Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Nottingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 1 SC457500 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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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 cares for six children and young people who have mild to moderate learning disabilities. The manager has been registered since 2015. She is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 December 2019

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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 provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/08/2018 Full Good 21/08/2017 Full Good 04/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 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 premises used for the purposes of the home are designed furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to their health.

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to the attic. 18/01/2020

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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

Ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to staff training. 18/01/2020

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that 18/01/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 4 Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to the attic. The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected.

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Requirement Due date

This is in relation to the storage of archived information pertaining to staff and young people. 18/01/2020

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Recommendations

 Ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff, including the manager. The records should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  Ensure that there are systems in place so that all 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 assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a warm and nurturing environment. Young people are cared for by staff who they like and respect. There are very positive relationships between young people and staff. Young people are confident about talking to staff regarding their problems and worries. One young person said that staff have helped to improve relationships within their family, and that they deal with their emotions better due to the staff’s support. Young people feel that staff genuinely care about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people and staff spend quality time together. They come together to share mealtimes, which are important social occasions. The building is very homely. Young people’s bedrooms are personalised with their own special items.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager very carefully considers the suitability of each new admission to ensure that their needs can be met alongside those of the existing residents. If young Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 5 people go through periods of challenging behaviour, the manager finds creative ways to support them. Care plans are flexible and are amended in line with young people’s changing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people leave the home to move into adult services, they are as prepared as they can be. A self-contained flat attached to the main building allows young people to experience what it is like to live independently. Young people reported that they often do their own washing, cooking, and cleaning as they become more independent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The high staff ratio allows staff to provide a lot of activities for young people. This is a strength of the home. Young people have school or college placements and staff work hard with education providers to make sure that young people get the most out of their placements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people spend time with their allocated key workers. Key workers find creative ways to deliver important information to young people. For example, one young person recently learned about safety symbols through a specially designed bingo game. Another key-worker session used a quiz to teach a young person about healthy relationships. Young people are highly engaged in these sessions. This means that they receive the help that they need to make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and staff advocate well for young people. They have recently worked well with teachers to resolve a bullying issue at school. They have also been working with a young person and their family to improve their relationships. However, in another instance relating to a previous placement, a matter has not been fully addressed, leaving the child confused.

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

Young people are safe in this placement. If concerns are raised about safeguarding matters, the manager consistently follows child protection procedures. Young people are protected through this approach.

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

Respectful relationships between staff and young people promote safety. Young people talk to staff about a range of issues, such as personal safety, health and safety and healthy relationships. The close relationships allow for young people to learn about how to protect themselves.

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

Measures are put in place to prevent young people from going missing. On the rare occasions that young people do go missing from the home, staff look for them, follow procedures and always make sure that the relevant people are informed. Young people feel able to speak to staff about where they have been and why they ran away. This means that lessons can be learned to further protect young people.

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

The number of physical interventions has recently increased, particularly in relation to one newly admitted young person. However, this is not a reflection of poor practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 6 Each intervention protects the young person and is proportionate to the potential risk. Restraints are well recorded, and the views of young people are always taken into account.

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

Staff are trained in most aspects of safeguarding, but the additional vulnerabilities of disabled children who are living in residential care have not been fully explored in training. In addition, staff have not all completed training in how young people could be groomed to be criminally exploited. The young people are particularly vulnerable to this and other forms of exploitation because of their learning disabilities.

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

The mandatory training programme for staff needs to be enhanced to make sure that each young person’s needs are fully understood. For example, one young person is having a lot of behavioural incidents and staff do not know enough about their attachment and sensory issues. Most incidents are managed well, and the staff are learning as they go along, but a greater understanding would promote young people’s progress.

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

Leaders have not recognised some shortfalls in health and safety arrangements. For example, the attic door has been left unlocked, so young people would have been able to access this area. The area, which staff use for archiving paper records, is not included in the fire risk assessment. Nor is there a general risk assessment about the safety of the attic, which is in a poor state of repair. At the time of the inspection, there was a loose banister, loose floorboards, holes in the walls and deep cracks in the ceiling. This has not impacted on staff or young people, but has the potential to do so if not put right.

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

It has been noted that some information about previous young people and staff is not stored correctly. Previous staff member’s personnel records have been available for all to see, as have some records pertaining to young people who have previously lived at the home.

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

Formal meetings between managers and individual staff do not take place as regularly as they should do, and are not always recorded. Staff were clear, however, that they feel supported. They can raise their issues and concerns freely. The staff are not completely cohesive in their approach to young people, and some do not appreciate the need for consistency. The manager is aware of this and is working towards improvement.

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

The one previous requirement about the manager monitoring young people’s progress has been met. The two previous recommendations have also been met: there are improvements in recording and managers now make sure that young people have a proper return interview when they have been missing.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 7 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: SC457500 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Caroline Brailsford: social care inspector Sarah Orriss: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457500 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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