Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Bedford

Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 1 SC412953 Registered provider: Benjamin UK Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately run home provides care and support for up to four children who may have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, mental health needs,or special educational needs and/or disabilities. Education is offered at a linked provision on a different site. The inspector only inspected the social care provision.

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Information about this children’s home

No children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2023.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/06/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/09/2023 Full Good 16/08/2022 Full Good 26/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 3

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, two children have moved into the home and three children have moved out.

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improvement to be good

Children have had mixed experiences living at the home and have not always experienced stability. Initial assessments completed prior to children moving in do not always adequately consider the needs of both the residing children and the children moving into the home. Consequently, group dynamics have increased risks for children. Staff have been unable to manage difficult and escalating situations, leading to significant incidents and risk.

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improvement to be good

Children have not always had positive endings to their time living at the home. Two children have moved in a sudden and unplanned way when staff were unable to meet their needs. One social worker said they were happy with how staff supported their child to move out of the home. However, another professional said their child made ‘very little’ progress due to the poor consideration of staff’s ability to meet children’s needs as a group. They said that they felt their child was settling into the home until another child was moved into the home. These sudden unplanned endings mean that children have suffered further relationship breakdowns and interruption to their education. Furthermore, such unplanned endings potentially make it more difficult for the child’s local authority to find them the right home to move on to.

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improvement to be good

Staff have supported a child who was previously out of school to reintegrate successfully into school. They have also worked jointly with professionals to support children having difficulties with schooling to access alternative education.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the children to attend relevant health appointments, including specialist services. They share information appropriately with partner professionals to help children access services such as substance misuse cessation.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children spend time with their families. This helps the children retain a sense of identity and belonging in the family. The staff work well with parents to ensure they remain involved in their child’s care whenever possible.

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improvement to be good

The home is spacious, well-decorated and homely. The home also has a large garden, providing children with access to outdoor space.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 4 Staff have not always understood escalating risks and kept children safe. Leaders and managers have not considered the impact children could have on each other, prior to new children moving in, despite documented risks. As a result, children have negatively influenced each other, involved each other in significant safeguarding incidents and, on occasion, have harmed each other.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not have the skills or confidence to manage children’s behaviour and situations when they escalate. On occasion, police have been appropriately called to manage incidents when staff were unable to manage situations to keep children safe. However, the escalating risks have resulted in leaders giving immediate notice to children to move.

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improvement to be good

Children have frequently gone missing from home. This exposed them to further risks, such as substance misuse, criminal exploitation and sexual relations with each other. Staff have followed the relevant plans for children when they have gone missing, including looking for the children and encouraging them to return home. Staff talked to the children to try to help them understand how to keep themselves safe. However, this was ineffective, and children continued to remain at risk.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not addressed all the actions identified in the fire risk assessment. Nor have the fire checks completed by staff been monitored effectively. Some fire doors do not close fully despite these being signed off by staff and managers as faultless. Ineffective fire prevention arrangements leave children and staff vulnerable to the risk of fire. This is of particular concern given a recent incident that required staff to use fire extinguishers and call the fire services when children set fire to items in the home.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have on occasion failed to submit, or have submitted delayed, serious incident notifications to Ofsted. This has potentially undermined Ofsted’s capacity to ensure managers take appropriate actions to safeguard children.

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improvement to be good

On the small number of occasions when children have made allegations against staff, managers have responded appropriately. They have taken immediate action to safeguard children. The manager has shared relevant information with appropriate agencies, including the children’s social workers, and this has helped to keep children safe.

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good

The suitably experienced manager registered with Ofsted in May 2023. The registered manager was present during this inspection, supported by the deputy manager.

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good

Leaders’ and managers’ systems for monitoring care are ineffective. Leaders and managers lack an awareness of the strengths and areas of weakness of the home and have not identified the shortfalls identified at this inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 5 Staff attend regular team meetings and additional meetings designed to focus on the children. However, during these meetings, leaders and managers do not reflect on the children and the quality of care provided. There is a lack of suitable reflection on practice following children moving on. The internal reviews completed by the registered manager do not identify and use any learning to identify specific actions or inform practice to prevent any further re-occurrences and better equip them to offer stability for future children. This is despite the levels of concern that have resulted in leaders and managers giving immediate notice to children.

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good

Leaders and managers have developed good relationships with some, but not all, professionals. Feedback from professionals was mixed and this reflects children’s mixed experiences.

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good

Most, but not all, staff members receive an annual appraisal. When completed, records are detailed, and targets are set to aid staff development. However, one member of staff who had worked at the home for over two years did not have an appraisal of their performance. This means opportunities may have been missed to support the member of staff with their development.

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good

Staff say they feel supported by the managers. The staff and manager receive routine one-to-one supervision. Staff undertake the organisation’s mandatory training. However, the deputy manager has not completed the relevant Level Diploma 3 within the stipulated timeframes. Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)) 11 August 2025

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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— 11 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 11 August 2025

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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

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 11 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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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)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that a thorough assessment of the staff’s ability to meet all of the children’s needs individually and as a group is completed before moving any child into the home. 11 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— 3 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 8 the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home's care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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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: SC412953 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Benjamin UK Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Coach House, White House Court, Hockliffe Street, Leighton Buzzard LU7 1FD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Rudman

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Inspectors

Priscilla Koroka, Social Care Inspector Anver Rose, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC412953 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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