Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children's home: SC068277 1 SC068277 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd 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 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: 31 January to 1 February 2018

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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

Date of last inspection: 11 September 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

An emergency suspension notice was issued on the 14 September 2018. This remained in force until 7 December 2017, and the home was closed during this time. Inspection report children's home: SC068277 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

 The home has only recently started to admit young people following the period of suspension.  The home is starting to make some progress in improving the standard of care offered to young people, but these changes are still in the early stages.  Risk management in the home has improved, but written risk assessments still do not always identify all of young people’s known risks.  There continues to be a lack of structure at the home for young people who are not in education or further education, and it is not clear from records what opportunities staff are offering to young people so that they can learn informally.  There continue to be some shortfalls in recording, and not all necessary documents are on young people’s case files.  There are now more staff in post with the level 3 childcare award. However, one staff member has not yet achieved this within the required timescales.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home now has a registered manager in place who is committed to making the required improvements to ensure that young people achieve positive outcomes.  The staff team now includes a better mix of experienced and new staff.  The staff have undertaken a wide range of training during the time when the home was closed to support them in meeting the needs of the young people at the home.  The organisation and manager are taking a more robust approach to admissions and matching, which has resulted in the home being more stable and settled.  Staff are working hard to build positive relationships with young people and, as a result, young people are spending more time at the home and engaging with staff.  Staff are undertaking direct work with young people to help them to understand the risks associated with their behaviour.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2017 Full Inadequate 06/06/2017 Full Inadequate 31/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC068277 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. (Regulation 5(b)) 09/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard, the registered provider must ensure that staff— promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8(2)(a)(v)) 09/03/2018

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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 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)) 09/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has attained the appropriate qualification, the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) by the relevant date. 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 the home. (Regulation 32(4)(5)) 09/03/2018

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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; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)) 09/03/2018 Inspection report children's home: SC068277 4

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improvement to be good

The home re-opened in December 2017. Three young people have been admitted since that time and one young person has been discharged. It is not possible to fully measure how staff have contributed to young people’s progress in areas such as health or education, due to the limited time that young people have lived at the home. In the short time that young people have been living at the home, there is evidence that they are making some progress.

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improvement to be good

Some young people attend education. When young people are not in education or further education, staff are proactive in working with educational professionals and the placing authority to secure educational placements. However, staff do not ensure that there are education plans in place for young people. Staff try hard to ensure that young people have a structure to their day when they are not in education, but this is still a challenge for some young people at the home. For some young people, there continues to be a lack of structure to their day and there is a lack of evidence of informal learning when they are not in school or further education. Some young people continue to remain in bed until lunchtime, as observed during the inspection. This does not prepare young people for when they do return to education or further learning.

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improvement to be good

Staff members spend time with young people and build a rapport with them. As a result, there are positive relationships between young people and staff. Young people speak positively about the staff. One young person stated, ‘The staff are nice and make nice food. They are friendly and brilliant.’ Young people enjoy spending time with staff at the home, participating in activities such as cooking and playing board games. These positive relationships are used to support young people in changing negative actions and behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that young people have individual health plans that detail how staff will ensure that young people’s health needs are promoted. Staff register young people with relevant health professionals when young people move into the home and encourage young people to attend health appointments when necessary. This has mixed results, and some young people continue to refuse to attend these appointments. Staff work effectively with health professionals to ensure that young people’s health is promoted. A specialist looked after child nurse commented, ‘They always try to help to encourage the young person to engage with me and appear to promote their health. They do get in touch with me if they need advice or support, and let me know if they get a new resident.’

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improvement to be good

Transitions into the home are managed well. Staff meet young people before they move into the home and ensure that young people are given the relevant information, such as the children’s guide, so that they are as prepared as possible for the move. A social worker reported, ‘Staff were really supportive of (name of young person) transition. They met with him at his mum’s and he chose his own bedroom. He is proud of his room and Inspection report children's home: SC068277 5 it feels nicer now.’ The manager is now making more robust, child-centred decisions about the young people whom she admits to the home. This has resulted in the home being much more stable and settled than it was previously.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to develop independence skills. For example, young people go food shopping and prepare meals with staff, and staff support young people with areas such as using public transport. However, staff do not ensure that young people have individual independence plans in place. As a result, the independence work undertaken is generic and is not based on individual identified need.

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improvement to be good

Young people have good opportunities to voice their wishes and feelings about all aspects of their care. Staff ensure that regular young people’s meetings take place at which young people are consulted about what activities they would like to be involved in and menu choices. Staff also spend time with young people informally and in key-worker sessions, talking with young people about their views. Consequently, young people say that they feel listened to by staff, which empowers them and contributes to them feeling valued at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand young people’s risks and vulnerabilities. Staff have ensured that there are some risk assessments in place which identify each young person’s individual risks and vulnerabilities, and include written actions for staff to take to reduce these. However, staff do not always identify young people’s individual risks from the placing authority paperwork and, as a result, these are not recorded in each young person’s risk assessments. Consequently, staff are not aware of all young people’s known risks from admission. Furthermore, risk assessments are not routinely shared with relevant professionals to ensure that there is a multi-agency approach to reducing risk and keeping young people safe.

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improvement to be good

There have been two episodes of young people going missing from home since the home re-opened. Young people have individual missing from home risk assessments, which detail the actions that staff are to take when young people go missing. Staff understand what actions they need to take when a young person goes missing and are proactive, searching for them and trying to contact them by phone. Staff ensure that they follow the missing from home protocols by reporting young people missing to the police and informing the placing authority. These actions ensure that young people are located quickly and kept safe from harm.

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improvement to be good

Staff spend time with young people in key-worker sessions, helping them to understand the risks associated with behaviours such as going missing and substance misuse. There is sometimes a lack of clarity about who is responsible for making referrals to external agencies, for example in respect of cannabis misuse, and a lack of follow up about these issues. This lack of clarity can cause delay in this work being undertaken.

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improvement to be good

There have been no significant behavioural incidents or physical restraints undertaken Inspection report children's home: SC068277 6 since the home re-opened. All staff have undertaken the Pillars training. This is the model that staff are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. Staff consult with young people about how they think that staff can best help them to regulate their emotions, and these strategies are incorporated into young people’s plans. Staff promote positive behaviour by the use of reward charts, which they use consistently. One young person commented, ‘It’s changed now, it’s stricter. It’s better.’ Staff ensure that any guidance from assessments such as the child and adolescent mental health services assessments are included in young people’s plans and that the reports are available on young people’s case files for staff to read. This ensures that young people receive a multi-agency and individual approach to behaviour management.

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improvement to be good

The manager has implemented new monitoring systems to ensure that health and safety checks at the home are undertaken by staff regularly and within in the required time. As such, health and safety arrangements at the home are now more robust in ensuring that young people and staff are protected from harm. The manager undertakes the required checks to ensure that any new staff appointed are safe to work with young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand safeguarding policies and procedures. Areas such as safeguarding and whistleblowing are covered as part of the induction process for new staff and have been revisited with staff during training and team meetings. This ensures that staff know what processes to follow should any safeguarding concerns arise.

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

There is a new manager in post who is registered with Ofsted. She is an experienced manager who is committed to the home’s continuous improvement and positive outcomes for young people. The manager understood the difficulties that this home faced last year and has shown that she is able to learn from them and take effective actions to make the required improvements to ensure that young people receive suitable care. As a result, the home is now providing care in line with its statement of purpose.

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

Then manager makes good use of internal and external monitoring systems to make improvements to the home. She has developed internal monitoring systems which enable her to monitor staff practice and identify any areas of development. As such, she showed a realistic understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development throughout the inspection.

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

The staff team now consists of a better mix of experienced staff and new staff members. More of the staff are now qualified with the level 3 childcare award and those who are not yet qualified are enrolled on this course. One staff member has not finished this within the required timescale.

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

The staff had the opportunity to spend time together prior to the home re-opening. Staff attended team meetings and training sessions. Staff are positive about the impact of this time on how they now work as a team. One staff member reported, ‘We are learning to gel as team. We all seem to be working on the same page now, and we are discussing things as a team to achieve what we need to achieve.’ Inspection report children's home: SC068277 7 Staff receive regular supervision and confirm that they feel well supported in their role. The manager has implemented capability matrices to use in supervision with staff to support their development. One staff member reported, ‘We are all getting training and support now. When I first came here, I did not feel like I was moving. Everything is spot on, now. I feel like I have progressed since the home has opened again. I love it here and we have a good team.’

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

Staff have undertaken a good range of training in the time when the home was closed. This has included training in emotional resilience. This has equipped staff with the skills and knowledge to support them in their roles. Team meetings are well attended and provide a good opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice. The manager has organised professionals from specialist child sexual exploitation teams and children’s rights to attend team meetings. This ensures that staff understand the roles and responsibilities of other professionals and that they work together to achieve good outcomes for young people.

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

Staff have worked hard to ensure that young people’s case files are more reflective of young people’s daily lives. However, some files do not contain paperwork such as pathways or education plans for young people. This means that staff do not have the full information with which to plan and provide effective care based on individual need.

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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, 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: SC068277 8

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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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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC068277 9 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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