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Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 1 SC457501 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

This children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who require support with their emotional and/or behavioural care needs. It is operated by a national provider of children’s homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is not yet registered with Ofsted but their application has been submitted.

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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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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: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/05/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/11/2018 Full Good 17/10/2017 Full Outstanding 08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 3

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improvement to be good

The home is currently being refurbished. The dining room and kitchen are well decorated and feel homely. One child’s bedroom is beautifully decorated, with personal photos and artwork on the walls. Other areas of the home need redecoration. The garden is overgrown and requires maintenance.

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improvement to be good

Children’s rooms are not always clean and welcoming. One child’s bedroom was stale and untidy, despite them being away from the home. When the inspector highlighted this, staff cleaned the room immediately. However, staff told the inspector that they usually wait for the child to return home before tidying.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide a range of educational provision but none of the children are attending or engaging regularly. One child has passed some GCSEs, despite not engaging with their tutor since May 2021. One child refuses to attend school or work with a tutor. Staff engage the children in home learning but children are not reaching their academic potential.

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improvement to be good

Children have unhealthy diets. One child eats predominantly take-away food, despite staff offering home-cooked meals. A clinical psychologist gives advice to staff to help promote healthy eating. However, staff are not consistent in their approach and children continue to make unhealthy choices.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not establish good routines within the home. During the inspection, staff knocked on the children’s bedroom doors at 9am but they did not get out of bed until after midday. Poor sleep hygiene means that children struggle to do activities during the day or attend school.

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improvement to be good

Children have made positive progress in some areas since moving to the home. One child manages their emotions better and incidents of physical aggression have reduced. One child has lived in the home for a long time despite lots of moves previously. Another child has reduced their criminal activity. Children build positive, trusting relationships with staff, which helps them to feel safe and share their emotions in a healthy way. Staff genuinely care about the children and want them to do well.

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improvement to be good

Staff keep children safe in the home. They know what to do if a child is at risk of harm. Leaders and managers learn from safeguarding incidents and make changes to procedures to ensure that events are not repeated. Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 4 Staff are well trained in de-escalation techniques. They build respectful relationships with children and, as a result, restraint is only used when a child is at risk of harm. It is positive that staff have not used restraint since the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff seek advice and guidance from a clinical psychologist to learn how to help children manage their emotions and behaviours. This forms part of the children’s plans and risk assessments. Staff add incidents to children’s plans, but these are not always evaluated. This means that staff do not have access to the most up-to-date information.

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improvement to be good

Staff administer medication safely. Leaders and managers investigate mistakes effectively and give staff appropriate retraining. During the inspection, staff demonstrated the administration of medication correctly. However, medication plans are not up to date. An appropriate dose of medication was given to a child, but this was different to the dose in their plan. This did not have a detrimental impact on the child.

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improvement to be good

Missing-from-home incidents have reduced significantly since the last inspection. However, one child has spent only 17 nights in the home during the last three months. Staff follow a clear plan to keep in touch with the child when they are in the community, but the care staff give is limited by the child’s absence.

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good

Leaders and managers advocate for children in the home. They ensure that their voice is heard and their views are considered. The manager invites children to team meetings and values their participation. This ensures that children take part in developing the home and making improvements.

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good

Leaders and managers fail to challenge other agencies robustly when children’s plans no longer meet their needs. One child’s plan is not keeping them safe. The manager has raised this concern with the child’s social worker. However, they have not challenged the local authority robustly to review this plan in a timely manner.

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good

Children’s plans are not up to date and there is a lack of management oversight. The actions that staff take to safeguard children after a disclosure are not recorded or monitored by the manager. There is no check that staff have taken appropriate action.

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good

The home has recently had a change of management. Staff told the inspector that this transition has been challenging. However, staff were positive about the current manager and their approach. The home has a skilled and stable staff team that is dedicated to caring for the children. Staff work hard to give the children positive experiences. Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 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

Engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c)) 23 November 2021

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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

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

that the care is approved, and kept under review throughout its duration, by the placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that the care meets the child’s needs. (Regulation 6 (1)(b) (3)(a)(b)) 23 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. (Regulation 8 (1)) 23 November 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. 23 November 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(c)) 23 November 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)(c)) 23 November 2021

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Recommendation

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of the children, they will in most cases be homely, domestic environments. This specifically relates to ensuring that children’s bedrooms are clean and welcoming. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC457501 7

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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, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Nicola McClements

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Inspector

Penelope Kutz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457501 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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