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

Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 1 SC451174 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 privately owned children’s home is registered to care for up to two children and young people. The registered manager has been in post since 26 June 2012.

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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: 22 January 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/05/2017 Full Good 25/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/08/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 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— have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2) (iii)) 06/08/2018

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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; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and 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. (Regulation 13 (1) (a) (b) (2) (c) (d) (e) (f)) 06/08/2018

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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)) 06/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected; children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; 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; 06/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 4 is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a) (b) (c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the staff not locking the kitchen or lounge doors unless there is evidence that this is required to safeguard the young person. Likewise, bedroom door alarms should not be used unless needed to keep the young person safe.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children, and in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) This particularly refers to the damaged flooring and kitchen work surfaces which detract from the otherwise homely appearance of the home.  A missing-from-care return interview should be carried out within 72 hours of the child returning to their home or care setting. This should be an in-depth interview and is normally best carried out by an independent person (i.e., someone not involved in caring for the child) who is trained to carry out these interviews and is able to follow-up any actions that emerge. (‘Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care’, page 14, paragraph 32)  Ensure that staff understand the system for rewarding and celebrating positive

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Recommendations

behaviour and recognising where children have managed situations well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.39)  No more than half the staff on duty at any one time, by day or night at the home should be from an external agency. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.17)

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improvement to be good

The registered manager’s planning for new admissions is not effective. This means that staff do not always have the skills or experience to respond to the complexities of those young people admitted. This has contributed to two young people’s placements ending after a short period, with one young person spending less than 24 hours in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 5 Staff vacancies and the use of non-permanent staff mean that young people are not always looked after by a consistent and familiar staff team. This means that young people do not always have the opportunity to develop relationships with staff.

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improvement to be good

However, a young person who is new to the home has settled well. Although the placement is in its infancy, there are signs that she is engaging with staff and starting to develop her sense of belonging.

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improvement to be good

Because some young people’s placements have lasted only a matters of days, accessing school has not been an achievable target. However, staff have been successful in reintegrating the current young person into education. The young person attends daily, and is already making academic progress despite the short time in school. This is a significant achievement given her historical non-engagement.

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improvement to be good

Staff offer young people reassurance and guidance to engage with specialist health services such as the child and adolescent mental health service. This means that young people are able to receive the input that they need to meet their emotional health needs.

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improvement to be good

Recent decoration has significantly improved the appearance of the home, and it now affords young people with a pleasant place to live. However, cosmetic damage to kitchen worktops and flooring continues to detract from the otherwise homely environment.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always take decisive action to keep young people safe. For example, one member of staff’s response to a recent self-harm incident was poor and could have resulted in significant harm to a young person. Additional staff training to reduce the likelihood of such incidents occurring again is planned, although this has yet to be completed.

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improvement to be good

The use of non-permanent staff further undermines the quality of safeguarding practices in the home. For example, a non-permanent member of staff was on duty overnight on their own. During this shift, a young person was able to leave the home undetected, despite setting off the house alarm. The staff member failed to take basic steps to investigate what had set the alarm off. The staff member’s lack of professional curiosity increased the potential risk of harm for the young person.

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improvement to be good

Despite this, in other examples, staff responses to young people who have gone missing have been good. For example, staff have taken swift action to locate young people and have worked collaboratively with partner agencies such as the police and the local authority. However, the registered manager does not always ensure that young people have independent return interviews in the expected timescales.

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improvement to be good

Staff use incentive charts to try and promote young people’s positive behaviour. Young people also receive additional rewards to acknowledge their positive engagement with Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 6 school or health appointments. However, staff do not always document the use of rewards and sanctions. This impacts upon the registered manager’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of these behaviour management systems.

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improvement to be good

Staff lock rooms including the kitchen and lounge each night. This is done out of habit and is not based on the assessed needs of young people. Likewise, staff use bedroom door alarms indiscriminately. The use of such monitoring systems is not based upon the individual needs of young people. There is no evidence that this has had a direct impact on young people.

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

The registered manager is a highly experienced and knowledgeable manager. However, his responsibility for two other homes has impacted upon the time that he is able to dedicate to this home. This has affected his ability to utilise his leadership skills to improve the quality of care provided to young people.

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

The capacity of the leadership team has been further weakened by the current vacancy of a team leader. As a result, new and inexperienced staff team members do not always receive the direction and guidance required to meet the needs of young people.

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

An over reliance on non-permanent staff means that young people have experienced variable and inconsistent care. This has impacted upon the extent to which staff have safeguarded and supported young people to make progress.

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

In most cases, staff receive regular supervision. Staff say that they feel well supported by the registered manager. However, the registered manager has not consistently received supervision. This means that he is not provided with the guidance and support required.

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

The registered manager has developed good links with partner agencies. This includes schools, local authorities and the police. This contributes to a collaborative approach to meeting the needs of young people.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC451174 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, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London, Middlesex W6 9RU

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Inspector(s)

Paul Robinson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC451174 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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