Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Bolton

Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 1 Registered provider: The Cambian Group

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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 children’s home is one of a number of homes operated by a large private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 September 2018

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 1156098 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2017 Full Good 06/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 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 education standard, the registered provider must ensure that staff promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8(2)(a)(v)) 08/11/2018

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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 person to ensure that staff— assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child and 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(1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) 08/11/2018

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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. 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h)) 08/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home. The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37(2)(a)) 08/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards,’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their starting points due to the well-planned and consistent care that they receive from staff. Children like living in the home. One child said, ‘There is no better place than this.’ Most children attend school and are making good progress in their education. For some children, there has been a significant increase in their attendance at school since they have lived in the home. This is because staff provide a good routine and use individualised reward systems to encourage children’s school attendance. For example, one child is working towards the purchase of a computer game as a result of their good attendance at school. For children who are not attending school full time, there is lack of structure during the day. For one child, this was observed during the inspection, when he spent the day watching television during the times he was not engaged in education. This lack of

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

structure does not support children to establish a routine that will support their return to school. Staff excel at identifying children’s individual interests and encouraging them to engage in activities in the community. For example, one child attends a canoe club and has recently won an award for the canoer of the month. Children said that they liked staff joining in activities with them. Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. Each child has a detailed health plan in place and staff ensure that children attend health appointments. Staff ensure that children receive the support of a specialist health professional if necessary, such as support from the dietician or the child and adolescent mental health service. Not all staff, however, understood what actions they are to take to support children with managing lifelong health conditions. The manager recognised this during the inspection and was

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

taking steps to address this shortfall. Transitions into and out of the home are managed well. The manager considers the needs of all the children in the home when admitting children to the home. For example, one child who has recently moved into the home had the opportunity to meet the other children before he moved in. This helped to develop positive relationships in the home. Staff help children develop the skills that they will need for adulthood. They do this by ensuring that children are involved with tasks, such as cooking and cleaning in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 5 Children have good opportunities to express their views on all aspects of their care. Staff ensure that regular children’s meetings take place and that children are consulted on a one-to-one basis in key-work sessions. Children know how to complain and any complaints are handled appropriately. Consequently, children feel listened to by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s contact with family and people who are important with them, in line with children’s care plans. Staff facilitate and supervise contact when necessary. One child felt that the staff had really helped him with his family relationships.

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

Staff ensure that each child has an individual risk assessment in place, which identifies individual known risks. This includes written guidance about what actions staff should take to reduce any known risks. Not all staff, however, understood the actions identified in children’s plans to reduce the identified risks. This is particularly in respect of staff who do not always work in the home or have not been working in the home for a long time. Consequently, not all staff know the correct action to take to reduce the risk of harm to the children that they are looking after. Children in the home smoke in their bedrooms. There are no clear plans in place to reduce this risk. This does not ensure that children and staff working in the home are kept safe from harm. Children rarely go missing from this home. When children do go missing, staff are proactive in trying to find them and have followed the correct procedures to find them

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

and keep them safe. Return interviews are carried out after children have been missing. This gives children the opportunity to talk with someone independent from the home. There is a low level of restraint in the home. There have been some incidents of challenging behaviour since the last inspection, particularly between children in the home, but staff manage these situations well using de-escalation strategies. Staff have done some good work with children to promote better relationships in the home. Consequently, significant incidents in the home have reduced recently. Staff use a restorative approach to address negative behaviour displayed by children. This approach encourages children to reflect on any concerning or risky behaviours and take responsibility for their actions, while gaining an understanding of the impact of their behaviours on others. For example, children have been involved in repairs to the home

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

when they have caused damage. This promotes a sense of personal responsibility for children and their actions. Staff carry out regular health and safety checks to ensure that the environment is safe for children. However, there has been a delay in fire doors and the fire alarm being fixed, despite requests by the manager for this work to be completed. This work was completed during the inspection. However, in future, repairs associated with fire safety need to be addressed in a timely manner to ensure the safety of children and staff. Staff understand safeguarding processes and know what procedures they need to follow to keep children safe. Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 6

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

The registered manager has considerable experience and a number of relevant qualifications. She is supported by a competent deputy manager, who is also knowledgeable and committed to her role. Together, they are very child centred and support the staff team to ensure that children achieve positive outcomes. Staff like working in the home and feel well supported by the management team. Most staff have regular supervision; however, new, inexperienced bank staff are not supervised on a regular basis, despite working in the home regularly. This does not ensure that they have opportunity to reflect on their practices and improve their skills and knowledge base. Currently, only two members of the staff team are qualified in the required diploma in residential care. Although staff have been enrolled on the relevant qualification, there has been delay in this being completed. Furthermore, not all staff have received training

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

is areas specific to the needs of the children in the home, such as training in epilepsy. This does not ensure that all staff have skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the children that they care for. Managers do not ensure that rosters reflect the members of staff who are working in the home. There is not a clear record of who has worked or is working in the home. This is not safe practice for children or staff. The manager monitors progress by tracking the development of the service against improved outcomes and opportunities for positive change in the lives of children. This information is used to continually improve the services provided and actions are addressed immediately. The manager had not, however, identified shortfalls that were highlighted in this inspection, demonstrating some shortfalls in her monitoring in the home. The home has well-established networks and relationships with a range of agencies and

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

professionals who are involved in meeting the needs of children. Staff work with teachers, social workers and health professionals to ensure that children make progress. Feedback from professionals was positive. They all commented on the good communication systems in place.

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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: 1156098 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: 1156098 8

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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

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1156098 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 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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