Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 1 SC476236 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 home is owned by a private company. It is registered for four young people. The home provides care for young people aged 11 to 18 years old who have experienced adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was registered with Ofsted in August 2014, and is appropriately qualified and experienced for the role.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 September 2018

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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: 6 February 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Recent inspection history

Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2018 Full Good 24/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/10/2016 Full Good 15/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 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 meeting the quality standards the registered person must consider, or staff must consider, if a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation (12)(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(ii)) 12/10/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. 09/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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

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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

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)(a)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that enquiries into staff’s previous employment histories, including reasons for leaving relevant employment are fully recorded and inform employment decisions. (Regulation (32)(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 28/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 5

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improvement to be good

Young people enjoy positive and nurturing relationships with staff. Staff promote regular contact between young people and their close family and friends. Staff are mindful of the importance of this contact, as most young people live far from their family homes. Young people are making good progress considering their starting points. For example, one young person passed their maths and English exams and managed to get onto a business studies course in college. Another young person told the inspector, ‘Emotionally I have developed better coping strategies. I have found out who I am; when I came I thought I was the person written on my paperwork. I have discovered that I am a kind and caring person.’ Young people are learning and building good independent life skills, which will help them in fulfilling their aspirations and future careers as they transition into adult life.

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improvement to be good

Staff and the manager generally give young people individualised care, which means that their day-to-day needs are met. However, one young person has not had an up-to- date pathway plan in place for five months. Although the manager took some action to raise this with the placing authority this was not done promptly or sufficiently to be effective. This has left the young person feeling anxious and uncertain about what their care plan entails, particularly in respect of their education, future placement and plans for their transition into independent living.

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improvement to be good

Young people have access to key-worker sessions and young people’s meetings. These sessions give young people opportunities to express their wishes and feelings. Staff and the manager generally take note of young people’s wishes and feelings, and act upon them. However, when one young person requested that their bedroom was redecorated, the staff and the manager did not action this request for six months. The young person told the inspector, ‘I am switching off the main lights in my bedroom as I don’t feel comfortable in the bedroom. I just leave my little light on when I am watching telly. I feel like I cannot relax in the bedroom, the colour on the wall is too dark and I find it overwhelming.’ The registered manager did act on this during the inspection and arranged for the room to be redecorated without further delay. More positively, the rest of the house is, in general, well decorated and provides young people with relaxing and

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of young people’s strengths and vulnerabilities and in most cases can keep young people safe. When safeguarding incidents occur, staff follow the safeguarding policies and procedures that are in place. However, staff did not review Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 6 one young person’s activity risk assessments to show that they fully understood the impact of the young person’s past risks, and the links of going missing from the home. Staff supported the young person to travel to a bigger city where all the pull factors were known for this young person. This was despite the young person being back in placement for less than a month after being missing from home for a fortnight. Staff had the knowledge that the second young person they took for the same activity had also attempted to go missing two months previously with a different young person from the home. This information escalated the risks associated with taking the two young people

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improvement to be good

to a busy city and the potential for them to go missing together. However, there was no consideration in the activity risk assessment of the timing of this activity and the need for a stabilisation period for the young person who had just returned from a significant period of being missing from the home. This activity gave two vulnerable young people an opportunity to go missing and they remained missing for 11 days during the inspection period. This potentially placed the two young people at risk of harm, considering the young people’s known risk-taking behaviours. Staff did not consider what messages they were sending to the other young people in placement in relation to decisions they made about the timing of this activity. One young person told the inspector, ‘I think the other young person got a lot back too quickly and now I feels that if I go missing I will be rewarded with a trip.’

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improvement to be good

Staff do not update young people’s risk assessments when safeguarding incidents occur. For example, when one young person consumed alcohol, this information was not updated in their risk assessment. This means that staff do not always have up-to-date information on all young people’s presenting risks and the actions to take to enable them to safely care for young people.

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improvement to be good

The recruitment of most staff is safe. However, there was a lack of clear recording about enquiries into a member of staff’s employment history.

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improvement to be good

Staff and the manager have dealt with complaints from young people appropriately. The use of restraints at the home is rare and, on the occasions when it is used, it is done only to safeguard young people.

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

The manager’s monitoring and reviewing processes do not allow for effective monitoring of the quality of care. For example, errors were not picked up during an audit of the administration and recording of medication and the manager did not ensure that a young person’s risk assessment was updated with all known risks, despite stating in a safeguarding notification to Ofsted that this was going to be completed. Furthermore, the manager did not adequately escalate the lack of an up-to-date pathway plan for one young person, despite prompts and repeated recommendations in the independent visitor’s reports. This means that shortfalls in practice are not promptly addressed to improve practice and subsequently the quality of care given to young people.

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

The manager and staff did not action recommendations from the home’s fire risk Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 7 assessment within given timescales. This can place young people at risk. However, during the inspection, the manager and staff actioned all outstanding tasks.

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

The manager works well with partner agencies such as designated officers, local authorities, health services, police and parents. Partner agencies report that the manager keeps them updated on young people’s progress and day-to-day care. Staff feel supported by the manager and state that the quality and level of supervision are good.

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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: SC476236 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

Rumbi Mangoma: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476236 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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