Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 1 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 privately owned children‟s home is registered to care for up to six children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 December 2017

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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: Not applicable

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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

 On one occasion, the registered manager‟s planning for a new admission was Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 2 not good enough.  Risk assessments vary in quality. They do not always reflect the changing needs of young people and provide clear guidance to staff about how to reduce and manage risk.  Staff have not fully assessed and reviewed the use of bedroom door alarms to ensure that they meet the needs of young people.  Staff have not always received the training and supervision needed to help them understand how best to enable young people to make good progress.  The registered manager does not always appropriately review the use of physical intervention.  The registered manager has not consistently completed the relevant checks needed before new staff have started in post.  The registered manager has employed an individual who has not completed the level 3 national vocational qualification within the required timescales.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager‟s monitoring and review system does not enable her to identify weakness in staff practice.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are successful at implementing routines for young people, providing them with a sense of stability.  Staff are creative at understanding the views and wishes of young people.  Effective links with the provider‟s clinical team ensure that staff understand young people‟s emotional health needs.  Good communication and working relationships between the staff, social workers and other professionals support the development of young people.  The home affords a pleasant and homely environment for young people to live in. Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 3

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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 particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, risk assessments should provide staff with clear guidance on how to keep young people safe. These assessments should be reviewed within the agreed timescales, and the registered provider should ensure that all staff have read them. 30/01/2018

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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 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; understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(f)(h)) 30/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 30/01/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 4 Specifically, the registered provider should obtain all relevant information from the local authority and, where appropriate, the previous placement, to ensure that the needs of any young person being admitted to the home are understood and appropriate measures are in place to meet those needs. The registered person must ensure that the privacy of children is appropriately protected, and any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home, is necessary and proportionate, is kept under review and, if necessary, revised, and allows children as much freedom as

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Requirement Due date

possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the use of bedroom door alarms should be based upon an assessment of the individual needs of young people. The use of such measures should be kept under review. 30/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

The relevant date is, in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 30/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 30/01/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 5 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home; a record is made which includes, a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. Within 48 hours of the measure, the registered person has spoken to the user about the measure, and has signed the record to confirm it is

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Requirement Due date

accurate; and within 5 days of the measure, the registered person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)(3)(a)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 30/01/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/01/2018

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improvement to be good

The registered manager‟s planning for new admissions is not of a consistent quality. Of the four admissions to the home, three were well considered, with detailed transition plans supporting the young people‟s arrival. A social worker said, „They were committed to the transition plan. They were really flexible in making that the best for [name of young person].‟ However, in another instance, planning was insufficient. The registered manager did not obtain key information about the young person‟s risk-taking behaviours and level of need. Furthermore, there was a missed opportunity to review the suitability of the placement when vital information was shared by the previous placement prior to admission. This meant that the young person‟s placement was unsuccessful, as staff were not able to meet his needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to develop relationships with young people. Good communication is at the centre of this. To promote communication with those young people who struggle to express themselves, staff use creative visual ideas such as drawing on whiteboards and the use of comic hero figures. There are signs that this is working. Young people are learning to trust staff and open up to them.

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improvement to be good

Effective links between staff and the clinical team ensure that staff understand the Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 6 emotional health needs of young people. Staff recognise the importance of providing young people with a sense of stability and security. Staff are successful at implementing consistent morning and evening routines for young people. The familiarity that this offers is helping young people to feel safe and well cared for.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide young people with a homely and pleasant place to live. Staff encourage young people to personalise their bedrooms and to have their say on how the home is decorated. This provides young people with a sense of belonging.

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improvement to be good

All the young people are currently accessing education, although the young people‟s starting points mean that progress is variable. Staff work with schools to promote young people‟s learning and overcome any barriers to engagement. An assistant principle informed the inspector, „Staff regularly ask what level of reading books and work they could do with [the young person].‟ Staff are successfully promoting young people‟s academic needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always receive clear guidance on how to keep young people safe. This is because risk assessments are of variable quality, they are not always reviewed in a timely manner and staff do not always read them. Despite this, staff appear to have a shared knowledge of what actions they need to take to keep young people safe. As a result, young people do not go missing and are not at risk of exploitation. A social worker said, „The staff are really resilient. [The young person] can display extreme behaviours; they are managing the risks really well.‟

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improvement to be good

Staff use alarms on young people‟s bedroom doors indiscriminately. There is no mechanism in place to review the use of such systems. The impact for young people is relatively low. Given their ages, assessed vulnerability and length of time that the young people have been in placement, the use of bedroom door alarms appears to be proportionate.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to incentivise good behaviour. For example, using a lucky-dip box to provide young people with instant recognition for their positive behaviour.

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improvement to be good

When young people display aggressive behaviour in the home, staff have mixed success in using de-escalation strategies to defuse such situations. This means that physical restraints are sometimes required. The registered manager‟s oversight of such measures of control is not good enough. Specifically, there is not always a formal review by the registered manager of what has happened. This means that there are missed opportunities for staff to learn how to manage young people‟s behaviour better.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager‟s vetting of new staff is weak. For example, the registered manager allowed one individual to start in post despite there being known gaps in their employment history. This means that staff, who potentially may not be suitable to work Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 7 with young people, are allowed to do so.

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

The experienced registered manager holds a suitable qualification. The registered manager‟s current monitoring systems have not been effective at identifying those aspects of care which need to improve.

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

The staff team‟s skills mix is limited, with the majority of staff not holding the relevant qualification for the role. One staff member who has recently started in post was out of timescales for completing the level 3 national vocational qualification at the point of recruitment. A plan to address this shortfall has not yet been finalised by the registered manager.

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

The registered manager has not ensured that the inexperienced staff team receives the training and supervision it requires. Staff, including those in their probation period, do not always receive regular supervision and are not supported to complete all of their mandatory training. As a result, staff are not always helped to develop the skills that they need to meet the needs of young people.

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

Despite this, staff morale is high. Staff said that they feel well supported by a management team that they describe as being approachable, helpful and knowledgeable. Staff have a good knowledge of young people‟s needs and provide personalised care. Furthermore, young people are showing signs of progress in respect of their emotional and behavioural development.

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

The registered manager does not always ensure that key documents are available for staff. For example, local authority care plans and personal education plans are not always obtained. This means that staff may not always have all of the information that they require to understand how best to meet the needs of young people.

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

Staff are generally successful at working in partnership with key stakeholders, including the police, schools and local authority. This ensures a collaborative approach to care planning for young people. A police officer informed the inspector, „Staff are very welcoming, and communication is of a good standard.‟

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 8 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: 1258091 9

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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 Group, 4th Floor Waterfront Building, Chancellors Road, Hammersmith Embankment, London W6 9RU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison Blyth-Bishop

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1258091 10 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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