Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Cambridgeshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 1 SC456911 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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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 privately owned home provides care and accommodation for up to six children who 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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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 30 January 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Senior managers have failed to ensure that the children are safe. Risk assessments have not been updated. Consequently, safeguarding plans are not effective.  Fire risk assessments incorrectly identify emergency escape routes for children and staff. This does not protect the children should they need to evacuate the building.  The location risk assessment does not provide the staff with sufficient information to prevent or reduce missing-from-home incidents.  Poor risk assessment and matching have resulted in disruption for children, and staff not being able to meet children’s needs. Risk management strategies have failed to minimise the effect of new placements on the other children already living at the home.  The home does not have the resources, for example games and equipment, to support the staff to work effectively with the children.  The house requires refurbishment.  Children are not making progress towards their education targets.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children are not engaged in suitable activities to stimulate their interests and develop their self-esteem.  The manager has not informed Ofsted of safeguarding incidents at the home.  The manager’s internal monitoring process is ineffective. She has not informed Ofsted of the most recent review of the home.  The small staff team is inexperienced in managing the children’s complex needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are resilient, committed and flexible.  The staff are warm and welcoming. There is good humour and a high level of interaction between the staff and the children.  The staff speak highly of the support given by their immediate line manager.  Staff actively seek and act on the children’s views.  Few physical interventions occur.  Children are treated with dignity and respect with regard to their privacy and cultural needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/04/2016 Full Good 07/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 07/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children and use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)) 31/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers, and help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(iii)(viii)) 31/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to: develop the child’s interests and hobbies; participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences; make a positive contribution to the home and the wider community, and ensure that each child has access to a range of activities that enables the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies. (Regulation 31/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 5 9(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)) 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 particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child, and help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)) 31/10/2017

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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 to aspire to their full potential and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose, and ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)) 31/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in and through the children’s home and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standards in paragraph (1) require the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(2)(a)) This is with particular regard to only admitting children whose assessed needs can be met at the home. 31/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) In particular, ensure that the review of the fire assessment details the action taken to reduce the risks from children smoking in the building, and details of the ground floor escape routes. 22/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e)) 15/12/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the 31/10/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 6 quality of care report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45(4)(a)) The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (Regulation 46(1) 31/10/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not making progress. Ineffective risk analysis has led to poor matching decisions. Children have been placed alongside other children whose needs are equally complex, with inadequate planning which means that the staff are unable to meet these needs. In addition, the staff lack the skills, experience, and resources to meet the children’s needs. The house requires redecoration in order to improve the environment for the children. The home lacks resources. Although the children have expressed their views about equipment, for example sports equipment, to the staff, these items have not been purchased. The children are not engaged in activities at the home that could raise their confidence and self-esteem and provide opportunities for the staff to develop stronger relationships with the children. There are concerns about the suitability of some placements. These placements were made in quick succession without the agreement of the registered manager. This did not

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

give the staff time to settle one child into the home ahead of another child arriving. Consequently, neither child’s needs were fully assessed or understood, nor were strategies in place to minimise the risks. Some of the children have had difficult early life experiences. They have complex care needs and they present with challenging behaviours. Some of the children have gone missing from other placements. The provider has failed to assess the risks in the local community effectively. As a result, some of the children’s behaviours have escalated and they have placed themselves at further risk by going missing from this home. The children have been targeted by unsuitable older peers and exposed to the risk of child sexual exploitation in the local area. Since the last inspection, staff have failed to engage some children in education. As a result, these children made no progress in their education in the time that they lived at

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

the home. Staff are not able to engage all of the children who currently live at the home in settled education placements. More recently, staff have helped a child to attend the provider’s in-house school provision. Staff have not been effective in ensuring that the children engage with other services, such as the youth offending service, which could help them to develop alternative approaches to manage their behaviour. Multi-agency partners question the suitability of Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 7 some of the placements. An external professional commented that they were not clear how risk assessments were completed, or what impact they had on how children are matched to the placement. This professional said that they had seen an escalation of behaviours that placed these children at risk. The staff do not review care plans for children effectively. As a result, staff do not have the most up-to-date information to work with. The children’s progress cannot be

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

monitored effectively. Staff are not able to manage these plans and, as a result, some of the children’s behaviour remains a concern. Staff attempt to build a rapport with children. Too often, these efforts have not been successful and, as a result, there has been no change in the children’s conduct. The staff help the children to maintain contact with family and friends in their own neighbourhoods. Staff take the children to and support them during these sessions, to ensure that the children are safe and that the contact meets their needs. Other family meetings have taken place at the home, with staff helping the families to travel to and from the home. Staff treat children with respect. They listen to the children’s views and ensure that they promote their cultural and religious needs. Observations of staff interaction with the children during this inspection identified that the staff showed warmth and a nurturing

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

approach. Children enjoy nutritious home-cooked meals that are prepared by the staff. An external professional fed back that the staff have a good rapport with police and other professionals in the locality.

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

Poor implementation of individual risk assessments and ineffective safe-care planning has resulted in some of the children frequently going missing. When the children go missing, it is very difficult for staff to follow them given the location of the home. Children quickly become more vulnerable to risks of child sexual exploitation in the community. Staff liaise with the police when children go missing. The police have raised concerns about the suitability of some of the placements and the home’s capacity to meet the children’s needs. The staff have undertaken training to manage these issues, yet they have not been able to prevent or reduce the occasions that children go missing. The fire risk assessment inaccurately states that there are three fire escapes that are accessible on the ground floor. There are only two. Consequently, children and staff may not have suitable emergency escape routes that would protect them.

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

The location risk assessment is inaccurate as it suggests that children will be monitored at all times. This does not happen. The assessment does not highlight the difficulties that the staff have experienced in managing the children in the community, nor does it identify actions to minimise risks. The manager has failed to notify Ofsted of serious incidents. This means that Ofsted has not been able to monitor whether the manager and staff have managed the incidents safely and effectively. The manager has consulted with the designated officer regarding Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 8 the conduct of a member of staff. The designated officer is satisfied that the staff followed the correct procedures to manage the issue. Children say that they feel safe at this home. One commented, ‘I do not feel vulnerable at this home. Neither are the other children vulnerable while at this home. I do not want

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

to live at this home. I want to live with my extended family, but I know that this is not allowed. I do not think that this is a bad place for a young person to live.’ However, professionals who work with the children feel that the staff are unable to keep children safe at this home. Case files and records reviewed during this inspection show that the staff have been unable to engage the children effectively to help them to change their behaviour, remain safe or to discuss concerns. There have been very few occasions when staff have needed to physically intervene to prevent children from harming themselves. The manager has reviewed the records of physical interventions that have occurred to assure herself that the incidents are handled in line with the provider’s policy and procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Regular checks have failed to identify the shortfalls in risk assessments, care plans and other records. The provider has not adequately promoted the welfare needs of the children, measured their progress or developed staff members’ practice to meet the children’s needs. There has been a lack of effective monitoring to identify the action needed to improve the quality of care and outcomes for children. Ofsted has not received the monitoring review completed earlier this year. Although the manager has completed the report, it has not been helpful in improving practice or the outcomes for children. The provider has received the reports from the independent visitor. These reports have highlighted particular concerns regarding the suitability of some of the placements. The independent visitor has also queried the management of incidents of the children going missing from care. The provider has not made changes or developed the service to ensure that it

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

meets the standards set out in the statement of purpose. The manager has made strenuous efforts to review the suitability of placements with local authorities. Despite this, one child remained in a placement that was not meeting their needs. Other children remain at risk as they continue to go missing from the home. Staff have been unable to build suitable relationships to enable them to undertake meaningful work with the children. The manager has been in post for nearly a year. She has worked as a senior in another of the provider’s children’s homes. She has the experience to manage the home. The manager is undertaking a relevant level 5 qualification. The staff consider her to be a positive and caring manager. Staff lack the experience needed to provide effective care for the children. The manager and her deputy are the only staff members with more than one year’s experience working in this sector.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager cares for these children and wants them to make significant progress, but Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 9 this has not been achieved. Unmanageable plans, ineffective strategies and poor matching have resulted in inexperienced staff being unable to meet the children’s needs. The provider has not supported the children to make suitable progress or protected them from known risks in the community.

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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: SC456911 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Cambian Group, 4th Floor Waterfront Building, Chancellors Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

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Inspector(s)

Michael Mulvaney, social care inspector Natalie Burton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456911 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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