Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 1 SC456719 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 organisation. It is registered to provide care for six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and who are unable to live at home. There is no registered manager.

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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 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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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 2

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judgement

12/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 31/07/2018 Full Good 09/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 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 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; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d)(e)) 14/07/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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. (Regulation 13(a)(b)(2)(a)) This is in relation to the poor state of the exterior of the building. 14/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the registered person reviews the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (Regulation 46(1)) 14/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 4

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. If a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff should seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the Virtual School Head, SENCO learning mentor or teacher. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.11)

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improvement to be good

The home has been through a period of significant change. A number of young people have left the home since the last inspection and new children have been admitted. Several staff have left the home and there have also been changes in management. It has been difficult for young people to form positive relationships with their caregivers due to these changes. A member of staff relayed that a young person said that she does not trust in staff because she is afraid that they might leave. However, staff do make the effort to build relationships. Young people already feel more confident and positive about the newly appointed staff. One young person’s education has drifted at a time when they should be preparing for their important end of year exams. The young person has moved placements and their education has been disrupted. The approach to this situation from staff and managers is not aspirational enough, given the young person’s situation. Staff were unclear about

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improvement to be good

what type of exams the young person had planned and there were no formal plans in place for revision and preparation. One young person has secured an apprenticeship. There was a lack of preparatory discussion with the placing authority about the appropriateness of this work placement, prior to the young person’s interview. Their risk assessment is not clear about whether they should be involved in this type of work. More clarity is needed moving forward for this young person. The inside of the building presents as homely and young people are clearly proud of this, particularly their bedrooms. However, the exterior of the building is not welcoming and some areas are unsightly. Rendering is falling off the adjacent property. The outhouses have rotten window frames, with paint peeling off. The main building also has marks to the rendering and the window frames are in a poor state of repair, with peeling paint.

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improvement to be good

Overall, the exterior presents as dirty. The side entrance doorway is marked and stained. The garden is overgrown in some areas and there are areas which are not well kept. This does not create a good impression for young people or visitors. Young people have had some positive experiences and they speak positively about the home. One young person has been on holiday. Another young person said that their admission to the home was good and they had settled in quickly. One young person Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 5 expressed pride in their very significant progress and attendance in education. They reported that they enjoyed school, which is very positive given their starting point. Young people’s wishes, feelings and views are seen as very important by staff and managers. Young people feel able to discuss their concerns and there is always a good response to their complaints.

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

Staff protect young people well. Their work in this area is significantly improved since the last inspection. Young people are safe and feel safe. Young people are well supervised by staff, in line with their risk assessments. Staff act as any good parent would. Many staff are inexperienced, but they seek advice appropriately from more experienced staff on duty, and from their duty manager. This supports good-quality safeguarding decisions. Young people learn about how to stay safe when they are on the internet. Good relationships with staff mean that young people listen when staff advise and teach them about how to protect themselves. There have been some recent high-quality discussions about the risk of child sexual exploitation. Young people have been able to explore issues so that they understand how to be safer. Behaviour management is good. Trusting relationships are being developed with the new

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

staff and existing staff lead on good behaviour management. There is negotiation and compromise, and this works for young people. There are still times when young people become very frustrated, but this is more about stability and consistency in the staff team rather than poor behaviour management practice. Staff are trained in safeguarding young people. Their training includes issues which are particular to individual young people. Concerns were identified about peer-on-peer harm at the last inspection. The previous requirement about making sure that staff receive training in this area has not yet been met. However, this has not had an impact on young people.

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

Leadership is not stable. There has been an acting manager in place since the previous registered manager left in February 2019, but he will be leaving soon and was only temporary. Another acting manager is planned to manage the home until the permanent manager can start their employment. There is a lot of change for staff and young people to cope with. Some requirements made at the last inspection are met, but there is still work to be done. There are not enough staff to fulfil the home’s statement of purpose. There are seven vacant staff posts. While the recruitment of new staff is needed, this will create yet more change and instability for young people in the near future. The acting manager is making good decisions about staff competence on shifts and makes sure that there is always a more experienced member of staff on duty. However, some staff have never worked in a children’s home before and have come to the home with no relevant

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 6 qualifications. One young person reported that they really liked the new staff but said: ‘This house needs a stronger staff team.’ There has been an occasion when a new and inexperienced member of staff planned to take a very vulnerable young person to London on her own for the day. This did not happen due to last-minute changes, but the fact that this was agreed reflects the lack of experienced staff to provide care according to the home’s statement of purpose. Despite the impact of changes to staff and management, the home has started to improve after its declined effectiveness judgement in March 2019. In particular, there has been a drive to make sure that young people are well matched to each other. The home is not being managed at capacity. The organisation has committed to making sure that the required changes identified at the last inspection are fully addressed before

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

admitting any more young people. The location of the home has been a concern in the past, in regard to criminal activity and substance misuse. The location risk assessment does not assess all areas of the home fully. The acting manager has not walked around the garden to assess areas of risk and was unfamiliar with some areas of the garden. The inspector found that a back gate to an area of wasteland was not locked as it should have been. There was a staff smoking area in the garden which neither the acting manager nor responsible individual were aware of. This area looked very unsightly with cigarette ends and packets littering the floor. The acting manager responded to these environmental issues during the inspection, but had not assessed areas of risk prior to the Ofsted inspection. Training has been a priority and all staff have completed their induction and mandatory training. Staff know the basics of how to care for young people and adhere to the

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

home’s policies and procedures. Three of the four requirements made at the last inspection have been met. There has been a drive to make sure that young people are safe. Leaders understand well the impact that the home is having on young people and monitoring has improved. The requirement about sufficiency and competence of staff has not been met and is repeated. The previous recommendation about medication administration is met. There are safer arrangements for the administration and monitoring of medicines at the home.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 7 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: SC456719 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: 4th Floor, Waterfront, Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RU

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Inspector:

Caroline Brailsford, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456719 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:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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