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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 1 SC456532 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 operated by a large private company. The home is registered to provide care for up to two children who have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has a suitably qualified and experienced manager who has been registered with Ofsted since October 2012.

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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 12 March 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

Date of last inspection: 18 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/02/2020 Full Good 04/07/2018 Full Outstanding 29/08/2017 Full Good 01/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, children have moved on from the home and currently there are no children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff liaise well with schools to track children’s progress. Staff support children’s education when they are not in school. Staff advocate for children in returning to full-time education and minimise any delays. They also help children to prepare for their adult lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a broad range of activities in and around the home. This promotes adventure and new skills. One child learned how to knit and made his grandad a scarf. A member of staff stated: ‘I really enjoyed going for long walks on the moors with the children. They liked to talk more about their emotions when they were in the open air.’ This promotes children’s health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide care which supports children’s personalised needs. They go with children to places of worship and provide them with relevant resources. Children’s diets are fully considered, and staff encourage them to prepare meals. This promotes children’s independence and builds their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff complete regular key-work sessions with children. This helps children to reflect on their behaviours and actions. It also helps children to learn about different cultures and to talk openly in a safe environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children complete scrapbooks while living in the home. This includes photos of their overall experience and comments from children and staff. This contributes to their history and life-story work and enables them to reflect back on their achievements.

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

Risk management plans provide strategies for staff to follow. They use de-escalation techniques to help children to manage their behaviour. This ensures that physical interventions are rarely required.

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

Children have access to all areas of the home. However, the use of external door alarms intrudes on their privacy. This is not balanced against the needs of children.

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

Safeguarding incidents are well managed. The registered manager promotes a positive safeguarding culture which helps to protect children. Staff work closely with statutory agencies to promote multi-agency working. However, there was a significant delay in reporting one incident to the regulator. This affected the regulator’s oversight of the incident. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 4 Children have clear missing-from-home risk management strategies. This helps to reduce the likelihood of children going missing and the length of time of each episode. Staff challenge local authorities when an independent return home interview is not offered. As a result, there are fewer missing-from-home episodes.

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

Staff use restorative sanctions with children. This helps children to understand the consequences of their behaviour on themselves and others. In one example, a child apologised to a neighbour for causing a nuisance. This was well received by the neighbour and created better links to the community for the child.

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

Staff support children to stay safe online. They have a range of strategies to protect children from online harms through their devices. Staff also raise children’s awareness of risks through key-work sessions. This includes child exploitation and radicalisation, for example.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is well managed by an experienced and qualified manager. She has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. She has made many improvements in recent months to ensure that the home is ready for suitable referrals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is not trained in relation to children’s specific disorders. This affects their ability to respond appropriately to children’s behaviours. This means that children’s needs are not always fully understood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers attend regular monthly supervision. They focus on children’s needs and progress. Supervision also helps staff to feel supported. This enables them to provide good-quality care. One member of staff said, ‘I feel massively supported in my role.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers conduct appraisals with staff on an annual basis. Staff reflect on their work and set targets for the year ahead. However, appraisals do not include the views of children or key individuals. This limits their effectiveness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager assesses the needs of children as part of a pre-admission plan. However, she needs to consider children’s specific disorders and whether staff have the right skills. While staff receive generalised training in behaviour management, this is not specific. This limits the effectiveness of support for some children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager provides a regular quality of care review. The children’s views and feedback are not directly captured in this report. This affects the analysis and evaluation of the quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers promote multi-agency work. They have strong links with many local providers. This promotes children’s education, health, and emotional and Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 5 social well-being. Staff chase up and escalate concerns if responses are not satisfactory. This helps children to access their support without drift and delay. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 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 privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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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)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the current use of external door alarms in the home as a general policy. This does not relate to specific concerns or risks regarding the children. 18 April 2022

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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

ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

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Requirement Due date

relates to the child’s development (within the meaning of section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and 18 April 2022 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 7 is not arranged or provided as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006(1),

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Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

that the care is delivered by a person who—

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Requirement Due date

has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(d)(i)(ii) (3)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that staff are fully trained in respect of the needs of children with specific disorders.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they can fully meet their needs. Particular consideration is required in relation to children with specific disorders. Staff should have the relevant knowledge and skills prior to a child being placed in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered provider should ensure that Ofsted is notified of any incidents

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Recommendations

without delay. This relates to incidents that are specified in regulation 40(4)(a)– (d). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered provider should ensure that the review of the quality of care includes feedback and opinions of children living in the home. It should also consider the opinions of parents, placing authorities and staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.2)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 8 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: SC456532 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, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456532 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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