Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Halton

Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 1 SC456729 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

The home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted in January 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean that the young people‟s welfare is not promoted and the care and experiences of the young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 28/06/2017 Full Good 09/02/2017 Full Good 27/10/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 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 registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c)) 08/05/2019

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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 that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

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 experience of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(a)(f)) In particular, ensure that there is a named person, who spends time at the home, in the absence of a registered manager, so that there is good management oversight. 08/05/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 4 In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, 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. (Regulation 5 (c)) 08/05/2019

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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 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the safer area report is used in conjunction with a young person‟s impact risk assessment to ensure that the area is safe for them. 08/05/2019

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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 that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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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 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)(a)(b)(2)(d)(e)) 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‟s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 08/05/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 5 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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child‟s education and training targets, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

Further to this, ensure that a good routine and structure are maintained in the home for encouraging young people to be ready for their school day. In addition to this, ensure that there is an educational timetable in the home. 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationship 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.

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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

communicate to each child expectations about the child‟s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (1)(b)(2)(a)(v)) 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; 08/05/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 6 children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the young people‟s health plans clearly identify specific health needs and the action the home has taken to address these. 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 (1)(2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that young people only have access to console games that are within their age-rating certification. 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationship 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.

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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

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable. (Regulation 11 (1)(2)(a)(xii)) 08/05/2019

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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 any care that is arranged or provided for a child satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3). 08/05/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 7 The conditions are—

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Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(d)(3)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff receive mandatory training in accordance with the home‟s statement of purpose. Further to this, ensure that staff receive training to give them the skills to work consistently with the young people and to respond effectively to the young people‟s emotional health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not making sustained progress. This is because the home is not led or managed effectively. Consequently, there are no clear boundaries, structure or routines in place to support the needs of the young people or allow the young people to build positive relationships with staff and engage in everyday life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not making measurable progress in their education and learning. All young people are assigned to an alternative education provision. However, young people refuse to attend education. Records in the home demonstrate that young people spend large periods of time throughout the school day in their bedrooms. There is no education timetable in the home for staff to follow to promote opportunities for each young person to learn. Young people do not benefit from structures or daily routines through constructive activities that encourage and support them to re-engage with their learning. This affects young people‟s opportunities to reach their full educational potential and subsequent later-life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The health and well-being needs of the young people are not met. Staff do not ensure that young people receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. Staff have not completed direct work with young people to help them understand the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and understand the effect that events in their lives can have on their emotional well-being. Furthermore, the manager has not consulted with external health professionals to access additional health services for young people or ensured that the staff team has the skills and knowledge to safely support the emotional well-being of young people. In particular, the staff have not received training on dealing with bereavement and self-harmful behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There have been several changes to the staff working in the home. Staff and young people confirmed the difficulties that the lack of staffing has had on the care being provided to young people. Staff from other homes within the organisation have also been used to cover the staff vacancies, as have numerous bank staff. Young people are Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 8 not always familiar with these staff. This prevents young people from building positive relationships with all staff working with them

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

Young people have told staff and professionals that they are „bored‟ at this home. One young person told a professional that she goes missing from the home because she „wants to have fun‟. Despite this known information, staff have not discussed these views with young people or supported them to understand the risks they face when they go missing from care. In conjunction with this, the staff have failed to engage the young people in education or activities. Therefore, the young people have frequently been missing from the home.

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

Safeguarding professionals said that the home follows procedures, in reporting the young people missing, or to inform them of incidents as they occur. However, one professional said that she felt that „the young people were out of the staff‟s control‟.

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

Behaviour management is poor. Young people do not have a good structure to their day and staff do not consistently apply the boundaries. In the young people‟s meetings, one young person has asked on three occasions „why the rules keep changing‟. There has not been a response from the manager to the young person. This does not demonstrate that young people are listened to.

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

In January 2019, the manager identified that the staff team members were not consistent in their approach with young people. Staff were not adhering to the boundaries and routines in place. This was having a negative effect on young people and behaviours were not consistently managed or supported. The manager requested behaviour management training from the company. However, no training was identified. Therefore, the staff‟s knowledge and skills have not been refreshed to ensure that they are able to deliver good care. Similarly, team meetings do not show that the staff have had the opportunity to discuss practice and how this is implemented. As a result, young people do not know or understand the expectations around their behaviour.

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

There have been incidents of bullying in the home. One young person informed the manager that, on occasions, they have been the victim of bullying. Staff have received extra training in identifying and dealing with bullying incidents, but there has been no direct work undertaken with the young people. Therefore, the young people are unaware of how their behaviour may affect others.

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

Staff are not vigilant in ensuring that young people do not have access to, or play, computer games that are not age appropriate. Records show that one young person remains in his room, throughout the evening, playing these games. Staff have failed to remove them or talk to the young person about potential or known risks. Research shows that prolonged exposure and access to inappropriate material can cause a young person to experience feelings of isolation, can interfere with their view and perspective of the world and affect their emotional and social well-being. Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 9

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, there have been several changes to the management structure in the home, including changes to the registered managers and the responsible individuals. As the home did not have a registered manager, the provider devised interim management arrangements; however, these were not followed. Consequently, numerous managers and senior managers have then held responsibility for the home. Staff reported that this had led to confusion, as each manager had their own way of doing things and each new manager provided different advice to the staff team on how to manage behaviours and support the young people. In addition, the numerous changes of managers mean that management oversight in the home is poor.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff have received formal supervision. Prior to the deputy manager being off work ill she had not received supervision since December 2018. The supervision sessions that had taken place were of a variable quality. Records did not demonstrate that practice had been discussed, or areas of improvement. This fails to support staff in their learning and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Reviews, strategy meetings and placement meetings are held regularly. Pathway plans and assessments about the young people‟s emotional health have been requested from the local authority. However, the manager has not challenged the local authority, or health professionals, when information is not received or required assessments progressed. For example, an oppositional deficit disorder assessment was requested for one young person in June 2018. This was revisited in October 2018 but has not been progressed. This does not ensure that young people receive the services that they need or that the home has the essential paperwork to support young people to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Two requirements issued at the last inspection are repeated; not all records are signed and dated by the author and the safer area report has not been updated to identify all known risks in the community.

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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: SC456729 10 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: SC456729 11

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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 W6 9RU

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Inspector

Pam Nuckley, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC456729 12 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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