these particular staff members’ abilities to provide good quality care and support to young people.

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

The manager has not secured appropriate training opportunities to enable the staff team to meet young people’s needs at the point of admission. For example, there is inadequate training in supporting young people who may display sexually harmful behaviours. This lack of bespoke and required training for all members of staff hinders the staff’s ability to deliver care which is grounded from a solid, up-to-date, theoretical evidence base.

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

Although the manager updates the statement of purpose annually, she does not provide Ofsted or the placing local authorities with any details of the staff’s experience, training and qualifications. Furthermore, she does not inform these agencies, within the required timeframes, when there any changes to these staffing details. As such, families, Inspection report children's home: SC456419 10 commissioners and Ofsted are ill equipped to evaluate if young people are being cared for by appropriately trained and experienced staff.

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

Monitoring completed by the registered manager does not lead to improvements to the quality of care provided. Although the manager identifies the home’s strengths and areas for development within her regulation 45 reports, she does not clearly identify how and when associated actions will be managed and addressed. Furthermore, it is unclear from the manager’s monitoring how she has addressed the previous actions set, as she does not document this in subsequent regulation 45 reports. Therefore, although the manager highlights areas of need for young people, and areas for development for the service, she does not ensure that the associated actions are addressed in a timely way, to benefit young people.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

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 children's home: SC456419 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspector(s)

Janine Shortman-Thomas, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC456419 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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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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