Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 1 SC476289 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 children’s home provides long-term care and therapy for up to five children aged between four and 11 years old, who have emotional and/or behavioural needs. The registered provider is a private company operating a range of children’s homes across the country. There is currently no registered manager.

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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 inadequate

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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: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A compliance notice was set as a result of the last interim inspection on 8 January 2018. Two subsequent monitoring visits were carried out in February and May of this year. On both occasions the compliance notice was found not to have been met.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home is registered for up to five children, however Ofsted has imposed a restriction of accommodation. This limits the number of children living at the home and no new admissions can be made while the restriction is in place. Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 13/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 24/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 01/07/2018

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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— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(e)(h)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development.

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that all staff have 01/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 4 received mandatory training and that staff are appropriately qualified. 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 staff—

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(vi)(viii)(x)) 01/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the registered person only employs an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph 3. The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. This is in particular relation to documentary evidence of any qualifications which the registered person considers relevant for the position.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32(3)(d)). (Schedule 2 point 5). 01/07/2018

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of the service further, the home should take into account the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Ensure that staff support children to be aware of and manage their own safety, both Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 5 inside and outside the home, to the extent that any good parent would. Staff should help children to understand how to protect themselves, feel protected and be protected from significant harm. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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improvement to be good

Children have experienced a lot of disruption. This has been due to frequent changes in staff and managers, which has been hard for children to cope with. Children are now receiving better support from staff and better preparation for changes in the home. As a result, children have been more able to cope.

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improvement to be good

All the children are receiving some form of education. Their educational progress is variable. One child is making good progress with their education. Other children are struggling to maintain their school placements. For one child, their progress has drifted. Not enough action has been taken to progress children’s education and improve outcomes.

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improvement to be good

Care planning is good in some areas. An example of this is good planning in areas of risk. Other aspects of care planning, such as education, play and activities, are very basic and not aspirational for the children.

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improvement to be good

Children have some good experiences. The one-to-one staffing ratio enables staff to spend high-quality time with the children. Children continue to have a say in their own activities and to make choices about their leisure time, which they enjoy. Children have been supported very well with some of their challenges, particularly in relation to their emotional well-being and family relationships.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are well documented, and they are supported to stay healthy. Children receive their prescribed medicines on time, and staff ensure that the children attend any health appointments. Staff are creative in their approach to managing children’s anxieties about health appointments. Helping a child overcome their fear of going to the dentist is an example of the supportive and ‘can do’ attitude of staff.

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improvement to be good

There has been a serious shortfall in keeping children safe. A new staff member started working at the home in March 2018 without their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check being received. This put children at risk from an adult who may have been unsuitable. Since then, recruitment processes have improved and the appropriate checks are carried out before new staff work directly with children on shift. A less serious shortfall was identified regarding the qualifications of staff not being evidenced. Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 6 Staff have a good understanding of children’s safety needs. Staff read and follow risk assessments and protect children from harm.

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improvement to be good

One-to-one-sessions between staff and children are planned to align with care plans, and support children with particular areas of risk. These plans are not always followed. For example, a required session on road safety for one child has not been carried out. The acting manager spoke about a much greater level of work being undertaken with children than is documented, but this work cannot be evidenced in records.

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improvement to be good

No children have been missing from the home. An incident took place recently during which two children tried to run away, however the level of staff supervision was such that this was noticed straight away. Staff responses were good and ensured that the children returned safely and quickly.

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improvement to be good

New staff know what to do if there is a child protection concern. Allegations have been managed effectively and in line with the home’s procedures, even when newer, less experienced staff have been on duty.

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improvement to be good

There has been a reduction in the number of incidents generally, including instances of verbal and physical aggression. The children have very complex needs and are very vulnerable. Staff work well with the therapeutic team to identify how they can support children to become less vulnerable, and to find new and more effective strategies to protect the children.

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improvement to be good

There are times when physical intervention is necessary to keep a child or others safe. More recently, there is evidence of some excellent management oversight of these incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager in this home since September 2017, therefore the effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as inadequate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home continues to experience a lot of change in managers and staff, and the children find this very difficult.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new acting manager has been appointed since the interim inspection. While this is a temporary arrangement and exposes the children to more change, this new manager has made a positive impact. The acting manager has brought a great deal of skill to the team. Staff present as being more confident. The acting manager’s commitment and drive have been pivotal in the recent improvements in the home’s functioning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Several new staff have joined the home since the last visit. However, the team is developing and new staff are beginning to settle in. Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 7 Progress has been made in relation to leadership and management, but the management arrangements are temporary and there is no registered manager applicant. Requirements to address shortfalls in leadership and management have been repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Good progress has been made in staff training, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Training records are not organised well. Some gaps were found in training staff to administer medicines, and in attachment training. The requirement relating to staff training has also been repeated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A further four requirements, and the one recommendation made at the last inspection, have been met. Staff are providing care in the home which is more in line with the home’s statement of purpose. No new children have been admitted to the home while the home is going through this difficult period. This has enabled staff to provide an improved standard of care. Staff have been attending important meetings for children. More recently, the recording of all physical interventions has had management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most of the time, there is an experienced member of staff on duty, and all staff leading shifts and left in charge of the home have successfully completed their induction period. However, there have been instances when the person leading the shift is still in their probationary period. Staff will have completed their induction and mandatory training, but the complexity of the children’s needs means that it is far from ideal to have inexperienced care staff leading shifts. Managers are now making the best decisions they can in deploying staff on individual shifts, but a lack of experienced, qualified staff in the home makes planning shifts difficult. The restriction on new admissions is making shift planning slightly easier.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are some areas of good practice, particularly relating to staff having good insight and understanding of the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a feeling of enthusiasm in the staff team. Morale has improved, and all staff are very committed to working towards improving outcomes for children. All staff speak very positively about their new management arrangements, support and training.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 8 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: SC476289 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, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspector

Caroline Brailsford, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476289 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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