Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Durham

Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 1 SC457573 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 privately owned and run. It provides care for up to three children. Two children were living in the home during the time of inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since 27 January 2021 and registered with Ofsted on 29 April 2021.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/12/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/10/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/04/2019 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 3

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inadequate

There are significant shortfalls in the safety and protection of children and the leadership and management of the home. The staff have failed to take effective action to safeguard children. These failures have left children at risk of harm.

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inadequate

There is persistent bullying between the children. One child has raised bullying as an issue, stating that they are scared, but nothing has been done. Therefore, children do not feel safe.

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inadequate

The staff have not addressed the health concerns of one child, despite these being raised by a health professional. The staff are not supporting children to lead healthy lifestyles. They do not advise children who regularly make unhealthy dietary choices, despite a significant weight gain for one child. The staff do not follow the guidance in the child’s health plan and have failed to record guidance from the home’s mental health practitioner. This means that staff do not know or understand how to help the child to make positive choices and improve their health. These failures have harmful consequences for children’s physical health and emotional well-being.

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inadequate

The children do not live in a pleasant environment. The staff do not encourage the children to take pride in the home. Parts of the home are worn and unkempt. The children’s bathroom has been unusable for over two months. Children have complained to the manager about this; however, the issue has not been resolved. This does not provide children with the facilities that they need or a homely environment.

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inadequate

The children are not in education, training or employment. One child’s placing authority was informed that an in-house tutor would provide education for the child. However, the child’s education is provided by staff, who are not appropriately qualified. Unqualified staff do not have a clear understanding of children’s educational needs and, as a result, children are not achieving their educational potential.

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inadequate

The staff meet with children each month. The records of these meetings are brief. The staff and the manager do not seek the children’s feedback or capture the children’s views about the day-to-day running of their home. This fails to empower children and give them a forum to express their feelings.

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inadequate

The children are not supported to spend time with the people who are important to them, despite this being part of their care plans. One parent said that they seldom received contact from the staff. One child was unaware that their friends could be invited to the home. The staff are not helping children to sustain important life-long relationships. This affects children’s emotional well-being. Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 4 The manager investigates complaints from children in a timely way, but fails to provide children with the outcomes of these investigations. Children are not given the resources to make an anonymous written complaint. This means that children are unable to raise any concerns they have privately or to external parties. This does not align with the home’s statement of purpose and does not enable children to raise important issues. As a result, children do not feel listened to.

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

There have been numerous incidents of bullying in the home. The staff have been unable to prevent these incidents. Bullying is not challenged by staff and therefore persists. Although staff separate the children, this does not address the underlying problem or help children to feel safe. One child said that they feel scared, and this has resulted in feelings of anger and low mood. The child is fearful and isolates in their bedroom to keep safe. The staff do not recognise the impact of bullying on children’s emotional well-being. This results in children feeling frightened and unsafe in their own home.

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

Children do not always have a positive experience of moving in to the home. The initial risk assessments do not adequately consider the combined risks of children living together. The priority to move children in takes precedent over safe group dynamics. This has resulted in children living together who do not get on. This does not provide children with security or stability.

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

The staff use consequences to manage unwanted behaviours. However, the children are not helped to reflect on or learn from their behaviours. The consequences are ineffective and fail to help children change their responses.

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

Staff provide children with regular key-work sessions. These sessions are brief discussions, instead of targeted pieces or work. The sessions are not planned or considered properly. One member of staff handed a leaflet on suicidal thoughts to a child who was experiencing low mood. There was no evidence that staff followed up the child’s low mood. This lack of staff diligence does not support children’s emotional well-being.

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

Staff search children’s bedrooms. However, the rationale for these searches is unclear. Children have not been present during some searches, despite being at home. This approach demonstrates a lack of respect towards children and does not foster trusting relationships between staff and children.

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

Missing-from-home incidents are rare. When children do go missing from the home, staff follow the children’s missing-from-home plans. Staff have been effective in ensuring the safe return of the children. On one occasion, a return-home interview did not take place. This reduces the opportunity to discuss keeping safe with children. Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not have the capacity to effectively manage the home. The manager works shifts to cover staff shortages. Covering staff shortages has significantly reduced the manager’s ability to manage and oversee the home effectively. This lack of oversight impacts on the quality of care being provided for the children. This has led to details being missed about children being bullied. The shortfalls in monitoring and reviewing the quality of care provided hinders the manager’s ability to ensure that children are safe or well cared for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not challenge other professionals and external agencies when more can be done for the children. There is a lack of curiosity and persistence. This particularly relates to the children’s education and health needs. There is a failure to represent and advocate for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to identify significant shortfalls in the home’s records and documentation. There are no local authority records for one child. Other records are missing or out of date. This means that staff are not up to date about the children’s current assessed needs or agreed care plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not provide effective strategies and guidance that support the staff to manage the children’s behaviour. Staff are inconsistent in their approaches to supporting the children. When incidents occur, the manager does not evaluate the staff’s practice. This limits the manager’s scope to improve the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff shortages continue to be an issue. Staff say that they feel stretched in their daily tasks. One member of staff has not had supervision for three months. When supervisions do occur, their quality is variable. Some staff say that they do not always feel supported by the leaders and managers. Other staff said that they do not receive guidance or clear decision-making from the manager. Staff morale is low.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The children’s guide does not specify the contact details for advocacy support. This means that children are not informed about who they can turn to for independent help outside of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professional conduct has not been consistently upheld by staff. Children have complained that staff use their mobile phones at the home. This use is in breach of the company’s mobile phone use policy. This does not help children to feel that their care is being prioritised. Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 persons must comply within the given timescales.

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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

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d)) 20 December

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; 20 December Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 7 help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review;

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with; and

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Requirement Due date

what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the views of each relevant person are taken into account, so far as reasonably practicable, before making a decision about the care or welfare of a child. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(d)(i)(ii)(iii)(e))

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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. 20 December Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vi)(viii)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)) 20 December Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 9 The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(xii)(xiii)(b)) 20 December

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; 6 November 2022 Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 10 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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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)(a)(i)(iv)(b))

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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

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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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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; and

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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)(a)(d)(e)(f)(h)) 6 November 2022

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and 20 December Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 11 the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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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

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

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; 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 (1)(a)(b) (3)(a)(ii)(v)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to sanction records.

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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)) 20 December

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 12

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the children’s guide helps children to understand how to contact advocacy services. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 24, paragraph 4.22)  The registered person should ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return-home interview. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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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: SC457573 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Ruth Jackson, Social Care Inspector Paula Shepherd, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC457573 14 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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