Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 1 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 part of a large national provider of children’s homes. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager in post. There is an interim manager in post, although they have not submitted their application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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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 inadequate

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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: 14 September 2022

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/09/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 3

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improvement to be good

Two children have lived in the home since the last inspection. The previous child’s plans were not up to date so staff did not know their individual needs. Without this clear guidance, staff were unable to meet the child’s needs and provide good-quality care. The child struggled to settle. As a result, their placement ended abruptly.

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improvement to be good

One child’s school attendance has been variable. Staff do not consistently provide the child with a daily structure of educational activities to support their learning. This prevents the child from reaching their full potential.

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improvement to be good

Staff treat children with dignity and respect. This helps children to develop a positive self-image and a sense of their own identity. Staff also support children to maintain friendships and family relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to take part in activities that they enjoy, including dancing, fun fairs and trips to the seaside. This helps to build children’s confidence while having fun. One child said, ‘I love going dancing. It’s something that I’m really good at and enjoy.’

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improvement to be good

Staff understand and monitor the child’s health and emotional well-being. They make sure that the child receives safe and effective advice, support and treatment that meets their needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff carry out regular key-work sessions with children. This helps children to reflect on their behaviour and actions and develop socially aware behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. The atmosphere is warm and homely. However, staff do not always help children to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. As a result, the manager is establishing clear expectations for the child in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff know the current child’s vulnerabilities and help them to stay safe. They use a multi-agency approach and share information with partner agencies. However, staff have struggled to keep one child safe, which led to poor outcomes for them.

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improvement to be good

Strategies for responding to incidents when children are missing from home are clear and robust. This means that staff are clear about the expectations of them if a child is missing. This helps to reduce the number of missing-from-home incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 4 Managers use a door alarm in the child’s bedroom. However, managers do not regularly review or evaluate the need for the alarm. As a result, this may unnecessarily limit children’s privacy and access in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff are developing a positive relationship with the child currently living in the home. This helps the child to speak openly to staff about their emotional needs. It also helps the child to develop coping strategies and strengthens their emotional resilience.

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improvement to be good

All staff receive suitable background checks before they start to work at the home. This ensures that children are not placed at risk from unsuitable adults working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is inadequate management oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders are not sufficiently reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided. There is no registered manager in post. There is an interim manager in post, although they have not submitted their application to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff currently feel supported by the management team. Previously, some staff did not feel supported by managers, and some staff said that they felt harassed. The previous manager did not respond effectively to allegations of bullying made by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight is poor. This has resulted in insufficient review of incidents and reflection on whether the actions taken were appropriate. This is not effective and does not ensure robust scrutiny of the quality of care provided for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and the manager have failed to notify Ofsted of all serious incidents. This means that the regulator does not know what action staff take to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff training is generally up to date and helps staff to understand children’s needs. This includes safeguarding training. However, staff did not follow whistle-blowing procedures when there were concerns regarding staff conduct. Once aware, senior managers responded quickly to investigate the allegations and took appropriate. action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not provide staff with regular supervision. Supervision records do not demonstrate that staff reflect on incidents. Staff practice is not being developed through effective supervision or debriefs following incidents. This results in poor practice continuing, which potentially places children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager carries out a quality of care review every six months. However, this does not include children’s feedback or their opinions about the care they receive. Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 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, 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

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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

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

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(vi)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that children receive support to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. In addition, ensure that staff help children to engage with services to keep them safe. 25 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if— 25 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 6 there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a))

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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

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

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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)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that effective monitoring systems are in place to support improvement in the child’s care. Also, managers must hold debriefs with staff following each incident, to support reflective practice and evaluation. 25 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with 25 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 7 arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii)(c))

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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.

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

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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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. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(v)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when a child is not accessing full-time education, staff should engage them in suitable structured activities. 25 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 25 August 2023

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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

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

a child protection enquiry involving a child— 25 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 8 is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

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)(b)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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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)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the alarm on the child’s door is only used in accordance with the regulation. 25 August 2023

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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

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and 28 July 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 9 any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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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) (2)(a)(b)(c) (5))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff are familiar with the company’s whistle-blowing procedures and act on any concerns in accordance with the procedures. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.9)

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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: 2662847 10

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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

Mark Woodbridge, Social Care Inspector Sally Hallwood, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2662847 11 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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