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

Inspection report children's home: SC457181 1 SC457181 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns this home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child or young person who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The child who had been living at the home was spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has not been a registered manager at the home since January 2021.

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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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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

Date of last inspection: 4 September 2019

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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: SC457181 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/09/2019 Full Good 26/02/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/05/2018 Full Good 22/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC457181 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, there were no young people living at the home. One young person had recently moved on to semi-independence. This was a well- planned and successful move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person experienced a good standard of care from staff who knew them well and understood their needs. The manager and staff are excellent advocates for the young people in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Care planning is good. For example, the young person’s pathway plan was personalised to their specific needs and all areas of essential independence skills were thoroughly addressed. The staff ensured that the young person was well prepared for their future and suitably equipped with the knowledge and skills to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from developing positive relationships with the staff. This is reflected in the young person’s comments, ‘All staff are sound. They helped me to get where I am today.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Additionally, direct work with young people is meaningful and purposeful. The staff help them to reflect, understand and learn from their past experiences. For example, the staff supported the young person to understand the importance of promoting their sexual and emotional health. As a result, the young person makes safer choices and their overall health and well-being has improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff help young people to overcome barriers to their education. They advocate and persevere to ensure that young people are provided with the provision that meets their needs. Strong partnership working with the social worker, colleges and virtual school improved the young person’s educational outcomes. An education officer from the virtual school said, ‘I have nothing but praise for the home. The young person has absolutely turned his life around. He is now thriving academically in a college placement organised by the staff at the home. The staff are the biggest advocates for him. He has moved to independence armed with an excellent attachment and experiences from the staff.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff understand the importance of family relationships for young people. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff supported the young person to get back in touch with a relative who they had not seen for a long time. As a result, the young person has been able to build secure attachments with their family members. Inspection report children's home: SC457181 4

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

The staff are alert to risk and take effective action to keep young people safe. They provide young people with nurturing care and stability. This helps them to settle and build trusting relationships with the staff.

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

Young people’s welfare and safety increases from their starting points. For example, incidents of going missing from home significantly reduced for the young person who lived at the home. This was down to staff rigorously following missing-from- home procedures and undertaking meaningful direct-work sessions to teach the young person about risk and how to keep themselves safe.

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

The staff focus on positive behaviour and young people thrive on praise and rewards. Additionally, staff support young people to think about their feelings, behaviour and consequences. As a result, the young person was supported to develop safer ways to manage difficult emotions, such as anger.

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

Safeguarding incidents are well documented. This enables the manager to maintain good oversight of risk and staff’s safeguarding practice. Incidents are reported promptly to all relevant professionals, which enhances independent scrutiny and enables a swift investigation into the concerns.

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

The staff demonstrated good knowledge and understanding of the young person’s risks and the protective strategies in place. However, the written risk assessments were variable and at times provided inconsistent information. This is a recording issue that reflects weaknesses in the manager’s monitoring of the paperwork.

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

Physical restraint has not been used in this home for some time. The staff only use physical intervention when it is necessary to keep young people or others safe. This demonstrates the staff’s skills and ability to defuse potentially unsafe behaviour successfully.

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

Shortfalls in recruitment practice are potentially undermining young people’s welfare and safety. For example, a full employment history and verification of reasons for leaving previous employment had not been obtained for a member of staff working at the home.

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good

The registered manager resigned in January 2021. However, she remained at the home as the deputy manager. The acting manager who took over in January 2021 is no longer working at the home. The deputy has resumed the manager’s role and intends to submit her application to register with Ofsted.

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good

The responsible individual is absent from post. She did not ensure that the managers were provided with sufficient oversight, professional supervision and Inspection report children's home: SC457181 5 support, despite them being new to the role and responsible for two homes. This has contributed to the inconsistent and unstable management of the home.

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good

Additionally, poor leadership decisions have weakened the stability of the staff team. For example, some staff have been redeployed to work in other homes, which undermined staff consistency.

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good

Despite this, the deputy manager ensured that the young person was provided with a good standard of care and protection. This is demonstrated in their continued progress and successful move to semi-independence.

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good

Partnership working with relevant professionals is a key strength of the manager and staff team. An independent reviewing officer said, ‘The communication from the home has always been good and they have always kept me informed of necessary events. They have always contributed fully to review meetings and ensured any actions are undertaken.’

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good

The provider acknowledges the identified shortfalls and is taking action to make the necessary improvements. This includes putting new admissions to the home on hold until the manager and the staff team are stable and established. Inspection report children's home: SC457181 6

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(h)) 9 July 2021

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Requirement Due date

satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5)(a) to (c); and

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience, and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(d)) 9 July 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC457181 7 This is specifically in relation to obtaining a full employment history, verifying reasons for leaving previous employment and maintaining clear records of DBS checks.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that the home’s manager receives professional supervision and performance review in line with the company’s policy and procedures. 9 July 2021

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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: SC457181 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: Cambian Childcare Limited, 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Marina Tully, Social Care Inspector Rachel Springford, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC457181 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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