Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 1 SC436372 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to five children and young people aged between nine and 17. The home accepts children and young people on a planned basis. The children and young people accommodated at Abbeyfield may have previously experienced abuse, neglect or exclusion. Abbeyfield offers medium- to long-term placements for children and young people, where they can prepare for the next stage in their lives. There is a registered manager at this home who has been registered since July 2017.

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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/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 15 January 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2018 Interim Declined effectiveness 25/07/2017 Full Good 16/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 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. 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 (2)(a)(i)) 20/05/2018

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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. 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 20/05/2018

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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 on from the home. This is in particular relation to poor placement matching and one child being admitted without a care plan. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) 01/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their 01/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 4 health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular, the registered person must ensure that— medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (2)(b)) 01/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the 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; full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(d)) This is with particular reference to one member of staff who has been recruited without all checks required by Schedule 2 and

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Requirement Due date

without appropriate experience, qualifications and skills. 01/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. If a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff should seek expert advice from education professionals such as virtual school head, SENCO, learning mentor or Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 5 teacher. Staff must challenge the child’s education provider if the child does not receive sufficient support to progress as outlined in their relevant plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.11)  Ensure that the registered person works with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are at risk of harm as staff do not know their needs or how best to protect young people. At the point of admission, young people do not have a care plan in place, so staff do not have a clear understanding of young people’s care needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The quality of care plans is variable. One young person’s care plan did not set out how their health needs should be met, despite there being dietary issues. One child who stayed at the home for three days, did not have a care plan at all in that time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Arrangements for the administration of prescribed medicines are not consistently safe. One young person is currently staying with her family, but her asthma medication is still at the home. This young person’s health could be adversely affected because they have not got their prescribed medication with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people’s engagement with education has improved since the last inspection and all young people are on roll at a school. However, staff have provided insufficient challenge to education plans in respect of one young person, resulting in drift at a time of great importance to the young person’s education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Transition planning is ineffective. One young person had to move out of the home quickly due to a safeguarding issue. They did not get the chance to say goodbye to the majority of the staff or to the manager. Nobody has sent a goodbye message to the young person since they left. This is not a positive ending to the placement and may impact on how valued this young person feels, and may impact on how valued other young people feel. However, for some young people, their transition out of the home has been more positive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Not all young people are supported appropriately in their contact with family members. An example of this is the failure of staff to supervise contact as per a young person’s plan. This left the young person vulnerable and did not promote positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The one young person in the home during the inspection was very positive about the home, saying: ‘I love it here.’ This young person has made some good progress. Their behaviour is more settled. They enjoy activities in and out of the home and are pleased Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 6 that they now have a school placement.

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

Poor-quality admission processes have exposed young people to the risk of harm. Young people are admitted to the home without an appropriate risk assessment or assessment of whether the home provides a suitable match. The impact of new admissions on other young people has not been properly considered.

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

When one young person was admitted recently, staff did not know how to look after him. There was no care plan, no risk assessment and a lack of information from the placing authority about him.

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

Staff do not monitor young people at risk through drug or alcohol misuse effectively. This does not ensure that young people are safe. On two occasions, a young person was left vulnerable and unsafe due to substance and alcohol misuse.

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

Staff are not assertive enough with young people. For example, one young person went up to a stranger in the street to obtain a cigarette and this was not sufficiently challenged by staff who were present. During the inspection, staff were observed to be unresponsive to one young person’s heightened behaviour, allowing the situation to escalate. A lack of assertiveness was also evident in supervising contact visits.

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

Staff recruitment procedures are ineffective in making sure that young people will be safe from unsuitable adults working in the home and will be well looked after. One member of staff has been recruited without experience, qualifications and without pre- employment checks to make sure that they are safe to work with young people.

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

When young people go missing from the home, staff responses reduce risk. Staff have good plans in place so that they can act quickly and with confidence. One young person’s incidences of going missing from care have substantially reduced. The young person is significantly safer than they were before because of the help and direction of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Three out of the seven requirements made at the last inspection have not been met. There has been insufficient progress since the last inspection. Similar shortfalls have been found at this inspection. The provider has continued to admit very complex young people at a time when the home is unsettled and when staff do not have sufficient experience, skills and qualifications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This home remains unsettled. Three young people have left since the last inspection. In addition, two new young people have moved in. One newly admitted young person was only at the home for three days. Their placement ended abruptly following a serious safeguarding issue. Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 7 There are several shortfalls in the leadership and management of this home. These shortfalls include poor placement matching, which continues to put young people at risk of harm. Care planning is poor and risks are not always assessed. Poor recruitment practice has the potential to put young people at risk. Shortfalls in staff practice have gone unnoticed by the registered manager and the responsible individual. Leaders and managers were not aware of some of the weaknesses identified at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Sampling of staff files identified that staff were inexperienced and did not have the required level of training. Half of the staff are inexperienced, are unqualified and lack sufficient skills to protect young people effectively. This is demonstrated in their practice, when on numerous occasions they have not taken sufficient action to protect young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been some progress in staffing since the last inspection, including additional training and team building activities. However, shortfalls in the experience and expertise of the staff team will take time and good leadership to address.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have continued to be recruited with no previous experience of working with young people. These staff are then charged with looking after the most vulnerable and complex young people, without the skills to do so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Previous requirements met show that there has been progress in the staff response to young people being missing from the home. Improvements overall have been seen in young people’s engagement in education. The home’s statement of purpose has now been reviewed and sent to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager and responsible individual are caring and committed. Positive comments were forthcoming from a young person living at the home.

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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: SC436372 8

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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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Alison Blyth-Bishop

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Inspectors

Caroline Brailsford: social care regulatory inspector Philip Cass: regional inspection manager Inspection report children’s home: SC436372 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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