Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Durham

Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 1 SC456602 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 is owned and managed by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to three children and/or young people who may have emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since 10 May 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers carried out under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) on 17 March 2020. We returned to routine SCCIF inspections on 12 April 2021.

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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

Date of last inspection: 4 February 2020

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/02/2020 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/07/2019 Full Good 26/02/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 3

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improvement to be good

Children do not always experience consistent care planning. Staff are not helped to understand how they should support one child to have safe, planned family time as the child’s care plan does not include these arrangements. Staff do not use significant information to understand what may trigger the child to go into crisis, or how they can effectively support the child.

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improvement to be good

Staff help the children to understand how to raise a concern and the children feel confident to make complaints. However, the manager does not consistently record all of the outcomes of the children’s complaints. In addition, the children are not consulted as to whether they are satisfied with how their complaint has been processed. This practice fails to follow the company’s complaints policy.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy a wide range of activities and have new experiences, which allows them the opportunity to develop new hobbies and interests.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage the children to make a positive contribution towards the home. Children develop independent living skills by taking part in age-appropriate tasks.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the children to make healthy choices and to understand the importance of good health. Staff provide the children with health information so that the children can refer to this either with support or without if they prefer privacy.

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improvement to be good

Children have good attendance at school. They attend ready to learn and make good educational progression. Staff update school professionals with any relevant information so that there is a shared approach to understanding the issues the children may face.

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improvement to be good

Staff sometimes prevent the children from accessing the kitchen area. Staff lock this area to help them manage the children’s behaviour. This poor practice creates an institutional atmosphere for the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff impose sanctions to help the children to understand that there are consequences for their actions. However, sanctions are not always recorded. The manager’s oversight of sanctions that are recorded fails to scrutinise whether this practice is effective or whether children are treated fairly.

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improvement to be good

Children usually experience long periods of living in this home, which is good progress for some of the children. There has been a reduction of crisis incidents for Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 4 some of the children, which demonstrates that the children are helped to become safer.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the children to develop self-soothing strategies to help them to learn how to manage their emotions. Children identify staff as people that they can turn to for support. One child said, ‘The staff are just amazing, you can trust them to help you.’

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are current, which helps the staff to understand the actions they should take to help keep the children safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff use key-working sessions to help the children to understand and tolerate the measures in place to help the children to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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good

The manager involves the children in decision-making when updating the home so that children can see that their input is valued. The manager has improved the physical appearance of some areas of the home since the last inspection, while other areas are either damaged or require improvement. Consequently, the requirement that was reissued at the last visit is again reissued.

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good

Recruitment follows safer-caring guidelines, which provide assurances that the adults are suitably vetted prior to looking after the children. However, there is an inconsistent approach in recording the verification of references. This has not had a negative impact on the children, but may hinder the manager’s ability to oversee the necessary recruitment checks.

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good

The manager’s processes in place to monitor the care that the children receive are not always effective, such as when scrutinising sanctions and processing complaints. This limits the opportunity to raise the standard of care that the children receive.

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good

There is sometimes a significant delay in notifying Ofsted of serious incidents, and some are not notified at all. This means that Ofsted is unable to scrutinise information to ensure that the provider has taken suitable action to keep children safe. This leaves children vulnerable to the risk of harm.

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good

Supervision and staff meetings are used to help the staff to reflect on their practice. The manager recognises when staff have demonstrated good practice and helps his team to learn from each other. When he identifies shortfalls, he puts measures in place to address these issues in order to help improve the care that the children receive. Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 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 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

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)) 20 December

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)) 12 November Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 6 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

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 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. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 12 November

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")— 12 November Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 7 has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within five days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 12 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 12 November

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Recommendation

 The registered manager should ensure that the recruitment, supervision and performance management of the staff safeguards the children and minimises the potential risks to them. This specifically relates to ensuring that there is a consistent approach to recording verification of references. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1) Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 8

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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: SC456602 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Caretech Estates Limited, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Paula Kelly, Social Care Inspector Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC456602 10 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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