Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Halton

Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 1 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

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

The home registered with Ofsted in September 2019. The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child 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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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/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 5 February 2025

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 5 and 6 February 2025. Inspectors identified serious shortfalls in safeguarding practices and the leadership and management of the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 2 Following the inspection, two compliance notices were issued under Section 22A of the Care Standards Act. Compliance notices were issued under regulation 12, the protection of children standard and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A monitoring visit took place on 28 February 2025, which found that the provider had not taken sufficient action to meet the compliance notices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/02/2025 Full Inadequate 25/05/2023 Full Inadequate 28/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/05/2021 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 4

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inadequate

Poor and ineffective leadership and management arrangements and safeguarding practices have had a significant negative impact on the experiences and progress of the child living in the home.

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inadequate

The child living in the home has not consistently received an adequate level of care from the staff team. The conduct of certain staff members has contributed to incidents when the child is in crisis. There has been a recurring pattern of significant incidents, due to ineffective leadership and management, as well as insufficient staff practice.

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inadequate

The child says that they like living in the home and that staff care about them. Positive relationships have developed between some of the staff team and the child. However, not all staff consistently support the child with a warm and empathetic approach.

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inadequate

Children do not receive well-considered care and support. The quality and consistency of care plans and risk assessments are poor. The individual needs of the child are not clearly recorded or understood by managers and staff. Placing authority care plans are not available and therefore do not align with the home’s care plans. This impacts on the quality of care provided to the child.

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

Staff are not always able to manage the child’s complex needs and behaviours. Staff regularly contact the police to help them to manage the child’s behaviours. On one occasion, this resulted in the child being removed from the home by the police, as the police were concerned for her welfare. These incidents significantly added to the trauma the child had already experienced.

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

Despite the child being subject to a deprivation of liberty order (DOL), the child was able to go missing from the home. Not all staff follow the correct procedures to ensure that the child is safe from harm. The relevant authorities are not contacted in a timely manner as per the child’s risk assessment. On one occasion, there was a delay in staff contacting the police when the child was missing from home.

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

Risks are not identified, understood or managed by leaders, managers and staff. Staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. The child’s risk assessments do not inform practice because they do not include or contain clear strategies to manage and reduce risks. Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 5 Risk management strategies are poor. Despite concerns about one child displaying a risk of ligature use, not all staff have received relevant training around ligatures. Staff do not understand what they should do in response to a ligature-use incident and are not clear about where to access ligature cutters.

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

The arrangements in place to manage and prevent children from going missing from home are poor. Staff do not always follow missing-from-home protocols, and the records relating to incidents of going missing do not include management oversight and evaluation. Since the DOL order has been in place, the incidents of children going missing from home have reduced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

An experienced and qualified manager is in post and is familiar with the child. The manager makes efforts to support the child. However, shortfalls in staff practice are not always identified or addressed, which impacts on the overall quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When the child has expressed their concerns about poor staff practice, leaders and managers do not take sufficient action to address this and improve staff practice. For example, the child asked for clear routines and boundaries to be established for her and that staff acknowledge her when they begin their shifts.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and staff do not demonstrate any learning from safeguarding incidents. Leaders, managers and staff lack professional curiosity. There is limited evaluation of safeguarding incidents to improve the safety and welfare of children and the practice of staff. The management oversight of incident records is not sufficiently robust and lacks effective evaluation, resulting in very limited learning from incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not ensure that all staff are trained or confident in the application of the DOL order, and this compromises the safety of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are some shortfalls in safer recruitment practices, and suitability checks are not sufficiently robust. One member of staff has no prior experience working with children, and their suitability checks are limited. This compromises leaders and managers’ oversight of staff’s strengths, areas for development and suitability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure that risk assessments contain up-to-date information. The home contains conflicting information relating to ligature practice that the manager has not reviewed. This impacts on the ability of staff to work in a consistent and safe manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure there is effective oversight by an independent person following missing-from-home events. This limits the child’s ability to share concerns relating to the care they are receiving and reasons why they go missing from home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 6 Further to this inspection, the provider made the decision to cancel the home’s registration. Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 7

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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, the leaders and managers must ensure that there are plans in place to safeguard the child against all known risks, and that staff follow the child’s plans, responding appropriately to the child’s emotional and behavioural needs.

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Requirement Due date

This further relates to the registered manager ensuring that the environment is safe and appropriate in relation to risks identified in the risk assessments. 1 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 8 This further relates to the registered manager ensuring that all staff working with a child subject to a DOL order are fully aware of the restrictions it contains.

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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

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’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;

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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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that there is sufficient management oversight of staff practice and that any concerns with staff practice are identified and addressed.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated. 1 July 2025

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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 1 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 9 the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that when children require physical intervention, the information is clear and dates, signatures are available for debriefs and any follow- up actions.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff have the appropriate skills and experience to carry out the role. 1 July 2025

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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 kept up to date; and 1 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 10 are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of the child’s death;

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Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child’s date of birth;

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the children’s records should contain up-to-date information and must be signed and dated by staff accessing them.

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Requirement Due date

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

meet each child s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

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 1 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 11 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

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(xii)(xiii))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the registered manager ensuring that all staff are aware of and work within the child’s behaviour support plan to avoid the need to involve the police to help manage behaviours.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that independent return home interviews following any period of a child going missing from home are completed in line with Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 12 statutory guidance and include an independent return home interview. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.25)

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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: 2542813 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, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Beverley Williams

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Inspector

James Meeks, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2542813 14 and inspects 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 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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