Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Stockport

Assurance visit report: SC457506 1 SC457506

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately-run children’s home that provides care and accommodation for up to two children and/or young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2020 and is working towards her level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection date: 21 October 2019

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Information about this children’s home

Previous inspection judgement: Declined in effectiveness

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Information about this visit

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), Ofsted suspended all routine inspections in March 2020. As part of a phased return to routine inspection, we are undertaking assurance visits to children’s social care services that are inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

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Information about this visit

At these visits, inspectors evaluate the extent to which:

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Information about this visit

 children are well cared for  children are safe  leaders and managers are exercising strong leadership. This visit was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000, following the published guidance for assurance visits.

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Information about this visit

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s social care system has delivered child-centred practice and care within the context of the restrictions placed on society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assurance visit report: SC457506 2

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Findings from the visit

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance visit:

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Findings from the visit

 Risk assessments are of poor quality and fail to give clear guidance to staff on managing and reducing risks.  The manager fails to have effective oversight of the home. This has led to weaknesses in staff practice not being addressed and a lack of clear plans to prompt improvement.  Placements are ended without a clear rationale and without attempting to use other strategies. A child’s placement ended due to complaints from the neighbours.  Admission of children is not risk assessed or planned effectively, contributing to an escalation in negative behaviours.  The lack of a consistent core staff means that the children do not receive care and support from staff that know them, which has led to incidents.

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The care of children

There are serious and widespread concerns within several areas of practice relating to the care and support that children receive. This places children at serious risk of harm.

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The care of children

The matching process for children is ineffective. Children are placed without consideration of the dynamics of the home, including matching children to those who are already resident and the availability of a consistent staff team.

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The care of children

The registered manager does not put sufficient plans in place prior to children being moved into the home to meet their care needs. Poor planning led to an escalation in negative behaviours for both children at the time they moved into the home.

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The care of children

Children have not been supported to develop positive relationships with staff, as the staff team in the home is inconsistent. Staff from other homes often support children, which makes it difficult for them to share their worries and fears and leads to an increase in negative behaviours.

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The care of children

Staff lack an understanding of children’s emotional needs at times. For example, one child was told their behaviour was ‘childish’ despite the emotional distress they were going through. This means that children are not helped to recognise their emotions or how to express them in a more positive way.

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The care of children

Placements at the home have ended without a clear rationale for why the decision was made or identifying if the needs of the child were considered first. This is not a positive outcome for children. For example, the registered manager and staff Assurance visit report: SC457506 3 acknowledged that one child moved on due to complaints by the neighbours as opposed to the home not being able to meet the child’s needs.

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The care of children

Children are supported to engage in education and overcome the barriers to learning that they face. This has led to children achieving GCSEs and re-engaging in education, despite the restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19.

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The safety of children

Safeguarding practice in the home is not sufficiently robust and does not promote the safety and welfare of children. Managers and staff do not fully consider risks or learn from events that happen.

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The safety of children

Risk assessments are completed in different formats and do not contain sufficient details or actions for staff to take. This means that staff are not always provided with clear guidance on how to keep children safe.

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The safety of children

Children’s plans are not amended, or strategies developed to support children’s behaviours despite this being identified within the evaluation of incident reports. This means that the children’s behaviours continue to be poorly managed and there has been a continuation of incidents.

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The safety of children

The registered manager does not use her knowledge and understanding of the children to fully assess risks that they pose to themselves or others. For example, a child was transported with another child from a different children’s home without appropriate risk management strategies in place. This led to a significant incident in the car while it was travelling on the motorway and an assault on the other child. This escalation in behaviours posed a risk to children, staff and members of the public.

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The safety of children

The registered manager does not assess and match children’s needs effectively prior to their admission to the home. This means that their behaviours impact negatively on each other. These behaviours include children going missing from the home together, copying each other’s behaviours including self-injurious behaviours, causing disruption in the home during the night, and causing harm to each other.

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The safety of children

Children’s free access to areas within the home are routinely being restricted, without a clear rationale. The kitchen and lounge are locked at night to prevent children leaving via the back doors instead of working with the child to reduce negative behaviour. This does not help the children to progress or develop positive strategies.

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Leaders and managers

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2020.

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Leaders and managers

The manager oversees a second home, and this negatively affects the time she can spend in this setting. This means that the registered manager has limited oversight Assurance visit report: SC457506 4 of this home, and is unaware of a number of shortfalls in the home and concerns about staff practice. This includes incidents when staff have failed to follow behaviour management strategies for children which lead to an escalation in children’s negative behaviours .

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Leaders and managers

The home does not have a consistent stable group of staff to support children. A child commented on the continued changes of staff to the inspector and how this made her feel sad. The lack of permanent staff compromises children’s overall care experience.

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Leaders and managers

The manager does not ensure that all staff working at the home have the opportunity to read the children’s plans and risk assessments. On occasions, staff were unaware of how to locate this information. This places children at potential risk, as staff do not know how to respond to them or meet their needs.

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Leaders and managers

External monitoring systems have not been effective in identifying the shortfalls in documents or staff practice. This is partly due to them continuing to be off site and reliant on the manager to share information and documents. This does not help promote, change or improve the care that the children are receiving.

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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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 27/11/2020 Assurance visit report: SC457506 5 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies.

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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)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(b))

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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 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; 27/11/2020 Assurance visit report: SC457506 6 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f) and (h))

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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

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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

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;

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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 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

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) and (c)) 27/11/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is necessary and proportionate; 01/12/2020 Assurance visit report: SC457506 7 is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii(iii))(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the kitchen and lounge should not be locked as part of routine and locks need to be removed from these doors.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Debra Boldy, Social Care Inspector Assurance visit report: SC457506 8 to 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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