Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Plymouth

Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 1 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 is operated by a private national company. It is registered to care for one child.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the first inspection of the home since it was registered in January 2019.

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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 inadequate

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the home’s first inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard 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 14/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 4 registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)(i)(ii)) 8: The education standard 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

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 to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x) and (b)) 14/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to 14/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 5 move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 27: Appointment of manager The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

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the name of the person so appointed; and

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the date on which the appointment takes effect.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) and (2)(a)(b)) 14/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

32: Fitness of workers For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 3 Diploma’); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b), (5)(a)(b) and (6)(a)(b)) 31/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 6 33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

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Requirement Due date

45: Review of quality of care The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their 14/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 7 parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 45 (1), (2)(a)(b)(c), (3), (4)(a)(b) and (5))

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improvement to be good

This children’s home has operated for six months. For most of this time, the home has not had a manager in day-to-day charge. Several different managers from within the company have been involved, but only in a limited capacity. This has been an unsuitable arrangement. In addition, there have been staff shortages. Staff from other homes within the company and external agency staff have been extensively used. These combined factors have led to children receiving care that has not been well coordinated or provided by adults who know them well.

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improvement to be good

During this time, two children have lived in the home. The first child left the home under difficult circumstances as it was soon realised that the staff team could not meet her needs or keep her safe. Although there had been an assessment of her needs, leaders and managers did not fully assess the possible impact of the child living in the community, as opposed to a secure setting. The staff team was new and mostly inexperienced in caring for a child with such complex needs. The situation was compounded by the registered manager being absent from work and subsequently resigning, which left the team without an effective and consistent leader. In addition, leaders and managers failed to secure meaningful education for the child during the nine weeks she lived there. Leaders and managers have reflected on the situation and have learned lessons for the future.

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improvement to be good

Following a short period of the home being unoccupied, a second child moved in. Despite being moved in a hurried and unplanned way, the current child is doing well in her new home. Core staff have successfully supported her to develop positive relationships with them and to complete her academic year at college. Her behaviour has improved, and she is not taking risks. This is felt to be a result of her being the only child and not having the influence of other children. Staff are helping her to make good decisions and to enjoy a wide range of activities.

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improvement to be good

Children do not receive consistently good help and protection. The lack of suitable and effective leadership and the use of several external staff members to support the core team have meant that children’s complex needs are not always responded to appropriately. Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 8 For example, the home has not worked effectively with children’s placing authorities, resulting in a lack of clarity about expectations and arrangements. This has meant that children who have been missing have not consistently been provided with an independent return home interview. Furthermore, there has been confusion about what free time a child can have. These shortfalls potentially place a child at risk of harm and do not help a child to become increasingly safe as a result of living in the children’s home.

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improvement to be good

Appropriate arrangements are in place to recruit suitable staff. However, not all staff files are held on the premises. For example, the file of one member of staff who has worked at the home for more than two months is still at their original place of work. Leaders and managers in this home have failed to satisfy themselves that appropriate checks have been carried out.

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improvement to be good

Staff receive appropriate training and understand what to do when a safeguarding concern occurs. Robust action is taken to protect children and to help them to develop a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have acted appropriately when concerns have arisen in respect of staff working in the home. They have liaised effectively with other professionals who have safeguarding responsibilities. Where appropriate, they have conducted internal investigations and followed disciplinary procedures.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This home has experienced chaotic and fragmented management arrangements since being registered in January 2019. The registered manager ceased being in day-to-day control of the home within four weeks of a child with highly complex needs being admitted. Since then, too many external managers have been involved. At times, this has led to ineffective communication and poor decision-making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The deputy manager also managed the home for a period of two months. For the first month, the home was unoccupied. This time was not used as an opportunity to prepare him to successfully undertake his new responsibilities. Furthermore, he was not fully involved in the decision to admit a child from another home in the company. The deputy made the decision that he did not feel equipped to manage the home, again leaving the home without a manager in day-to-day charge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Due to staff shortages, children have been cared for by many different staff. In addition to the core team of six staff members, seven staff from other homes and eight agency staff have worked at the home since it was registered in January 2019. Three members of the original team, including the registered manager, are no longer working in the home. Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 9 Of the current team, 50% have an appropriate qualification. One member of staff who has worked for the company for nearly 18 months has not started a level 3 diploma, which must be completed within two years of the start of his employment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervision has been inadequate. For example, staff on probation have not been regularly supervised, and the deputy did not have regular supervision during the time he was managing the home. Some supervision records are not filed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers failed to secure essential documentation from the child’s placing authority. While they repeatedly requested the information from the social worker, they were ineffective in escalating their request. Furthermore, leaders and managers did not acquire these records from their sister home, where the child had previously resided and to which the placing authority had originally provided these documents three months earlier. During this inspection, these records were sent over from the child’s previous home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s review of quality of care report is overdue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The physical environment of the home is comfortable and spacious. However, the external appearance from the front of the house does not present as a well-maintained family home. Attention is also needed internally to make it feel homelier, for example, by reviewing the type of locks on doors and ensuring that any damage to decor is fully repaired in a timely way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The company has arranged for a new interim manager to support the home. She has completed a detailed audit and has started to make improvements. A new permanent manager has been appointed and is due to start at the beginning of August. Senior leaders and managers have learned lessons from the previous six months and intend to ensure that the new manager receives a work-based induction and effective ongoing support.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 10 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: 2511289 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 9RH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicola McClements

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Inspector

Norma Welsby, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2511289 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 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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