Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 1 SC483846 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 is a private children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

It is owned and managed by a large national organisation and is located on the same site as one of its registered schools and another of its children’s homes.

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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: Inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection

Three compliance notices were served following the last inspection where the home was judged to be inadequate in all areas. Notices were served under regulation six (the quality and purpose of care standard), regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard). At this inspection, all three compliance notices were found to have been met. Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 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 wishes are not always responded to in a proactive and sensitive way. Young people repeatedly ask for the same thing, but this is not always provided, or they are not given an explanation as to why it will not be provided.  When incidents of bullying behaviour occur there is not a robust response, which includes speaking to the young person about the impact of their behaviour.  Although training for staff in completing records, assessments and plans relating to safeguarding issues has commenced, this is ongoing and is not yet completed. Some deficits were noted in the recording of risk assessments and notifications to the regulator.  The staff team remains mainly unqualified and there has continued to be a turnover of staff since the last inspection. Young people cite their lack of meaningful relationships with new staff to impact on the likelihood of them behaving negatively.  Not all staff receive regular, practice related supervision. One member of staff,

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Key findings from this inspection

who was new to her senior role, had not been supervised since March 2017, a period of four months.  Not all case records are up to date and signed as read by members of staff. Missing from home records do not routinely have the manager’s comments and analysis recorded.  The home’s review of premises does not cover identified risks relating to local drug-related issues.  Young people and staff report that there is sometimes discrepancies regarding the consistent enforcement of boundaries between staff and managers.  Young people have continued to place themselves at risk of harm at the home and in the community, although the frequency of these incidents has significantly reduced.  Young people continue to smoke, misuse alcohol and smoke cannabis. Staff do not yet have effective strategies to address and reduce this behaviour.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have developed positive relationships with some members of staff and report feeling that staff care about them.  Managers have fully acknowledged the shortfalls highlighted in the last inspection and have worked hard to address these.  There have been no admissions and only one planned discharge since the last Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 3 inspection, which has enabled young people in the home to settle and make progress.  Young people report the home is ‘their home’, and that they want to remain there. This results in a significant reduction of incidents of damage to the home.  Young people are healthy, they attend health appointments and eat a varied diet.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/05/2017 Full Inadequate 10/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 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

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, children must receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(c)) Specifically, that young people’s requests for items for their bedrooms are responded to in a timely manner. 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard In order to meet the positive relationship standard the registered person must ensure that staff understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable. (Regulation 11 (2)(xii)) 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(v)) This is in regard to continued training for staff in the completion of incident records, risk assessment plans and safeguarding notifications. 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must ensure that the staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(2)(c)) 11/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 31/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 5 36: Children’s case records The registered person must maintain records for each child which are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. Regulation 36 (1)(b-c)) This relates to ensuring all risks are covered in risk assessments and ensuring staff sign to say they have read the risk assessments and other plans, and to ensure that managers add comments and analysis to all missing from home incident records. 21/08/2017

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Recommendations

 Expectations of standards of behaviour must be high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.11) This relates specifically to rules, boundaries and consequences being implemented consistently across staff and management  Children must feel safe and be safe. Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety both inside and outside the home to the extent that any good parent would. Staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves, feel protected and be protected from significant harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9) This relates to staff developing effective strategies to reduce risk-taking behaviours in the community and the home where young people have driven

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Recommendations

(and bumped) the home’s car, been under the influence of alcohol and cannabis, and engaged in criminal and risk-taking behaviours such as climbing on (and falling off) roofs.  Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and, where necessary, work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being, such as the misuse of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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improvement to be good

Young people have begun to settle in the placement and, although there are still some serious incidents in respect of their behaviour and risk taking, the frequency of these Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 6 incidents is significantly reduced from the last inspection. There have been no admissions since the last inspection and one planned discharge. This has enabled staff to focus on getting to know the two young people in placement and developing a better understanding of how to meet their needs. Staff retention continues to be problematic, with two staff leaving following the last inspection. New staff have been recruited, but they are in the early stages of forming relationships with the young people. Young people can display more challenging behaviour with staff they are less familiar with. The home is addressing this issue by changing the staffing rotas, so that staff work together as teams with an identified

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improvement to be good

team leader. This appears to be a positive step in ensuring that more experienced staff work alongside newer staff. Young people report highly positive relationships with some members of staff and feel that these staff really care about them. The home’s conditions have improved. Walls throughout have been re-painted and curtains and cushions have been bought. New carpets and kitchen chairs have been ordered, which will further improve the home environment. There are still areas for improvement to ensure that the home offers a comfortable and homely environment. No damage was evident at this inspection. Young people are making some progress in education. One young person has completed most of his GCSE exams and attended his school prom. He has a college place identified for the next academic year. Another young person has been excluded from school. His placing authority quickly identified an alternative school provision and

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improvement to be good

staff support him to attend as much as possible, implementing consequences for non- attendance. One young person was supported to engage with a worker from his placing authority, who came to visit him to gather his views about education for his education and healthcare plan. Young people are mainly healthy. They are encouraged to engage in activities and follow a balanced diet. When they express an interest, for example to join a football club, staff are proactive in providing them with information and support to facilitate this. The young people are also planning a holiday abroad for summer, which they showed interest and enthusiasm about, planning where they wanted to go and which staff they would like to accompany them. Where issues are identified in relation to health, such as the misuse of cannabis, the home support young people to engage with substance misuse organisations. Young people continue to be negatively influenced by peers who are resident in the

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improvement to be good

other children’s home on the same site. Managers understand this and take steps to end placements where young people are having a significant negative influence on young people in this home. Although young people have ample opportunity to express their views through planned chats and ‘Our time’ meetings, their views are not always acted on. One young person persistently asked for a new, larger television in his bedroom and was consistently told that staff would write down this request. However, the young person was not bought a new television, nor given any reason why one was not being provided. This understandably led to the young person feeling frustrated and that staff were not listening to him. In other areas, young people are listened to. For example, the issue Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 7 with the water temperature for the showers has been resolved. Other areas identified at the last inspection, such as the installation of wi-fi, has not been completed. This is

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improvement to be good

despite the fact that young people have supervised access to the home’s computer to access the internet, and those who are allowed have smart phones with data bundles. Contact with family and friends is very well supported by staff. The young people currently in placement have regular contact with friends some distance away and staff facilitate this, which is in line with the young people’s wishes.

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improvement to be good

The frequency of safeguarding incidents has significantly reduced since the last full inspection. However, young people have continued to compromise their safety on a number of occasions. They have been missing from home, under the influence of alcohol and cannabis, caused injury to themselves through climbing on (and falling off) roofs, and by gaining access to the home’s car and attempting to drive it and crashing into the school wall. Although their behaviour is improving, there have been times when the home has been chaotic, with young people being up throughout the night, refusing to adhere to boundaries and putting themselves at risk of harm. Young people continue, on occasions, to show contempt for staff. Examples are openly smoking in the home, throwing items at staff, squirting water at staff and attempting to wrap a staff member in wrapping paper and bandages from the first aid box that they had

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improvement to be good

gained access to. Not all staff have effective behaviour management strategies as yet, to address or manage these episodes effectively. Young people do smoke, consume alcohol on occasions and also use cannabis. Staff do not have effective strategies to manage or reduce this behaviour at present, although there is evidence that every effort is being made to encourage and support young people to desist. Referrals have been made to substance misuse services, who have visited the young people in the home, and staff have had numerous planned chats with the young people about the impact of smoking and drug and alcohol misuse. Fire-setting was noted at the last inspection to be a high-risk issue. The home has amended its fire safety risk assessment and also arranged for a representative from the local authority’s fire safety service to come out and speak to the young people about the dangers of fire-setting. Young people are encouraged to hand in their cigarette

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improvement to be good

lighters before going to bed and this is linked to their incentive targets. Young people still do not always hand in their lighters, and there has been one further incident where young people tried to set fire to toilet rolls with the home’s electric hob. The fire service reports the home to be compliant with their regulations, there are fire procedures in place, means of escape and appropriate fire detection equipment. The influence of peers has continued to have had an impact on young people’s behaviour in the home. The other children’s home on the same site had two young people who were engaging in chaotic risk-taking behaviours, which young people at this home regularly became involved in. This included an alleged robbery and assault at a local garage, which one young person was arrested for. This issue has since been addressed through discharging the young people at the other home, and this has had a

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improvement to be good

Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 8 significant and positive impact on the behaviour of young people at this home. They are currently very settled and show few issues of challenging or risk-taking behaviours. Managers understand the impact and influence of the young people at the other home, and have steps in place to consider this as part of their admission planning impact assessments. Young people do not have persistent or lengthy missing from home episodes where they place themselves at risk. On the occasions that they do go missing from home, they are reported to the police and staff actively try to locate them. Independent return interviews are completed. Managers do not routinely add their comments and analysis to missing from home records, which limits their capacity to monitor missing episodes or identify any patterns or trends. No incidents of bullying are recorded in the home. One incident is reported for a young

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improvement to be good

person at the other home on-site, and the outcome for this is a planned chat with the young person at this home. There is no evidence that the planned chat occurred, which indicates that young people are not helped to understand the impact of their behaviour. Bullying is considered weekly in the ‘Our time’ chats, so young people have the opportunity to express any worries they may have about bullying. The quality of risk assessments is noted to have improved. However, they are not signed as read by all staff members, which may mean that some staff are unaware of young people’s risks. Bullying was not recorded in the risk assessment for the young person who was noted to have engaged in bullying behaviour towards another. Safeguarding notifications continue to need more detail, particularly in the areas of outcomes and future actions. Consistency of behaviour management was raised by young people and staff. Young

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improvement to be good

people understand the rules and boundaries in place and feel that these are fair. However, they report that managers are not as consistent as staff in implementing these boundaries and can change their minds about consequences, which leaves the young people feeling that they have not been dealt with fairly. Staff also report that they can feel undermined in their implementation of behaviour management strategies and the implementation of consequences.

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good

Leaders and managers have fully accepted the shortfalls identified at the previous inspection. They have worked hard to formulate an improvement plan and to begin to implement the plan and make positive change. Managers have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses and are able to prioritise the most significant issues. Several areas identified at the previous inspection as needing improvement have either been addressed or are being addressed. Managers strive to ensure that the home delivers a high standard of care and are working to achieve this. A new qualified and experienced manager has been appointed to manage the home and has made a positive start. Young people and staff report positively about the impact she has had and also say that she is approachable and supportive. The post- Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 9 holder needs to apply to Ofsted for registration. The compliance notice served under regulation 13 was met at this inspection. While no

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good

admissions have been made, there is now a clear policy of matching individuals ready for any future admissions. The new manager has supported staff to work in line with the home’s statement of purpose, with improved outcomes being achieved for the young people in the home. Managers have implemented a new recruitment policy to address issues raised in respect of staff experience, skills and qualification to ensure that any newly appointed staff are either experienced or qualified. There has been one member of staff recruited since the last inspection and he has appropriate qualifications. Not all of the other members of staff are qualified or working towards qualification, and this continues to be an area for improvement, as does staff retention. Staff morale continues to be mixed, with some staff not feeling valued and appreciated for their efforts and additional hours they work. Some deficits in supervision were noted. Most significantly, a relatively inexperienced

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good

deputy manager had not been supervised since March 2017, a period of over four months, which does not provide the right supportive environment to staff. Other staff reported positively about their support and supervision, and noted improvements to the staffing structure now that staff work in distinct teams. Staff noted that teamwork was a particular strength and they felt well supported by their colleagues. Records are generally of a good standard, with noted improvements in the level of detail recorded in incident reports. Some records did not have management oversight, such as missing from home records. Also, some records were not signed as read by most staff, which is noted as an area for improvement. Training is an area of strength in the home. Managers identified deficits in training and understood the impact on staff skills. Managers have commissioned external training in emotional resilience and behaviour management to improve staff effectiveness in

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good

safeguarding young people in the home and to have a better understanding of their needs. A detailed plan is in place going forward and this includes further safeguarding training, risk assessment and management, working with drugs and alcohol, child sexual exploitation and mental health in young people. This extensive training package will be highly beneficial to staff practice. The home works in effective partnership with external agencies. The fire service, looked after children’s nurse and family intervention worker spoken to, all reported positively about their relationship and communication with staff at the home. Social workers are sent weekly reports which give a detailed overview of each young person’s week. Staff support external agencies to meet with young people in the home where there are barriers to engagement.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 10 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: SC483846 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

Charlie Bamber, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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