Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Norfolk

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 1 SC456330 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 privately run home offers care for up to four children who may have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma that has left them vulnerable.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left in September 2021.

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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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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 21 January 2021 to carry out an assurance 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

Date of last inspection: 30 October 2019

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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 for children’s home: SC456330 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/10/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/05/2019 Full Good 29/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/05/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children currently live at the home and enjoy doing so. Staff build trusting and nurturing relationships with children. This helps children to make progress in different areas of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have excellent attendance at school or college. Staff prioritise children’s education and have built good links with education professionals. When children have been involved in incidents at school, staff have worked with school staff and children to find ways to overcome these. One child’s long-term education plan has been unclear for some time. The manager has appropriately challenged education professionals to seek clarity for the child. Good support for children’s education has helped children to be successful in this area of their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to become more independent. Children regularly help cook meals and enjoy doing so. One child has started travelling independently to their education setting after staff showed them how to use public transport. The support that staff give children to learn new skills improves the children’s confidence and helps to prepare them for when they are living more independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to build and maintain relationships that are important to them. Children have had significant increases in the amount of time that they have been able to spend with their family members. Staff have advocated for children to help this to happen safely.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use incentives as well as positive and negative consequences to help promote positive behaviour for children. Children respond well to incentives, and staff’s recognition of positive behaviours helps children to feel pride in their achievements. However, records of negative consequences do not include children’s views or an evaluation of the effectiveness of the consequence. Poor monitoring of consequences means that not enough consideration is being given to how appropriate they are for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child moved to the home earlier in 2021. Managers undertook significant planning in advance of the move. However, the impact assessment did not include all known risks for the child and was not clear about how all of the child’s needs would be met. Soon after the child moved to the home, managers identified that they were unable to meet all their needs. This resulted in the child moving on. Managers have subsequently undertaken a thorough piece of work to learn lessons from this situation and identified areas for improvement. However, poor planning led to the child moving on in an unplanned manner and other children experiencing instability at their home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 4

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of risks to children. There are clear assessments for children which provide a thorough overview of risks and behaviours and include strategies for staff to help reduce risk and manage behaviour effectively.

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

Some children have a history of self-harming behaviour. When self-harming incidents have occurred, staff have supported children well and appropriate follow-up work has taken place. Incidents of self-harm have significantly reduced for children, with no incidents occurring for several months. Good support for children in relation to their emotional well-being has helped provide them with alternative strategies to manage how they are feeling.

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

Staff work effectively with external professionals to help manage risks to children. The manager has been proactive in making referrals for one child for specialist support in relation to appropriate and safe relationships. Staff have also worked with the child in this area, using key-work sessions to discuss what can be challenging subjects. This has helped increase the child’s understanding.

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

There have been some allegations made against staff. Managers have taken effective and timely action in relation to these. The manager works alongside external professionals to ensure that all allegations are appropriately investigated. When practice issues or learning for staff are identified, clear action is taken. Good responses to allegations help keep children safe and this demonstrates to them that any concerns in relation to their care are appropriately acted on.

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

There have been a high number of incidents that involve staff using physical interventions. These are used appropriately to keep children and others safe and there has been a decrease in their use over time. However, some records lack detail on other techniques used to avoid the use of physical intervention, and children have not always been spoken to following such incidents. Records of debriefs with staff are not available for some incidents and manager’s reviews are inconsistent in quality. Shortfalls in the recording of and follow-up to incidents of physical intervention mean that their use is not always monitored effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When the registered manager left, the home’s deputy manager took over as manager. The new manager has submitted her application for registration to Ofsted. She is well respected by staff and has a good understanding of children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported. They said that managers are approachable and available to them. Staff receive regular supervision which includes discussion on the needs of the children and how these are met. Good support for staff helps to ensure that they are well equipped to meet the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have built good relationships with external professionals. Social workers and education professionals said that the manager is approachable and open to Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 5 challenge. When professionals have raised concerns, managers have worked closely with them to resolve these appropriately. Likewise, the manager has challenged external professionals when needed. When the manager felt that one child’s placing authority was not providing the service that the child needed, she raised this in a professional manner. This led to a professionals’ meeting taking place to discuss concerns and a further assessment of the child’s needs being undertaken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has some systems in place to support monitoring of the home. However, monitoring of day-to-day incidents, physical interventions and consequences is inconsistent, with some records not including the manager’s reviews, and others with reviews that have failed to consider any learning that could be taken from the incident. Poor monitoring means that opportunities to develop practice are not always being taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The internal quality of care review was not submitted to Ofsted within required timescales and it did not include consultation with children’s families and external professionals. The delay in submitting the review limits Ofsted’s capacity to monitor the home effectively, and the lack of consultation reduces the manager’s ability to review the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that impact assessments consider all risks for children and outline how the needs of children moving to the home will be met. 22 November

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

In particular, ensure effective oversight of behavioural incidents, incidents of physical intervention and consequences given to children. 13 December

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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— 13 December Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 7 details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

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”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 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)(v)(b)(i)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that records of restraint include details of any steps that staff took to avoid the restraint, and that debriefs are completed with staff and children after incidents.

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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

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 5 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)(vii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that records of consequences given to children include details of the effectiveness of the consequence and the child’s views on it. 13 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (5)) 31 January 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 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 for children’s home: SC456330 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: Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Joe Cox, Social Care Inspector Laraine Edmondson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456330 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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