Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 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 privately owned by a national provider. It provides care for up to five children who are likely to experience social and emotional difficulties due to past trauma. There were three children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since March 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 for children’s home: 2631595 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/07/2024 Full Good 03/07/2023 Full Good 09/08/2022 Full Good 16/11/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 3

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improvement to be good

Shortfalls in help and protection and leadership and management have affected the overall inspection judgement.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved in, and one child has moved out. Introductions were planned and staff welcomed the new child. However, the manager did not appropriately assess this child’s needs, and any concerns about living alongside the children already living in the home, before they moved in. As a result, the child’s placement was ended with immediate effect when it was decided that staff could not keep the child or other children living at the home safe. This undermined children’s safety and stability. Furthermore, this potentially made it more difficult for the child to find a suitable new home.

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improvement to be good

There is an ongoing investigation into allegations of concern. Leaders and managers have responded appropriately to the situation. However, the concerns have affected children’s well-being and experiences. One social worker described the concern as ‘alarming’ and described how this has set their child back. As a result, the child now requires a lot of support.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint. However, on one occasion, staff did not ensure that the procedures were properly followed and documented. This meant that it was not clear whether the child felt heard and that their concerns had been resolved.

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improvement to be good

Despite some concerns about staff practice, children are making some progress. One social worker said that staff are working well with the wider professionals to support an individualised plan for one child to move to a foster home. Another social worker said staff have built a good relationship with their child and are meeting the child’s unique needs.

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improvement to be good

Despite the shortfalls, most children like living at the home. One child said, ‘It is the best placement I have ever had. People are kind, caring, look after you and show that they love you.’ The staff have built positive relationships with the children. As a result, children enjoy spending time with them. One staff member spoke highly of the children and said that the children were ‘like extended family’.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to have positive and memorable experiences. They listen to what children would like to do and make plans to achieve this. This includes going on trips out to the beach, theme parks and holidays. Staff are also planning a walk with alpacas. This all brings a sense of fun and enjoyment. Staff capture children’s experiences in scrap books and include messages from staff throughout children’s time spent living at the home. These items of memorabilia are given to the children when they move on from the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 4 Staff understand the importance of family relationships. They include families by giving regular updates and inviting their views about their child’s care. Staff encourage and invite families to visit the home and support children to spend time with people who are important to them. One parent said that they are made to feel very welcome by staff,

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improvement to be good

and that they trust that staff are caring for their child as well as they can.

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improvement to be good

The inspector was aware during this inspection that serious child protection allegations were being investigated by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate allegations of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the allegations were considered (where appropriate) alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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improvement to be good

Sometimes, some children experience distress and harm themselves. When this happens, staff do not always follow the child’s plan or the procedures in place by completing room searches. On one occasion, a child told staff that they had items in their bedroom that they could harm themselves with. A room search was not completed, and the child went on to harm themselves again. On another occasion, a manager told staff to leave the child for the night after they had harmed themselves and a room search was again not completed, despite the known risk.

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improvement to be good

Sometimes, children display behaviour that challenges staff. Staff use strategies to manage behaviour. However, the records of these events are not always detailed enough. Actions staff take in an attempt to prevent situations worsening are not clear. Staff have, on a number of occasions, called the police to manage children’s behaviour. This has led to children being arrested and increased their risk of criminalisation. Records, including post-incident debriefs with staff, do not consistently address what staff did well, or what they could have done better. This undermines the manager’s ability to learn from incidents and identify and make changes to approaches that could help potentially reduce situations.

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improvement to be good

Children have on occasion made allegations about staff. Managers addressed these allegations appropriately and shared them with the local authority designated officer. However, on one occasion, a child made an allegation about a staff member that was not shared with Ofsted. This limits external oversight and does not offer Ofsted, as the regulator, an opportunity to seek assurances about children’s safety and well-being at the time.

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improvement to be good

When children go missing from home, staff know how to respond. They discourage children from leaving the home, follow them and report them missing to police as appropriate. Staff welcome children home and ensure their well-being. Staff keep parents and professionals updated. However, this has not always kept children safe. Since the last inspection, children have been missing from the home overnight and for Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 5 longer. During these periods of going missing, the children experienced harm, including exposure to exploitation, substances and unsafe people.

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improvement to be good

Physical restriction and holding of children are not used frequently. However, when children have been held, staff have not consistently recorded this clearly. The manager has not debriefed staff on every occasion and children have not been spoken to about it at the earliest opportunity. This means that children’s experiences have not always been considered and opportunities to improve practice have not been explored. External oversight identified these shortfalls, and leaders and managers have begun to take action to rectify and improve this area of practice, but this is not yet embedded.

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

The home has not had a registered manager since March 2024. A manager was appointed and has applied to register with Ofsted. However, the manager was not present during this inspection. Since February 2025, the home has been led by the deputy manager as acting manager, with oversight from the responsible individual.

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

The responsible individual attends the home twice per week to support the acting manager and offer oversight. Despite this, internal monitoring has not identified shortfalls in recording and practice. For example, the manager’s oversight does not evaluate incidents effectively. There is not enough professional curiosity. There is lack of reflection and challenge to identify and explore patterns such as staff calling the police frequently to manage behaviour, or when staff have failed to follow risk assessments.

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

Staff use a door alarm system to help safeguard children. Managers have recently reviewed this and sought the views of professionals and family on the use. These alarms are constantly set, yet not all children require this. This impacts a family home atmosphere. Staff heavily monitor children’s use of technology without a clear rationale. The extent of this monitoring limits children’s privacy and is not transparent in the home’s statement of purpose and written information available to children.

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

Sometimes, staff use institutionalised language when recording incidents and children’s day-to-day care and support. This is not helpful to children should they read their records and does not reflect the therapeutic model used by the home.

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

While the acting manager has ensured that staff supervision has taken place in the past month, staff supervision has not been consistent. Staff describe the acting manager as ‘very open’, and one staff said the manager asks and listens to staff’s opinions. Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 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

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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must only accept children into the home when they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, and when they have fully considered the impact on the existing group of children. 21 May 2025

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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; 21 May 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 7 are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(vii))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that a child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident to someone who is independent of the restraint. Children should be encouraged to add their views and comments to the record of restraint. Children should be offered the opportunity to access an advocacy support to help them with this. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.60)  The registered person should ensure that Ofsted and other relevant persons are notified if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should ensure that the behaviour management strategy is understood and applied at all times by staff and is kept under review and revised when appropriate. Leaders and managers should ensure that they review effectively incidents and identify patterns and learning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  The registered person should ensure that there is a written policy describing how monitoring equipment will support the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working in the home in accordance with regulation 24. Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. The use of door alarms and phone monitoring should be reviewed regularly, used for safeguarding purposes based on individual assessment and need,

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Recommendations

and included in the statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16)  The registered person should ensure that as part of reviewing and revising where appropriate the statement of purpose (regulation 16(3)(a)), they review and update the children’s guide as necessary, and make sure children are given an explanation of any changes. This should include information about the home’s monitoring of children’s mobile phone use. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.23)  The registered person should ensure that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 8

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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: 2631595 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, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Dennise Springett

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Inspector

Carrie Twinn, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2631595 10 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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