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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 1 SC067899 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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 home is operated by a limited company and operates under a block contract arrangement with the local authority in which it is situated. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children, aged between 11 and 17 years, who have experienced adverse childhood experiences. The home offers short, medium, and long-term placements for children and young people and their preparation for the next step in their lives, whether it is a return home, a move to another placement or the transition to independence.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager of the home was registered with Ofsted on 31 August 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/07/2017 Full Good 20/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 31/10/2016 Full Good 29/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 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 health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met and that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well- being.

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Requirement Due date

The standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to achieve the health and well- being outcomes that are recorded in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that children receive their prescribed medication as they should. 31/07/2018

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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

The standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child‟s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the annual fire risk assessment is reviewed and updated. 31/07/2018

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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 the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. The relevant date is, 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 home. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)) 31/07/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 4 The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 31/07/2018

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Recommendations

 Children should have access to a computer and the internet to support their education and learning, unless there are specific safeguarding reasons why this would be inappropriate. In such cases, the home should consider whether and how it can support the child to access a computer and the internet safely. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 29, paragraph 5.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most young people make progress across all areas of their lives because staff are committed and work hard to improve the experiences for young people. Developed and sustained links with health, social care and education professionals ensures that young people make progress with their social, emotional and educational needs. For example, young people‟s educational experiences improve as staff preserve and encourage young people to engage in meaningful education and training opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The warm, nurturing relationships that young people share with the managers and staff were evident during the inspection and support young people through times of crisis. Young people spoke confidently about the support, encouragement and guidance that staff offer them daily. Young people confirmed that they can talk to the manager and staff whenever they need to and that they are confident that their issues or worries are listened to and addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people‟s transitions into and out of the home are managed sufficiently well by the management team. The manager works effectively with the local authority that commissions all the services to this home. The manager is clear that good matching of Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 5 young people‟s needs is critical to support them to flourish and keep them safe. When young people are placed in the home in an emergency, the manager is quick to assess and identify young people‟s needs. When the manager identifies any potential risks or concerns with young people‟s placements, she is quick to raise and address them with senior managers. This ensures that the safety and well-being of young people is promoted and monitored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people sensitively, to develop and sustain positive relationships between themselves, their family members and their peers. Young people are assisted to remain in regular contact with those who are important to them, so that they sustain a positive sense of their individual identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have opportunities to get involved in, and take part in, positive experiences in the community. Young people spoke positively about the activities that they enjoy and spoke happily about their recent holiday with staff and other young people from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are generally involved in the decisions that affect the day-to-day running of the home. Staff seek young people‟s wishes and views regularly using a good range of activities. This ensures that young people‟s wishes and views remain involved regarding their care planning and the development of their home. However, the manager has yet to secure internet access for the home, following a request from the young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to gain skills that they need to live in adulthood successfully. The manager and staff work with young people to ensure that any actions identified in their pathway plans are followed. Appropriate next step placements are identified for those young people who are due to turn 18 years of age. A young person confirmed this and said that they now feel ready and equipped to move on into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff support young people to maintain healthy lifestyles with limited success. Despite the manager and staff‟s best efforts to encourage young people to eat healthy, well-balanced meals, engage in physical activities, and work with specialist support and health services to improve their health outcomes, some young people continue to engage in several behaviours which compromise their health and well-being. Furthermore, while the arrangements for managing controlled medication are good, one shortfall was identified with the administration of one person‟s prescribed antibiotic medication.

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

The manager is fully aware of the challenges and risk that young people are exposed to. She ensures that her staff understand their roles in keeping the young people safe and she makes sure that this happens. Detailed „live‟ risk assessments, which are updated and shared regularly, are followed. This supports staff to manage any known or emerging behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities for young people. Staff practice is reinforced by good links with external safeguarding agencies and professionals, who have been appropriately involved when required. Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 6 The managers and the staff team have a clear understanding of risks that young people face when they go missing from the home. Staff are proactive in their approach, assessing the risks and putting arrangements in place to protect young people. When young people go missing from the home, staff and the managers act appropriately and

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

follow the locally agreed protocols and plans. Following a recommendation made at the last inspection, the arrangements for completing independent return home interviews have improved.

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

A restorative approach is used by the manager and staff to address any negative behaviour displayed by young people. This approach encourages young people to reflect on their risk-taking behaviour and their inappropriate and anti-social behaviour. Staff spend time with young people talking through their actions, encouraging young people to take responsibility for their actions and gaining an understanding of the impact of their behaviours on others. When young people‟s behaviour deteriorates, and risks escalate and become too high, the manager is quick to identify and resolve this. At these times, the manager uses her established links with safeguarding agencies and specialist services in the local authority to identify suitable plans or alternative placements, if required.

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

The manager listens to young people and takes any allegations that are made against the home seriously. The manager ensures that the relevant safeguarding agencies, such as the placing social workers and the designated officer, are informed following any significant incidents. The manager is proactive at requesting the necessary meetings to ensure that all the risks can be considered cohesively, and she requests additional support and services required to meet young people‟s emerging needs quickly and appropriately.

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

Staff are not fearful of challenging young people appropriately when they are verbally abusive and aggressive towards each other. Staff intervene appropriately and quickly to keep young people safe when friction between young people is apparent. Staff address the behaviour immediately and identify any appropriate action and consequences. This action, and the manager‟s ability to escalate any conflicting risks between young people with senior managers, helps to promote the well-being and safety of young people.

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

The manager ensures that a variety of health and safety checks are carried out to promote the safety of staff and young people. Although weekly fire safety checks of the home are completed, the annual fire risk assessment is overdue. The manager rectified this immediately during the inspection and a date for this has now been set.

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

Although there is a process for managing complaints made against the home, one young person had made a complaint against the home that had not been addressed adequately, in that there was not a full and detailed record of action taken in response to the complaint. Consequently, the regulator could not be assured of the thoroughness of this process. Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is suitably experienced and qualified. She is supported well by a dedicated, motivated deputy manager and a team of residential care staff. The manager and staff share a passion and commitment to develop the home and improve the lives of young people. This ensures that young people and their families receive the level of care and support that is outlined in the home‟s statement of purpose. The manager has a sound understanding of the home‟s strengths and where there is still capacity to improve. The areas for development are identified within the home‟s recently reviewed and updated annual development plan, which is monitored and reviewed within the home‟s internal monitoring systems. External monthly monitoring which includes scrutiny from an independent visitor offers additional rigour and challenge to the manager to ensure that the home continues to improve. A stable, trained, supported and experienced staff team delivers a good standard of care

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

to young people. Although staff training is closely monitored by the leadership team to ensure that all staff are up to date with their mandatory training, opportunities to enhance the skills and knowledge of the staff have been missed. For example, opportunities to complete needs-led training, such as working with young people who may be at risk of a range of behaviours associated with criminal exploitation, have not been provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A suitable number of competent staff ensure that each young person‟s needs are appropriately meet. A large proportion of the staff team members have acquired the required level 3 childcare qualification, and sufficient arrangements are in place for others to achieve this. Despite this, changes to the training provider for staff have resulted in some staff not completing the necessary training within the required timeframe. Furthermore, while the manager ensures that the staff receive regular supervision and annual appraisals, the provider has failed to provide regular supervision for the manager.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 8 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: SC067899 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, Waterfront, Hammersmith Embankment, Chancellors Road, London W6 9RU

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Inspectors

Janine Shortman-Thomas, social care inspector Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC067899 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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