Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children's home: SC456535 1 SC456535 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private organisation and is registered to care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager has been in post since 3 April 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC456535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/08/2023 Full Good 21/02/2023 Full Good 22/03/2022 Full Good 18/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC456535 3

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improvement to be good

No children have moved in or out of the home since the last inspection. The child was spoken to during the inspection and provided a written response about what it is like to live at the home.

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improvement to be good

Improvements to the external and internal parts of the home identified at the last inspection have been addressed. The child’s bedroom is personalised and the home is well-presented and clean. However, the communal areas requires further personalisation to reflect that it is the child’s home.

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improvement to be good

The child has meaningful relationships people who are important to them. Staff take the child to visit family and friends irrespective of the distance. Family time arrangements are jointly assessed in partnership with the child’s social worker to ensure that there are agreed plans in place to keep the child safe.

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improvement to be good

The child’s participation in education varies. Staff liaise with professionals and provide the child with incentives to encourage their attendance to school. However, during long periods of absence, staff have not demonstrated that the child has been prompted to take part in alternative education, to maintain their learning.

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improvement to be good

The child is helped to attend specialist and routine health appointments such as the dentist and opticians, to ensure that they remain in good health. However, the child has not been supported to learn about age related issues such as safe and healthy relationships.

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improvement to be good

Records do not demonstrate that the child has an opportunity to routinely share their wishes and feelings about their day-to-day care. In addition, there has been a long delay to the child’s request to have access to Wi-Fi. This does not give the child confidence that their views are taken seriously.

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improvement to be good

The child feels safe living at the home and can identify a staff member they can speak to if they are worried. Staff regularly speak to the child about how to keep themselves safe. They support the child to access services specific to the child’s needs such as drug and alcohol support.

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improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate that they understand the child’s associated risks and what they should do to protect them from harm. However, risk management plans do not always identify the child’s emerging risk and how staff should manage these. Inspection report children's home: SC456535 4 There is an effective response to the child going missing from home. This is well co- ordinated with partner agencies. Staff actively search for the child in accordance with their plans. Upon their return, there is an opportunity for the child to take part in an independent return home interview to help staff understand why the child went missing from home.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment practice is good. Leaders and managers ensure that newly appointed staff take part in a thorough vetting process to ensure that the child is cared for by staff who will prioritise their safety and wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not ensured that incidents are responded to well. For example, following the child’s admission that they had used cannabis in the home, a room search was not completed to give staff confidence that the child’s safety could not be compromised further.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager was not present during the inspection due to being on annual leave. Records show that the manager is suitably qualified and experienced. However, there were several shortfalls identified during the inspection which demonstrates ineffective management of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management oversight needs to improve. Team meetings and investigation into complaints are not thoroughly recorded, the managers review of incidents is ineffective. For example, despite the manager identifying concerns about how staff handled an incident, there was no follow up work completed with those involved to improve staff practice. Staff receive regular supervision and take part in annual appraisals. However, the manager does not use supervision as an opportunity to address staff practice. Furthermore, recordings of appraisals are poor. They are not signed by the staff member or manager; sections of the report are incomplete and there is not a clear action plan around how staff aspirations and future goals will be achieved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The child’s placing authority documents are not all up to date. This means that leaders and managers cannot be certain that the child is receiving the right level of care based on their needs. Despite this, there is little evidence of leaders, managers and staff raising this issue with the placing authority social worker and their manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is not properly staffed and resourced. Insufficient staffing arrangements means the child has not received continuity of care, and has not had the opportunity to build and maintain longstanding relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

In addition, there is not an accurate log of who is working at the home. For example, staff recorded as working in the handover book is not always reflected on the staff rota. Inspection report children's home: SC456535 5 Staff have access to a comprehensive training package that includes needs led training on topics such as Autism. This means staff develop skills to help them provide care and support to the child. Inspection report children's home: SC456535 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 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. (Regulation 7(1) (c) (2) (a) (ii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the child's wishes and feelings about their day-to-day care are recorded and responded to in a timely manner. 25 July 2024

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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

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; 25 July 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC456535 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(a)(d)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers should ensure that they thoroughly review team meeting minutes and incidents records relating to the child.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers should ensure that there is a stable team of staff in place.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers should ensure that complaints are well recorded and include details of the investigation that took place.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to Leaders and managers keeping details of any changes to staffing arrangements up to date. 25 July 2024

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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))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to leaders and managers ensuring that the child's placing authority plans are up to date. 25 July 2024

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children's home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 25 July 2024 Inspection report children's home: SC456535 8 maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (1) (2) (a))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that staff rotas accurately reflect which staff members are on shift each day.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their risk assessments are updated to reflect the new risks and provide a clear plan on how these should be managed. (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that when the child is not in school, there should be a structured plan of alternative education that they can take part in. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 28, paragraph 5.15)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the child is supported to understand age related issues related to their health and wellbeing, such as safe and healthy relationships. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 34, paragraph 7.10)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that room searches are conducted where relevant, to protect the child from further harm. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 42, paragraph 9.7)

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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: SC456535 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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Inspector

Chibuzo Otache, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: SC456535 10 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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