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

Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 1 SC457180 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 children’s home provides care and accommodation for three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. There are currently three young people living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Young people were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

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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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/01/2019 Full Good 16/08/2017 Full Good 14/02/2017 Full Good 21/09/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that staff understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to overcome any such barriers. (Regulation 8 (2)(a)(iii)) 30/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour. (Regulation 11 (a)(b)) 15/05/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

that 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. (Regulation 12 (b)) 15/05/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to 15/05/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 4 meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(c)(d)(e))

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission then the staff should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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improvement to be good

Most staff know the young people well. There are clear, individualised plans in place that show a good understanding of the young people’s different needs and how to manage these. However, these plans and strategies are not always effective, and staff have not consistently followed them.

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improvement to be good

Young people are not consistently making good progress. For example, the current level of education does not meet the young people’s needs as not all young people are attending school. The staff know the barriers that are preventing the young people from attending education and they have attempted to address these. However, progress hasn’t been made since the last inspection and attendance at education has decreased.

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improvement to be good

Some staff support the young people in maintaining positive relationships with each other but there are numerous incidents, in relation to the young people arguing and being disrespectful to each other. These have not always been managed appropriately. This means that relationships between the young people are not always positive.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people in developing their independence skills, for example support with cooking and washing. However, this work is not well recorded and does not focus on key learning points for young people. This would enable young people to gain a clearer understanding of the skills that they need to develop to prepare for adult life.

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improvement to be good

There are mostly warm and close relationships between staff and young people. However, this is not consistent. Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 5 Young people are in good health and staff support them in attending appointments. This means that staff understand the young people’s health needs and ensure that they are met.

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improvement to be good

There are risk assessments and risk management plans in place for the young people. These contain information from social workers, police and independent agencies. Therefore, the staff know the risks and understand that an inter-agency approach is necessary to reduce risks. However, the risks are not reducing, and the young people are not becoming increasingly safe because they continue to go missing. This means that the current strategies are not working.

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improvement to be good

When young people go missing from the home staff know what to do: they follow the young people’s plans and contact the police. However, staffing levels have an impact on this plan and this has meant that young people have been left in risky situations.

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improvement to be good

The young people undergo return home interviews with an independent agency, so that they can talk to somebody from outside of the home. However, this information isn’t always shared, and staff don’t hear what the young people have to say. These are missed opportunities as this information could identify triggers that lead to the young people going missing. This information could be used to prevent further incidents.

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improvement to be good

Insufficient staffing levels have meant that young people have not been provided with one-to-one care, as outlined in their plans. Although this was identified in multi-agency meetings, staffing levels did not increase. This led to young people being left in vulnerable or risky situations. Staff are also concerned about their ability to safeguard the young people; this was a consistent theme in supervision.

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improvement to be good

Medication is managed well and stored safely.

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

There is no manager currently in post. The deputy manager has been acting as manager and there is a shortage of staff. A new manager is planned to start in May 2019 and it is reported that there are plans to recruit more staff. In the interim, this has affected the stability in the home.

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

Staff and young people confirmed the difficulties that the lack of staffing has had on the care being provided to young people. Staff have been required to work extra hours, and some staff from other homes within the organisation have also been used. Young people are not familiar with these staff. This prevents young people from building positive relationships with all staff working with them.

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

The acting manager knows the young people well and she is working to improve the Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 6 home, but better monitoring systems are needed so that she can monitor progress and identify the areas of improvement. For example, staff training is out of date and not all staff have received training to support the individual needs of all young people. Missing from home is at a high level, so training is needed in this area for staff to manage this well.

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

Supervision is provided to staff in line with the statement of purpose. External monitoring visits are completed in line with requirements and there is evidence that staff address the recommendations.

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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: SC457180 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Waterfront Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London, Middlesex W6 9RH

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Inspectors

Catherine Fargin, social care inspector Sarah Oldham, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457180 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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