Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Halton

Inspection report children's home: SC457175 1 SC457175 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 home provides care for one child who may have emotional and social difficulties. It is part of a large national provider of children’s homes.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 24 February 2020.

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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 setting on 18 February 2021 to carry out a monitoring visit. The report is published on the Ofsted 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: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC457175 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2020 Interim Declined in effectiveness 18/09/2019 Full Good 06/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 22/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC457175 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living at the home is happy and has a strong sense of belonging. He receives high-quality care that has brought him stability and is making a difference to his life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are helping the child to make progress in his emotional well-being, education, self-esteem, social skills and independence. The child said that staff, ‘have helped me change my mindset. Before coming here, I didn’t care about education or what happened to me, but I do now. I can now see the point of doing well.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have the skills and confidence to communicate and engage with the child positively. As a result, the child enjoys warm and trusting relationships with them. The child said that staff ‘listen to me and have always treated me like a person from the start. They are genuine and I know that they care about me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff make sure that the child gets the support he needs to express his views, wishes and feelings about his care and life. The child is involved in every aspect of his care, including how his home is decorated and the selection of new staff coming to support him.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff make sure that the child understands his rights and entitlements. The child knows what to do if he is unhappy or wishes to complain. He has several adults independent of the home he can talk to if he has concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have encouraged and supported the child to return to education and improve his outcomes significantly. The child’s attendance is excellent. He is motivated to learn and do well. He achieved the GCSEs that he needed to go to college. The child said that the positive energy from staff really helped his mental health when he returned to school. Staff worked together very effectively with teachers to make sure that they understood the best way to help the child when he felt frustrated in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support the child’s ambitions for his future. The child said, ‘Staff helped me explore what I really wanted to do was working with children in care.’ Staff helped the child to build the skills, knowledge and confidence to become the children’s champion for the organisation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are working with the child, his social worker and personal adviser to plan and prepare him, emotionally and practically, for leaving care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand and monitor the child’s health and emotional well-being. They encourage and support the child to have a healthy lifestyle, including eating nutritious food and being physically active. Staff make sure that the child gets the advice, support and treatment that he needs to be healthy. Inspection report children's home: SC457175 4 The child has every opportunity to take part in fun and meaningful activities and see his friends. Staff support the child to try new experiences, including going to London for his birthday. Staff support the child to build and sustain positive friendships. His friends often spend time with him at the home and in the local area.

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

The child has a strong sense of safety and well-being. Staff’s safeguarding practice means that the child is protected from harm. Since coming to live at the home, the child has becoming significantly safer. He makes positive choices to stay away from negative influences. He has not gone missing from home or misused substances. Previous risks to the child from exploitation and aggression are managed safely.

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

Staff are not complacent and understand the child’s vulnerabilities and risks. They know what they must do when they are concerned about the child’s safety at home or out in the community.

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

Staff actively assess potential risks to the child. They follow up-to-date plans to keep him safe. Staff take reasonable precautions, based on the child’s needs, age and understanding, to support him to take risks as part of his development. This includes looking after his own medication, taking part in leisure activities and spending time with his friends independently.

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

The manager and staff have created a safe and positive environment that helps the child to be emotionally secure and to thrive. They are able to build constructive and warm relationships with the child. They help the child to make sense of the world around him and to develop understanding and empathy towards other people.

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

Staff understand the impact of the child’s previous experiences on his development and relationships. Staff have the expertise to help the child to understand and manage his feelings.

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

The child and staff benefit from the support and advice of a mental health practitioner. The child is developing a better understanding of his feelings. He recognises when he is starting to struggle to cope and finds things that help him manage the situation safely, including giving himself time and space or listening to music. Staff understand the child’s coping strategies and know what they need to do to help him.

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

The recruitment of staff is not always thorough and does not minimise potential risks to children. The information in application forms is not always considered carefully to identify, and follow up, any potential concerns about the person’s fitness to work with children. The organisation does not always verify references from the person’s previous employers and confirm the reasons for the person having left the employment. Inspection report children's home: SC457175 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager are an effective leadership team. They place the welfare of the child at the centre of everything they and the staff do. Everyone is ambitious for the child to be happy and to be able to reach his full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has made the necessary improvements to deal with the shortfalls found at the monitoring visit about listening to the child and considering his views, providing continuity of care for the child, making sure that children’s records are kept up to date, and working in partnership with the child’s placing authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staffing arrangements provide the child with a high level of care and continuity. He is always supported by staff who know him well and understand his needs and plans. However, the staff rotas do not show the actual hours worked at the home by the staff and manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child’s plans continue to be followed and reviewed regularly. Staff have strong relationships with partner agencies. They work together effectively to identify and meet the child’s needs consistently, including helping him with his education, mental health and preparing him for his future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The child’s records provide a detailed picture of his views, experiences, achievements and progress. Staff help him to reflect on the progress he is making and understand his experiences. However, the child’s views are not recorded in his monthly reports. It would be helpful for the child to see his progress and what needs to happen next. In addition, the child’s records are not always signed and dated by the person who has written them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager uses monitoring and review systems to have a detailed understanding of the effect that the quality of care is having on the child’s progress and experiences. The manager uses this understanding to inform practice and find new and better ways to support the child. The manager uses the views of the child and the people in his life to help her understand what is working well and what needs to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers make sure that staff are well supported and have the right skills and knowledge and training to meet the child’s assessed needs. They use monthly team meetings effectively to reflect on the child’s progress and as opportunities for training and sharing skills and good practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

However, staff do not always get the opportunity in their one-to-one supervision meetings to reflect critically on their work with the child or discuss how their learning and training is improving the quality of their practice. Inspection report children's home: SC457175 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, the 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 31 October 2021

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 October 2021 Inspection report children's home: SC457175 7 Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the rota showing an accurate record of the actual hours worked by staff and the registered manager. 31 October 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that supervision allows staff to reflect critically on their work with children and learning from training to identify and share good practice and areas for improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should make sure that staff encourage the child to reflect on their experiences and progress, and include the child’s views in their monthly progress report. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.6)

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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: SC457175 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, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC457175 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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