Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Manchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 1 SC064666 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

This children’s home is owned by a large, national private provider. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 7 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home has provided a period of stability for young people. This has enabled them to develop positive and effective relationships with the core staff team and make some good progress in many areas of their lives.  Young people confirm that they have positive relationships with the staff team and enjoy living in the home.  Young people are consulted regularly to ensure that they remain central to their care planning.  Parents and professionals are complimentary about the care and support that is afforded to young people, and attribute this to the progress that young people make.  Effective working relationships with social workers, education colleagues, police and more specialist services ensure that young people receive the help and support they need quickly.  Staffing arrangements have been strengthened to reduce the use of bank staff within the home. Staff report that they are supported well by the management

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Key findings from this inspection

team. This and improved training and supervision arrangements for staff ensure that young people receive a good standard of care.  The manager maintains good oversight of this home. He is committed to improving the experiences and progress for young people, and enhancing young people’s safety and well-being.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The provider has yet to ensure that young people receive a high standard of care from the bank staff who are used. This is because the provider has yet to establish a robust process that enables and ensures that these staff achieve the required childcare qualification within the prescribed timeframe.  The provider does not ensure that complaints are investigated within the timescales that are identified in the home’s complaints procedure.  Young people’s case records, specifically their healthcare plans and placement plans, are not routinely updated following any significant changes. Therefore, young people’s medication regimes are not clearly recorded in all their plans. Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/10/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 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

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must enable, inspire and lead 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 particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that all bank staff achieve the required childcare qualification within the prescribed timeframe. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)) 31/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must follow the home’s complaints procedures when considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. This is with particular regard to ensuring that any complaints are investigated in the timescales that are identified in this document. (Regulation 39(1)) 31/07/2017

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Recommendations

 The health of looked-after children must be assessed at regular intervals and the child’s care plan must include an individual health plan setting out the approach that staff will follow to meet the child’s health needs. This specifically relates to ensuring that any changes to young people’s medication regimes are clearly recorded in their healthcare plans and placement plans to reflect young people’s current medication arrangements. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, and paragraph 7.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide good quality care to young people and work well to create structured boundaries and routines. Staff promote positive relationships with young people and there is evidence of good interactions and attachments emerging. Young people clearly identify staff members who they feel are important to them and are confident to seek these, and other staff members out. The provision of patient and consistent care supports young people to manage their emotional responses in a more appropriate manner, and supports young people to make good progress in many areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to improving the experiences for young people and want to support young people to progress in all areas of their lives. Staff are skilled at developing positive, trusting and nurturing relationships with young people. They interact well with young people and speak about them with compassion and warmth. The staff clearly understand young people’s needs and plans, and are proud to share young people’s achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s personal experiences in their home are enhanced. Staff provide young people with a range of sporting and leisure activities such as playing football, going to the gym, walking, and visiting the local park. Young people confirm that they are involved in choosing the activities and trips that they take part in, and enjoy these activities, days out to local theme parks and camping trips. Engagement in these activities helps young people to increase their social skills and increase their engagement in the wider community in a positive way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are committed to supporting young people to build positive relationships with their family members, and young people benefit from safe, regular and well-organised contact. Family members confirm that staff facilitate and are flexible in their approach to maintaining contact arrangements, and say that the staff maintain good lines of communication. Staff are clear when tensions arise during contact sessions and respond to these quickly, ensuring that both young people and family members are supported well and promptly. The level of communication and positive support that the staff provide enables young people to re-establish positive links with their family members, which helps them to maintain their sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to engage fully in their education. Staff work well with young people, social workers, parents, and education providers to ensure that young people access the services that they require. Staff maintain regular contact with education colleagues, and work well with them to share good practice and strategies to manage behaviour more effectively. This consistent and coordinated approach supports young people to manage their behaviours more effectively so that they can engage more positively in their learning environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support young people to develop their independence skills Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 6 sensitively and appropriately. Young people are supported to gain self-care skills in line with their age and abilities as staff support and encourage young people to take part in household chores and activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to manage their health needs well. They receive a well- balanced, varied diet and engage in a number of physical activities. Young people develop self-care skills in regards to their personal hygiene, for example taking regular showers and cleaning their teeth, and young people have made improvements in these areas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that young people access medical treatment and services, and support and facilitate appointments with additional services such as children and adolescent mental health services as they require. While there are good medication administration procedures in place to ensure that young people receive their medication safely, some information within young people’s healthcare plans and placement plans is not routinely updated following health appointments. This means that health information, such as changes to young people’s current medication prescriptions, is not updated, so records appear confusing and contradictory. That said, there has been no mismanagement of young people’s medication, and the shortfall on this occasion was addressed by a team leader during the inspection.

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

Young people in the home are vulnerable due to their particular behaviours. Risk assessments are in place, are subject to regular review and are shared with young people and placing local authorities. Social workers confirm that they are informed of any significant incidents and are confident that the staff manage these incidents well, informing all the necessary agencies and seeking additional support and services as required.

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

Staff protect young people through close supervision and effective management of those who display challenging behaviour. This is achieved by positive and timely interventions such as tried-and-tested distraction and de-escalation techniques. This helpful approach, combined with the positive relationships with young people, has prevented the need for any physical interventions being required since the last full inspection.

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

Young people are encouraged to behave in a positive manner. Individual behaviour management plans support young people to focus on their personal targets and goals. Financial incentives are used to reward and support positive behaviours, and age- appropriate sanctions are used when young people’s behaviours cause upset or harm to themselves or others. Staff are proactive and seek out support from other agencies, such as the police, when young people’s behaviours put themselves or others at risk. The staff and the police work well together to educate young people so that young people can consider how their actions may impact on themselves or on others. Consequently, young people are given the time, space and support to reflect and consider how they may change their responses in the future on the consequences of their behaviours. Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 7 The home provides a safe living environment for young people, and their safety in the

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

home is maintained. Robust recruitment practice ensures that staff working in the home are well vetted and suitable to work with young people. A range of health and safety checks, including regular and periodic inspections of gas, electrical, and fire detection equipment, ensures that the physical safety of young people and staff within the home is promoted.

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

Young people are aware of the expectations that are placed on them and generally comply with the household boundaries and rules. There have been no reported incidents of bullying, and one incident whereby a young person has evaded staff’s attention. This situation was managed appropriately by staff and resulted in the young person being returned back to the home quickly.

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

Young people report that they are safe and kept safe in the home. Staff are suitably trained, supported and monitored to ensure that they provide good and safe care to young people. The staff fully understand the safeguarding policies and procedures, and social workers confirm that staff keep young people safe.

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

Young people have developed positive relationships with staff and feel able to talk to them if they have any concerns or wish to make a complaint. Although the manager ensures that any allegations or complaints are taken seriously and shared appropriately with all the necessary safeguarding agencies, the provider does not investigate these complaints in the timeframes set out in the home’s complaints procedure. As such, young people are not made aware of any actions that are taken following their complaints in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager divides his time between this and the two other children’s homes that he manages. He has the necessary experience and qualifications to manage the home well and has been registered with Ofsted since October 2009. The manager is clear about his responsibilities to the young people and staff. He ensures that there are good management arrangements in place to ensure that the home is managed effectively in his absence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the commitments identified in the home’s statement of purpose are consistently delivered by the staff to ensure that young people’s needs and welfare remain at the heart of the home. This and the young person’s guide ensure that young people, their families and placing authorities are clear about the services and support that they can expect to receive, and support them in holding the registered provider to account if these expectations are not maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the staff constantly seek young people’s views, and young people are provided with ample opportunities to express these. Weekly meetings, planned placement sessions and less formal discussions take place regularly with young people to enable them to be fully involved in the decisions that affect their lives. Young people are encouraged to attend their statutory review meetings and are supported to Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 8 access additional services, such as independent visitors, when they feel their views are not being heard. This support empowers young people, builds confidence and ensures that they remain central to their care planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are skilled at building strong and effective working relationships with their partner agencies to ensure that young people’s needs are known, understood and managed well. Staff maintain positive working relationships with parents, social workers, police, education colleagues and needs-specific services, including mental health and substance misuse services. The manager is not afraid to challenge other agencies when they are not complying with their statutory responsibilities, and ensures that each young person receive the services and support they need, such as independent return home interviews. As a result, young people receive prompt and collaborative support to meet their present and emerging needs. This supports young people with their ongoing progress and ensures that they continue to develop in many areas of their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is diligent in his monitoring. He maintains good management oversight, which ensures that he is fully aware of the progress that young people make. The manager uses a range of quality assurance practices to identify areas of strength and areas for continued development. Furthermore, additional external monthly monitoring, undertaken by an independent person, offers further rigour and scrutiny. This supports the manager with the ongoing developments in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is clean and tidy and subject to regular maintenance. The front living room has benefited from some new soft furnishings, such as rugs and pictures, and provides a warm and comfortable home environment for young people to enjoy. A programme of redecoration has improved young people’s bedrooms and they report that they are happy with their choices and the end results. Young people clearly enjoy living in their home and are pleased with their environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the manager and leadership team. Three new staff members have joined the competent and experienced staff team. A sufficient induction and probation process, along with adequate training opportunities, support the new staff to deliver good care and support to young people. Following two requirements made at the last inspection, training and supervision arrangements for all staff, including bank staff, have now improved. That said, the provider has yet ensure that bank staff, who continue to be used, achieve the required childcare qualifications within the necessary timeframes. This lack of training for bank staff hinders their ability to deliver a good standard of care and support to young people as they are not kept up to date with current and effective ways of working. Consequently, the requirement in regards to bank staff qualifications has been re-issued as this has not been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 9

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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 difference 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 who 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: SC064666 10

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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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Sureeta Nayyar-Abbassi

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Inspector

Janine Shortman-Thomas, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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