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

Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 1 SC389649 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 three young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was approved by Ofsted in August 2017. 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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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/06/2018 Full Good 06/06/2017 Full Good 01/11/2016 Full Good 02/08/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 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 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 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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)) 30/08/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should understand what they must do to prevent bullying of children by other children or adults. Staff should be able to recognise and address different types of abuse such as peer abuse, cyber-bullying and bullying in day-to-day relationships in the home. Registered persons must ensure that procedures for dealing with allegations of bullying are in place and staff have the skills required to intervene, protect and address bullying behaviours effectively. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 39, paragraph 8.16)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for leading a team which provides high quality care for all children living in the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the home’s statement of purpose. They should also play a key role in shaping the ethos in the home through developing a culture of high aspiration for children which is demonstrated through the care, resources and opportunities offered to children. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 4 page 52, paragraph 10.4). In particular, staff should have the resources, skills and knowledge to deliver high-quality care to young people.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children in their care. A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is delivered in line with regulation. It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 13.2 to 13.4)

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Recommendations

 The design of the home should provide staff that sleep at the home overnight with appropriate accommodation and facilities to do so. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.26)

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely and nurturing environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislation; however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). In particular, the interior of the home should be personalised; the decor and furnishing of young people’s bedrooms should be maintained to a high standard; communal spaces should have adequate lighting levels and the front and back gardens of the property should be well maintained.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s overall progress and experience have been limited by the number of short-term placements there have been at the home. The home has been unable to meet the needs of these young people and unable to provide a significant positive contribution to their care, and a number of these placements have started and ended in an unplanned manner.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, no young people have visited the home prior to their admission. This includes planned placements and young people moving from other homes within the organisation. A number of young people have moved on from the home without adequate preparation. Young people have not been supported to contribute to and understand the decisions being made about their care. The home has not made a positive contribution to help young people understand their life story, and Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 5 young people’s wishes and views have not been taken into consideration.

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improvement to be good

For those young people who have remained in placement for a longer period of time, there is some limited evidence of progress. Young people are attending education, although levels of engagement vary. One young person attends a dance class during term time and has been entered into an exam. A social worker told inspectors that the home has been the most settled placement that this particular young person has experienced.

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improvement to be good

Some young people have been involved in high levels of criminal activity, anti-social behaviour, and prolonged and repeated episodes of being missing from care. This has impacted on the stability of the home and the progress of young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people have experienced a number of changes of staff within the home. Staff have been redeployed to other homes within the organisation or have left at short notice. This limits the opportunities for young people to build trusting and secure relationships with the adults who are caring for them. The impact of these changes has been reduced to some extent through the regular use of a small number of ‘bank’ staff who are known to young people.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s records show a large number of individual key-work sessions with staff. The majority of these are unplanned and undertaken in response to incidents. Many of these records are brief conversations between young people and staff. They lack focus and substance. As a result, young people’s needs, as identified in their care plans, are not suitably addressed.

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improvement to be good

Interactions between young people have not always been positive. Some young people have bullied others and engaged in negative alliances. Sexualised behaviours have been demonstrated by some young people. Work to address these behaviours is limited and has not helped young people to understand the impact of their behaviour on others. Staff, including the registered manager, have not always responded appropriately, which has left young people at risk of experiencing further harmful behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Young people are not always receiving adequate levels of staff supervision within the home, in line with the home’s statement of purpose and the levels of assessed risk. On one occasion, a lack of appropriate supervision at night time resulted in a burn injury to one young person, and there was a delay in them receiving medical treatment. As a result of lack of supervision, young people are sometimes left vulnerable and their safety is compromised.

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improvement to be good

Young people are rarely restrained. Staff use de-escalation techniques to manage behaviour. In the few incidents when young people have been restrained, it has been proportionate to the risk they posed to themselves and others. Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 6 Young people who go missing from care experience a good response from staff, alongside the placing local authority and the police. Staff make active attempts to find young people. They have a good knowledge of their potential whereabouts and their associates. Concerns about individual young people are escalated with other professionals when necessary. The registered manager attends multi-agency strategy meetings to share information and formulate an agreed action plan. This good partnership working reduces risks for young people should they go missing from home.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are in place for each young person and these are regularly updated. These assessments do not always provide practical measures for staff and young people to follow to prevent or reduce risk. As a result of this, they lack effectiveness in changing behaviours and supporting young people to make progress against their individual objectives.

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improvement to be good

The home has regular contact with local police officers and takes police information into account when assessing risks to young people in the locality. Since the last inspection, there has been a high number of police call-outs to the home to manage the behaviours of young people. Police have expressed their concerns about this. Senior managers within the organisation have put review mechanisms in place to reduce unnecessary involvement of the police. This promotes staff taking responsibility for the behaviours of young people in the home. It also reduces the likelihood of young people being inappropriately criminalised.

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

The manager of the home has been registered with Ofsted since June 2017. He also manages another of the organisation’s homes. The manager is supported by a deputy who is new in post and new to the role. The deputy manager has been promoted internally from the post of team leader. There are currently two team leader vacancies. This means that there is a reduction in the capacity of the leadership team. The organisation is actively recruiting to try and fill these vacancies.

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

It was a requirement of the last inspection that the manager had an annual appraisal. Although initially delayed, this has now been completed. For the manager to undertake his role effectively, he needs to receive appraisals and supervision within the timescales set out in the organisation’s policies.

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

Staff report that they receive regular supervision. Not all supervision records are available in staff files. Records that are available show that while staff are being supervised, this is not effective in supporting them to undertake their role. The primary focus of supervision is to address the perceived problems within the staffing team. Supervision meetings are not focused on the young people’s needs and development, and they do not provide staff with a forum to reflect on their practice. Staff are not receiving professional support and challenge from managers in supervision that help them to understand and promote the needs of young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 7 The registered manager has identified, and is addressing, problems within the culture of the staff team. Alongside supervision, team meetings are being used as a way to change the functioning of the team and to promote a more positive and cohesive attitude within

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

the home. Although this process has started, it will need time to embed and to show that it can be sustained.

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

The overall presentation of the home is poor. Communal rooms lack soft furnishings, photographs, or ornaments. The stair carpet has been burned, and areas of the home are dark because there is no natural light. The home gives the impression of being uncared for, unhomely and unwelcoming. The garden is unkempt and is therefore not used as an outdoor space by young people.

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

The current design of the home does not provide staff who sleep-in overnight with appropriate facilities to do so. This does not promote a positive environment for staff to work in and has a potentially negative impact on staff morale and staff retention.

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

The registered manager is, on the whole, proactive in notifying significant events in relation to young people and staff to the relevant agencies. He has engaged, alongside his manager, to address concerns raised about the home with local residents, the police and the local authority. As a result of these consultations, he is better informed about the improvements which need to be made in relation to 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 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: SC389649 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 9RH

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Inspectors

Dawn Parton, social care inspector Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC389649 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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