Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 1 SC478468 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for five children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. However, the home is currently only working with three children, aged between 11 and 15. The home forms part of a large social care company. The home has a manager who was registered by Ofsted on 20 March 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/09/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 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

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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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

Ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare. (Regulation 7 (2)(a)(i)) 30/06/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

staff promote opportunities for each child to learn informally:

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Requirement Due date

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 and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (2)(a)(v)(viii)) 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (Regulation 11 (2)(a)(i)(ii)) 30/06/2018

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered 30/06/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 4 person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm (Regulation 12 (2)(b)) 12: The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (2)(d)) 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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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

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(c)) 30/06/2018

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Recommendations

 When establishing the home, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that children are effectively safeguarded and can access services to meet needs identified in their relevant plans (see regulations 12(2)(c)). Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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improvement to be good

The care provided to children and the outcomes that are achieved are mixed. In the 12- month period since the last inspection, there have been two admissions to the home and three young people have been discharged. The placements of these children were ended because staff were unable to meet the children’s individual needs. This does not promote continuity and stability for the children who had to leave the home, but also Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 5 resulted in an unsettled environment for those children who continue to live in the home.

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improvement to be good

Throughout the last year, there have been periods of poor behaviour in the home. There have been incidents when children have assaulted staff and the public, harmed each other, tried to leave the property from a second-storey window and caused damage to the home. Police intervention has been required to support the staff in managing these behaviours. This has meant that the day-to-day experiences of children living in the home have been poor. Ineffective care planning has led to poor outcomes for children. One child commented that he loved the home as there was, ‘always a drama going on’.

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improvement to be good

Educational outcomes for children are mixed. In the absence of formal education, the children’s home staff do not provide a sufficient level of structured daily activity, particularly during the ‘school day’. For example, on the second day of the inspection, one child spent most of the day playing football on the beach despite receiving a three- day school exclusion the day before for climbing onto the school roof. For one child, their school attendance has reduced from 72% in the autumn term to a current attendance level of 39%. For another child, education is a positive in their lives, they attend education regularly but have yet to have an education, health and care plan put in place. As a result, staff are unclear about how to promote children’s education and learning effectively.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote young people’s health by ensuring that they are registered with relevant health professionals when they are admitted to the home. Staff do not, however, always respect the wishes of children in relation to their sexual health. For example, staff informed one child that she would not be able to have free time until she agreed to use the contraceptive pill. Despite protests from the child that she did not wish to use this medication, staff insisted that this happened. When a child suggested that she may be pregnant, a staff member suggested that the child should use the money that she had allegedly stolen from the staff office to pay for a pregnancy test. This shows a lack of consideration for the child’s feelings and emotions about her situation and also demonstrated a poor lack of care, experience and empathy by staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to develop their interests. Although children are accessing community facilities, these are generally limited to the snooker club or playing football on the beach or the local park. Consequently, experiences are not as wide-ranging as they could be, and activities that allow the children to mix with children from the local community are limited in frequency.

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improvement to be good

Children move into the home in a planned manner. A social worker commented on the admission process for her child, saying: ‘The managers were so helpful and very clear about what they wanted. It has been amazing.’ Staff prepare children well: they visit the children and give them information about the home prior to their admission. Information-sharing and good planning promote children’s and young people’s ability to settle into a new environment and have their needs met in a safe way.

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improvement to be good

Staff do promote contact between children and their families in line with their care plans. This ensures that children can maintain relationships with people in their lives who are Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 6 important to them. Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 7

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always manage relationships in the home effectively in order to prevent or minimise the risk of children harming each other or staff. At times, this has had a negative impact on the welfare and safety of staff and children living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are all trained in Pillers, which is the model that staff are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. Staff try to de-escalate situations, but this is not always successful and as a result, on several occasions, staff have requested police assistance to manage the behaviours of children at the home. There is a lack of consistency from staff in how they manage children’s behaviour and this was observed throughout the inspection. All incidents are, however, recorded and the records are scrutinised regularly by the registered manager, but there is little evidence of challenge and reflection to improve practice.

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improvement to be good

All staff have regular training in managing behaviour, and sanctions are used sparingly and generally appropriately. However, on one occasion a child had received a car ban for applying the handbrake when the car was moving, but this hadn’t been passed on to the staff who next came on duty. These staff then proceeded to take the child out shopping for toys at a local superstore.

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improvement to be good

Children have been allowed to buy and watch inappropriate films. A film certificated at 15 years was purchased by an 11-year-old child when accompanied by staff. The deputy manager explained that the social worker had given permission for the child to watch films with this level of violence. When asked if the staff member had questioned or challenged the social worker on this advice, she reported that she had not. This fails to protect children and demonstrates poor judgement by staff in the home.

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improvement to be good

There is some damage to the home. In general, repairs are completed very quickly. However, this is a large building that is showing signs of wear and tear and the children’s bedrooms are in need of decoration.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from the home, staff report them to the police and local authorities, but staff also look for children who are missing or follow them when they leave the building. The staff report that the registered manager will also come into the home to help staff look for children who are missing. There is a clear understanding within the staff team about when to report children as missing-from-home. Return home interviews are carried out by an independent person and managers consistently challenge the placing authorities when return home interviews are not undertaken. Furthermore, managers evaluate missing episodes, which improves the opportunity to monitor staff practice and patterns of missing behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are comprehensive and clear and provide staff with the necessary guidance to reduce risks, including those to staff, other children and the children themselves. Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 8 Staff have a good understanding of the vulnerabilities of the children that they care for. They are aware of any changes in presentation of children and their behaviour and understand that these may be indicators of distress. There have been three allegations made by children against staff. These have been fully investigated and there is no further action needed as a result. Staff receive regular training in safeguarding practice so that they know what to do if they have any concerns about keeping children safe.

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improvement to be good

There have been some complaints from neighbours. The registered manager has worked hard to promote the good work of the home. She has met with the neighbours and the local councillor at the police station to try to develop a more positive relationship. The manager has also distributed leaflets around the streets about a community bus, where she would be available to answer any questions about the work they are doing in the home. The bus was outside the home for two hours and no one attended.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment is robust. The manager has developed a good system to ensure that any gaps in employment history are explored and that appropriate references are sought and any concerns explored. This prevents unsuitable people from having access to children.

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

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified registered manager and a deputy manager, who together provide good support and leadership to the staff team. The management team is child-focused and passionate about improving outcomes for children. This ethos is echoed by the majority of the staff team. Managers and staff know the children well. They are extremely committed to providing the best service possible. The manager will often go above and beyond to ensure that her staff feel supported. All staff commented on the fantastic support that they received from the registered manager.

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

Three staff have left the home and two staff have been employed since the last inspection. This has resulted in a gender imbalance and all the staff at the home are now female. For one child, the departure of his male key worker had a negative impact on his life. Furthermore, he was unable to say goodbye as the staff member chose not to work his notice and leave the home immediately. Some staff have demonstrated a poor attitude towards the care of children. They have also been unable to manage poor behaviour, often to the detriment of themselves, as they have been assaulted by children.

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

The area risk assessment has not been updated to reflect that, on occasions, members of the public have passed cannabis to the children at the home to smoke. Furthermore, children have asked local people who are living on the streets to purchase cigarettes on their behalf. This has been challenged by the manager with the local police.

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

Staff feel that they have a good induction and that there are regular supervisions and team meetings. This ensures that they remain motivated in their roles. Staff competence is further enhanced by access to relevant training, more recently, this has included Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 9 training around transgender and self-harm.

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

Partnership working is good and effective in promoting positive outcomes. For example, a professional said: ‘I am impressed with how well we work together. This is based on mutual trust. Staff are proactive and ask for help and advice.’ A police officer said, ‘The home were very on-the-ball at arranging meetings and trying to put interventions in place to reduce the missing-from-home episodes due to the risk both boys were putting themselves in when missing.’ This ensures that all the relevant professionals are working consistently, sharing relevant information and progressing plans for the benefit of the child.

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

Managers have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for development of the home and they have identified strategies to implement the changes. However, the manager has not developed the service at the pace that she had hoped for because various factors have affected the speed of change. These include the experience and skills of the staff team and the critical needs of the children.

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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: SC478468 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Elaine Clare, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC478468 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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