Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Rochdale

Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 1 SC456543 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 one of a number of children’s homes operated by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for one child who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2022.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

Date of last inspection: 11 January 2022

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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: SC456543 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/01/2022 Full Good 22/05/2019 Full Outstanding 11/12/2018 Full Good 06/12/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child living in the home said that they are happy and that they like living there. They also said that staff understand them and recognise if they need some extra support. One social worker said, ‘The progress [name of child] has made in the space of time has been phenomenal. Staff provide [name of child] with a very safe space physically and emotionally.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is encouraged to experience a range of activities. Staff understand the barriers that the child faces when engaging in new activities. Staff provide the child with the support and encouragement needed to develop new interests. The child is particularly excited to be attending a music concert with staff soon. This approach helps the child to develop their confidence and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide individualised care and understand the child’s specific needs. The child says that staff care about them, and that important and helpful conversations take place regularly. However, records in relation to key-work sessions are not always detailed enough to demonstrate the meaningful work that is being undertaken.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to keep in touch with people who are important to them. Staff actively engage with the child’s family members, in line with agreed plans. Recently, the child was supported to have their sibling stay over during the festive holidays. The child’s social worker says that the child’s improved relationships with family members have had a significant, positive impact on their emotional well- being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to access education, despite this being a challenge for the child. Staff have created a timetable to supplement the child’s learning when they are not in formal education. The child is therefore provided with structured opportunities for learning and is making good academic progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are prioritised. When a child moves in, they are quickly registered with all necessary health services. Children with more-complex health needs, including mental health needs, are supported to access support from a range of suitable services. This means that children’s health appointments and checks are up to date.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff seek the child’s views in relation to their care, and support them to actively engage with their records. However, inconsistencies in the way that staff communicate with the child mean that opportunities to ensure that the child’s voice is fully heard have been missed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 4

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

Staff understand and are vigilant with the child’s individual vulnerabilities and risks. This means that they have a clear understanding of how to keep the child safe. Staff also understand their roles and responsibilities across a range of different safeguarding scenarios and work closely with other agencies to keep children safe. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in self-injurious behaviours, and safeguarding incidents rarely occur.

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

Staff work proactively with other services to support children to understand their own vulnerabilities. This means that children are kept safe and are helped to develop the skills to keep themselves safe in the future.

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

The manager appropriately notifies all agencies of safeguarding concerns and follows safeguarding procedures. This allows professionals to work together to address safeguarding concerns quickly and keep children safe.

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

Risk and behaviour management plans are individualised and regularly updated. The child is encouraged to take an active part in safety planning. Plans contain clear strategies for staff to follow to keep children safe. This ensures that the child experiences a consistent approach to their safety and well-being.

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

The focus in the home is on nurturing care, and consequences for negative behaviour are rarely used. However, when consequences are used, staff ensure that the child is supported to reflect on and learn from their behaviour.

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

Staff help children to effectively manage their behaviour using appropriate de- escalation techniques. This helps children to maintain positive, trusting relationships with the adults who are caring for them.

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good

The manager is suitably experienced and skilled to lead the staff team. The manager is developing systems for effective oversight of the home.

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good

The manager has made attempts to make the home an inviting and homely environment. However, opportunities to improve the living environment for the child have been missed. Some areas of the home appear tired and are in need of redecoration, maintenance or refurbishment. The manager has previously made requests for the bathroom and kitchen to be refurbished, but these have not yet been actioned by the wider agency. Furthermore, opportunities to ensure that cleaning tasks were completed and to address hazards around the home had been missed until they were identified by inspectors.

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good

Staff feel supported by leaders and managers. They receive practice-related supervision and attend regular team meetings. This helps the team to share information and to work well together in a child-focused way. Currently, the Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 5 workforce development plan does not include details of the staff who are working in the home or set out the timescales for supervision, resulting in inconsistencies in supervision practice.

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good

There are good working relationships between leaders and managers. External professionals involved in children’s lives report that the team effectively communicates with them.

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good

The manager ensures that staff receive regular training, including training to enable staff to develop their understanding of issues that are relevant to the child. The effectiveness of these additional training courses appears limited as staff continue to use language that is not reflective of current good practice around children’s identity.

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good

The manager has oversight of children’s records. This includes the use of electronic recording systems. These systems have recently been unavailable due to a technical issue experienced by the wider organisation. There is no contingency plan in place for such situations. This has meant that some essential information has been unavailable to staff and managers.

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good

The registered manager regularly reviews the home’s statement of purpose. This ensures that this document offers an accurate representation of the current care being provided for children.

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good

The requirement made at the last inspection in relation to regulation 45 has been met. However, the requirement made regarding the leadership and management of the home remains unmet and is restated at this inspection. All recommendations made at the last inspection have been met. Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 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

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 (2)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that the home is decorated, furnished and maintained to a high standard throughout. That worn furniture is replaced, repairs are completed in a timely manner and areas refurbished when necessary. 30 March 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must enable, inspire and lead 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

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 staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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; 30 March 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that staff understand children’s identity needs and always use language that is helpful to them.

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Requirement Due date

The manager must make sure that when staff undertake training, they have been able to embed these skills into their practice.

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Requirement Due date

The manager must have good systems for oversight and monitoring of record-keeping.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records in relation to key-work sessions are detailed enough to be helpful to the child and accurately reflect the key conversations that staff are having with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan that details the current staffing structure and the timescales for staff to receive supervision. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraphs 10.8) Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 8  The registered person should have a contingency plan to ensure that information kept within electronic records is always available. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraphs 14.2)

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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 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: SC456543 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: 5th Floor, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Caroline Bertram, Social Care Regulatory Inspection Manager Nicola Shaw, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC456543 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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