Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 1 SC483846 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

The home is operated by national organisation and provides care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in March 2018 and is currently completing her level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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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: 11 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: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 10/07/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/05/2017 Full Inadequate 10/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 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

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that

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Requirement Due date

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. 12(2)(b) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. 12(2)(a)(v) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the Leadership and Management standard the registered person must ensure that they enable, inspire and lead a culture in the home that

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Requirement Due date

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. 13(1)(b)(2)(f) 31/08/2018

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Recommendations

 Expectations of standards of behaviour must be high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, paragraph 8.11, p.39) Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 4

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improvement to be good

Young people’s outcomes and experiences are mixed due to recent, and sometimes poorly managed, admissions of young people to the home. Young people who have lived at the home for longer periods of time have positive experiences and make good progress.

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improvement to be good

Young people who have been admitted more recently have experienced some disruption due to information not being passed over from the previous in-house placement. This has resulted in unplanned discharges from the home, because when presenting behaviours came to light, the home was no longer a suitable setting and young people who had lived at the home for longer periods were put at risk.

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improvement to be good

Throughout the last year, there have been periods of instability in the home. There have been incidents where young people have assaulted staff, harmed each other 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 young people living in the home have been poor. Ineffective care planning and inexperienced staff have led to poor outcomes for young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote contact between young people and their families in line with young people’s care plans. This ensures that young people can maintain relationships with people in their lives who are important to them. However, contact plans are not updated, and when plans need to change or cancel there is no contingency plan and this leaves young people distressed and angry.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff work tirelessly to promote young people’s learning, and they prioritise education for all young people. Staff work in partnership with their on-site school, local education services and the placing authorities to secure appropriate education placements. Their creativity in developing an education package for each young person, many of whom have not previously attended school, has resulted in the young people’s positive engagement with learning and education. One social worker commented, ‘Here, the young person in question was a school refuser and (manager) and (deputy manager) have supported her to identify a school environment within which she feels comfortable and will engage. Even though there are still some hurdles to overcome, the young person is very intelligent and with the ongoing support of the home has very promising exam predictions. Staff are very proactive

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improvement to be good

in terms of care planning and ensuring that the young person is provided with every opportunity to meet her full potential.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 5

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improvement to be good

Staff do not manage relationships in the home effectively in order to prevent or minimise the risk of young people harming each other. This has impacted on the welfare and safety of young people living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are all trained in Pillars, which is the model that they are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. Staff try to de-escalate situations, but this is not always effective. 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 behaviour; this was reported by managers throughout the inspection.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff have sometimes been unable to change young people’s high-risk behaviours due to inconsistent implementation of the home’s risk and care planning framework. For example, some sections of young people’s risk assessments, which relate to high-risk behaviours, are incomplete or have failed to be updated following a significant incident. Risk management strategies and guidance for staff are generally generic across all young people’s documentation. This approach does not support individualised risk management and therefore has had little impact on some young people’s complex needs.

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improvement to be good

Although there are concerns about the recording framework for missing from care and subsequent risk management associated with these behaviours, staff provide a consistent response when young people go missing from home. Staff always follow young people when they leave the home without permission, and reporting timelines are individualised and reflect the degrees of vulnerability of young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people receive sensitive and personalised support in response to their behaviours. This is particularly evident in the outcomes for young people who have lived at the home for significant periods of time. The young people have grown in confidence and developed increased emotional resilience. Because of good staff support and referrals to mental health agencies, young people are helped to improve their emotional well-being. Young people are now able to identify changes in their moods, and report that talking to staff helps them to divert their tendencies to injure themselves.

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

The registered manager, staff and line managers for the home have reflected on the recent challenges experienced by young people and the staff team. They acknowledge the need for improvement and show a clear commitment to addressing the shortfalls identified in this inspection report, not least by ensuring that admissions to the home are planned and that the home provides long-term care for young people.

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

The registered manager is aware of her monitoring responsibilities. She acknowledges that her recent absence from the home and a recent series of poorly assessed Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 6 admissions have impacted on the quality of care.

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

Some staff lack the experience and training required to ensure that they can meet the needs of the young people whom they are caring for. Staff have not had the opportunity to reflect on the training that they have undertaken online, nor has the registered manager had the time to question their understanding of the training. This hinders staff’s ability to understand and manage risks. Consequently, staff do not have the relevant understanding to ensure that they are able to safely meet the needs of the young people. For example, a team leader was observed to allow a young person to use her personal mobile phone, and another staff member referred to the young people as ‘little buggers’. A senior manager commented, ‘There are issues with inexperienced and inconsistent staff at the home, which negatively impacts upon behaviour management and the professionalism of the home.’

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

All the staff team has now had supervision sessions and each member’s annual appraisal is planned. Staff’s resilience and commitment to the children is commendable. The morale of the staff team is much improved as all feel listened to and valued by senior managers. The registered manager has a clear vision of the changes necessary to improve the care and outcomes for the young people. She has implemented robust procedures to ensure that only young people who will be suitable matches for the current resident group are admitted. One social worker said, ‘Staff (and particularly manager and deputy) have demonstrated a significant level of insight, patience and commitment.’

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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: SC483846 7

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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, Middlesex W6 9RU

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Inspector

Elaine Clare, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC483846 8 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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