Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Manchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 1 SC064666 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 part of a large private organisation. It provides care for up to two young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was approved by Ofsted in April 2019. The manager is also registered to manage another of the organisation’s homes.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/06/2017 Full Good 07/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 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 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

In particular, review the arrangements for young people spending long periods of unstructured time in the community, and ensure that staff do all they can to assure themselves that they know where young people are and what they are doing. 31/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that 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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(d)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, provide enough suitably trained and experienced staff (including bank and agency staff) to meet the assessed needs of all children in placement. 31/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should agree with their local police force, procedures and guidance on police involvement with the home to reduce unnecessary police involvement in managing behaviour and criminalisation of behaviours. Children should not be charged with offences resulting from behaviour within a children’s home that would not similarly lead to police involvement if it occurred in a family home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40)  When a child returns home after being missing from care or away from home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for children to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child’s day to day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3). Specifically, the registered person should provide written guidance which details the home’s approach to the use and storage of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and related equipment by young people on the premises.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people with complex social and emotional needs make good progress. Staff are persistent in their efforts to build relationships with young people, which makes young people feel valued and instils a sense of security and belonging. A social worker told the inspector, ‘They work in partnership with my young person. They have delivered what they offered and much more.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are being supported towards independence in a way which recognises their individual needs. Each young person’s readiness to make the transition to independence is assessed in relation to their individual circumstances. While age is taken into consideration, it is not the main factor which drives decision-making. Young people can move forward at their pace. This increases the likelihood of positive outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people who live a considerable distance from their families and friends are actively supported to develop and maintain positive relationships. Staff travel with young people to promote and maintain this family time. They support young people during and after time with their families to ensure that they are safe, and their experiences are Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 5 positive. This time with family and other important people promotes young people’s understanding of their history and identity. It provides the foundations for the strengthening of these relationships into adulthood. As a result, young people are more likely to sustain positive relationships with others, which will help them when they have achieved independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to engage with education, with some success. Staff work hard to identify alternative options for young people. They challenge education providers who are not making a positive contribution to each young person’s progress. Young people are actively encouraged to take responsibility for their choices in respect of education, training and employment decisions post 16. This means that young people are supported to understand the importance of these decisions for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are cared for in an environment where physical intervention is only used in exceptional circumstances. There has only been one incident of physical intervention since the last inspection. The positive relationships that young people have with staff are used to provide them with constructive ways to resolve problems without resort to aggression or confrontation. This gives young people the skills and experience for managing conflict, as they move towards adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Young people are helped to stay safe, and there are positive relationships between the home, the placing local authorities and the young people’s families. This regular communication means that strengths and risks are identified more quickly. Young people are therefore supported to take risks which are appropriate to their individual circumstances. Social workers and families told the inspector that the level and quality of communication are good and help them to respond to the needs of each young person.

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improvement to be good

There are isolated incidents when risk management plans are not consistently implemented by staff. For example, one young people is sometimes left for prolonged periods in the community with no staff oversight or access to a mobile phone. While it may be assessed as appropriate for the individual to be away from the home for several hours, this needs to be effectively monitored to ensure that these events can be undertaken safely. Appropriate management and oversight of young people in the community were a requirement at the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

Young people who go missing from care receive a good response from the home. There are clear assessments in place to respond to missing from care incidents, and these are overseen by the manager and the senior staff team. Young people are not receiving timely, independent return home interviews arranged by their local authorities. This lack of provision has not been robustly challenged by the home.

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improvement to be good

There are ongoing incidents of cannabis and alcohol misuse in the home. Young people are also smoking cigarettes and using e-cigarettes. Some work has been completed with young people and staff to educate and inform them about drug and alcohol misuse. The Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 6 home has a no-smoking policy in place. Despite this, young people are smoking in their bedrooms and have smoking equipment in their possession. This is known to staff but it is not challenged. The current response from the home to the misuse of substances is not effective.

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improvement to be good

Both young people have consented to room searches. These are undertaken infrequently. When they do take place, they are for appropriate reasons. These are usually related to concerns regarding the misuse of drugs or alcohol. Searches are recorded, and the circumstances evaluated by the management team.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one safeguarding allegation has been made by a young person in relation to the behaviour of a member of staff. The home followed safeguarding procedures. Information was shared in a timely manner with the placing local authority, the designated officer and the police. The safety and well-being of the young person were kept at the centre of decision-making. The manager also ensured that the staff member was well supported while investigations were undertaken in line with protocols.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager was registered by Ofsted for this home in April 2019. Since the last inspection, the registered manager has reduced his management responsibility from three to two homes following an organisational restructure. This increases his capacity to provide sufficient management oversight of this setting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a significant turnover of staff since the last inspection. The adverse impact of this is reduced by the return, during this period, of two of these staff members. They now hold the posts of deputy manager and team leader. They are both experienced senior residential care workers who make a positive contribution to the strength and effectiveness of the management team. The home has a diverse staff team in respect of gender, ethnicity and age. This provides young people with adult role models from different backgrounds and life experiences, which enriches their care experience.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The majority of staff have the skills, knowledge and experience to undertake their role successfully. Less experienced permanent staff are supported through the organisation’s induction programme and ongoing in-house training to gain these skills in a supportive environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are still some incidents when bank and agency staff are employed who do not have the skills to manage the behaviours of the young people and to work to the home’s statement of purpose. Some shifts are also led by less experienced staff who do not have supervisory experience. This has led to an increase in incidents with young people that may have been avoided if permanent, experienced staff were available to manage these situations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the community in which the home is situated and the strengths and risks associated with this. There is a comprehensive locality risk Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 7 assessment in place. This is regularly reviewed and is informed by good information sharing with the local community policing team. The working relationship between the home and the community police is generally good. There have been occasions when police have been asked to respond to incidents which may have been more appropriately dealt with by the home. Internal incident management would help to strengthen staff skills and experience in this area and also ensure that young people are not at risk of being unnecessarily criminalised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has established monitoring systems in place to review the progress of all aspects of the home. He regularly reviews the progress of young people against the aims of their care plan and placement plan. Performance monitoring takes into account feedback from the independent person’s visits, in addition to information from young people, families and other professionals. Staff meetings are used well, to disseminate information and gain the views of staff in relation to the progress of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision in line with the organisation’s policy, in addition to annual appraisals. The supervision of staff is divided between the manager, deputy and team leader. Supervision is comprehensive and clearly recorded. Staff are offered ‘single subject’ supervision if a particular issue needs more detailed focus and discussion. This allows for a more reflective view of a subject, and staff said that this is helpful to them. Managers use supervision to provide both support and challenge to staff and to debrief following incidents with young people. This gives staff the opportunity to discuss ways in which practice can be improved to support better experiences for young people.

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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: SC064666 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 W6 9RU

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Inspector

Dawn Parton, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064666 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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