Children's Home run by Cambridgeshire County Council in Cambridgeshire

Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 1 Registered provider: Cambridgeshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides short breaks for up to eight children with diagnosed learning difficulties and/or complex health needs. The home can also offer one longer-term placement to a child.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2020, at the time that the home registered.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this home on 25 January 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on our website.

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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 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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This is the first full inspection since the home registered in September 2020. The home primarily provides a short-break service for disabled children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the local authority has identified and prioritised the children and families who are in greatest need of short breaks. As a result, the number of children able to enjoy short breaks has reduced in capacity. This arrangement is under constant review, with a roadmap to full capacity currently being considered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have good experiences during their stays. Children receive individualised support that enhances their opportunities. The staff are committed to the children’s positive experiences and well-being, and establish strong relationships with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff assess the children’s needs and plan each child’s first stay thoroughly. The manager ensures that the children having a short break are well matched with each other and with the staff’s skills and experience. Effective group-dynamic assessments are completed. Consequently, children benefit from warm introductions and settle quickly into established routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children begin to make some progress from their starting points. Staff support children to meet their individual goals through a range of adapted techniques and participation in household activities. The effective implementation of support results in children developing their communication and independent living skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from sociable mealtimes, and menus that are appetising and carefully planned. The cook takes meticulous care with meals so as to consider children’s preferences and diverse needs. The children’s individual choices are catered for unobtrusively and effectively. As a result, children who find it difficult to expand their food preferences make notable progress in doing so.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious. Children benefit from a well-resourced sensory room. However, several areas of the home require redecoration. Paint is peeling from all door frames. Skirting boards and walls are dirty and worn. Damage sustained during a flood has resulted in a hole in the conservatory area which is yet to be repaired. Bare rooms do not provide a cosy and inviting environment for children. One child, who lives at the home, has a hoist mechanism in their bedroom, despite the child not requiring this aid. These shortfalls significantly detract from a welcoming and nurturing environment.

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

The staff support the children with their social interactions through high supervision levels. Staff understand the importance of consistent routines. They implement clear Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 3 individualised risk assessments. Consequently, children are safer and benefit from positive experiences during their stays.

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

The staff work closely with healthcare professionals to address the children’s complex needs. Behaviour management plans are regularly reviewed in line with incidents. There is an emphasis on proactive de-escalation strategies. These approaches help to minimise the impact of challenges, and support effective behavioural change over time.

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

Staff have received suitable training in safeguarding children with disabilities. They are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and demonstrate effective knowledge of the additional vulnerabilities of the children. This provides assurance that the staff know how to act if they have concerns about children’s welfare.

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

When physical interventions have been necessary, they are proportionate and subject to oversight from the manager. However, on three occasions when the manager has been involved in the restraint, the supporting records have not been reviewed by an independent member of staff. This fails to provide a suitably objective analysis and compromises the learning opportunities that could be gained from these incidents.

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

Fire prevention equipment is in place and the staff ensure that the children know how to safely evacuate the house. However, a delay in arranging a suitable fire risk assessment has meant that the findings were not shared in a timely way. As a result, actions that were identified as a priority have not been carried out. These failures increase the potential risk to children and staff in the event of a fire.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and well qualified. The management and staff teams are child focused and demonstrate strong commitment to providing good-quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff value their personal development discussions in supervision meetings. The regular staff meetings ensure that effective communication and good support are embedded. Staff said that they feel well supported. This range of guidance provides the staff with suitable time for reflection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s views are important to the operation of the service. The manager ensures that regular children’s meetings take place using the children’s preferred communication systems. Children are involved in procedures for the selection and recruitment of staff. This inclusion helps the children to feel valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monitoring visits by an independent person provide a sufficient level of scrutiny to enhance staff practice. The internal quality of care review is equally objective. However, the overall quality of managerial monitoring systems is not consistently effective. There are inaccuracies in policies and procedures, and some children’s plans name a previous organisation. There is an absence of accurate Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 4 oversight of the training matrix and there are delays in the review of children’s progress goals. This lack of oversight undermines the opportunity for the manager to maintain continuous improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team seeks permission from children’s placing authorities and parents for the use of live-feed video monitors in bedrooms. However, currently, there is no policy for the review of their use. The lack of clear procedures means that the manager cannot ensure that the use of these video monitors is continuously proportionate and justified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The initial communication about the reduced capacity for children accessing short breaks was effective, and many parents valued the support provided. However, the service has not always communicated well with parents and children who continue to be rated as high priority when their stays have been moved at short notice. This has, on occasion, led to confusion and distress for the children who rely on consistent routines. Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 5

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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 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 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. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, maintain good decoration standards in main living areas, bathrooms and bedrooms, and ensure that damage to the home is repaired promptly. 3 September 2021

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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— 9 July 2021 Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 10 June 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should seek to involve the placing authority that places a looked-after child in the home, which in practice means working primarily with their statutory social worker. Not all children in homes are looked after – for these children too, a close working relationship is essential with those with parental responsibility for them, usually their parents or other carers. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.5)  The registered person should ensure that there is a written policy on closed- circuit television (CCTV) or other monitoring equipment, describing how this will support the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working at the home in accordance with regulation 24. In particular, ensure that a policy and system are in place to enable the review of the use of CCTV monitoring in children’s bedrooms. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’,

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Recommendations

page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. In particular, ensure that a senior member of the management team who has not been involved in the restraint reviews the records of incidents of physical interventions. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: 2605508 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambridgeshire County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shire Hall, Castle Street, Cambridge CB3 0AP

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Graham Puckering

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Inspector

Mark Anderton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2605508 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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