Children's home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 1 SC484671 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 home provides care for up to four children aged between 11 and 18 who experience social and emotional difficulties. Three children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a registered school on site. The inspector only inspected the social care provision on this site.

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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 widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 2 September 2024

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/09/2024 Full Good 12/12/2023 Full Good 07/02/2023 Full Good 10/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This inspection was brought forward to address concerns received by Ofsted through notifications.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Significant weaknesses in the safeguarding procedures and in managers’ oversight mean that the children are not safeguarded effectively. Despite these shortfalls, children regularly attend school, and some are making progress with therapy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

All three children spent time with the inspector.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

At times, children have struggled to live with one another. There have been many occasions when children have displayed violence towards each other and staff. Due to the concerns and the escalation of risks the manager contacted the local authority for further funding to increase the children’s staff supervision levels. The manager noted that they needed more staff on shift to keep children safe. Extra funding was agreed; however, when the funding ran out the manager did not escalate her concerns despite knowing this was a necessary measure. As a result, there were insufficient staff to provide safe and effective care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, three children have moved out of the home. Two children moved out quickly after significant incidents occurred. For one of the children, this was a planned move to a more suitable long-term placement. This move was supported by staff. Although children moved out quickly, staff did ensure that both children were given something meaningful to remember their time at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s engagement and participation in education are variable. Some children have struggled to regularly engage; others have made progress with learning and achieved exam success. When children have struggled, staff encourage them and emphasise the importance of education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

On one occasion, staff observed a child inhaling aerosols. Staff did not intervene and failed to seek medical advice for the child. This does not provide appropriate medical attention for children and leaves them at risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Mainly, the staff meet children’s health needs and support them to attend appointments. The children regularly attend therapy sessions, which supports their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support children to enjoy activities in line with their interests. These include in- house activities and trips to the cinema, holidays to the seaside, chess games and cultural evenings. Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 4 Children are supported to work towards specific targets. These include group incentives to support the children to develop social behaviour towards one another. At times, this has helped the children to reflect on behavioural incidents.

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

Children are not effectively safeguarded. Leaders and managers do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures. This means that vulnerable children are not protected from harm.

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

On three occasions, staff have failed to follow the safeguarding procedures when children have raised concerns about staff. These staff have remained working with the children despite the children’s concerns. On one occasion, a staff member worked directly with a child for three days after the child said the staff member had pushed them. Although these incidents were reviewed by leaders and managers, the concerns were not identified. The concerns have not been shared with the local authority designated officer. As a result, there is no external oversight and protective measures to safeguard children have not been implemented. This significant failure by leaders and managers does not ensure that children are appropriately protected from harm.

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

Children have displayed harmful sexual behaviour. This is a known behaviour for some of the children. The safety plans to manage children’s time together are not effective. Children have barricaded themselves into bedrooms together, which has led to safeguarding allegations. On one occasion, a child made a comment about another child that indicated a safeguarding concern, and leaders and managers failed to follow this up. There is a lack of professional curiosity or follow-up from leaders and managers, which leaves children at risk.

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

Children regularly go missing from the home. Children’s missing-from-home plans have not always been followed. On two occasions, there was a delay of 30 minutes in reporting a missing child to the police, in contradiction to the child’s plan. This does not ensure that measures to keep children safe are followed.

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

Staff fail to follow children’s safety plans. The supervision of children has not always been met when children have required one-to-one supervision. On one occasion, staff failed to follow one of the children upstairs despite plans specifying that staff always follow the child. This resulted in the child being found in another child’s bedroom. This leaves children at risk of harm.

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

The local authority asked the manager to put a monitoring device into a child’s shoe. This child is not subject to any legal restrictions to their liberty. The child has not been informed about the device. This is a restriction on the child’s liberty that has not been agreed by the court.

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

All staff are trained in the use of physical intervention and have used this to keep children safe and prevent them from harming one another. Children are spoken with Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 5 after physical intervention and managers review incidents. Key-worker sessions take place with children after incidents to support them to talk through how they would manage behaviours differently. These conversations appear beneficial in supporting children to reflect.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management of the home is not effective and fails to safeguard children’s welfare. The previous registered manager left the home in January 2025. An acting manager has been in post since that date and has applied to register with Ofsted. The acting manager is working towards the relevant level 5 qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders’ and managers’ oversight and monitoring are not effective. They have failed to identify that staff have not followed the home’s child protection policies. Records of allegations, daily logbooks, incident reports and room searches have significant recording gaps. Management oversight is unclear or missing. Managers have not identified safeguarding concerns in incident reports. The lack of oversight and professional curiosity means that some necessary action has not taken place. Overall, staff have not been supported with opportunities to learn from their practice and make the necessary improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers failed to notify Ofsted of a serious incident. On other occasions, two notifications did not contain all relevant details of the concerns raised by children. This limits Ofsted’s capacity to monitor incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The shortfalls identified at the last inspection have not been fully addressed. Two requirements have been restated. In addition, four new requirements have been set.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been a number of staff changes since the last inspection. Some staff have moved over from other homes from within the organisation and others are new to their roles. Safer recruitment processes are followed when new staff are recruited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite the failures identified at this inspection, staff said that they feel supported by leaders and managers. Staff attend planned training and receive regular supervision sessions. Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 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

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

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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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 effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular: 7 October 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 7 ensure staff act in accordance with the home’s safeguarding and whistle-blowing policies and procedures;

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Requirement Due date

ensure referrals are made to safeguarding professionals when a child makes an allegation of harm;

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Requirement Due date

ensure risk-reduction measures set in children’s relevant plans are followed by staff;

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Requirement Due date

ensure appropriate medical attention is sought for children when necessary;

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Requirement Due date

ensure children are supervised to their risk-assessed staffing levels.

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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

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) (2)(a)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

ensure managers review and evaluate monitoring arrangements for the home;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that managers take action when identifying necessary improvements and that these are put into place; 7 October 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 8 ensure management oversight, review and monitoring of risk assessments and incident reports are thorough and, where necessary action is needed, this is put into place.

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

The following measures may not be used to discipline any child—

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Requirement Due date

any restriction, other than one imposed by a court or in accordance with regulation 22 (contact and access to communications). (Regulation 19 (1) (2)(c)) 21 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)) 21 October 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 an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(c) (5)(ii)(iii)) 21 October 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 9 In particular, ensure that safeguarding notifications are factually accurate and contain all relevant information when a child makes an allegation of harm.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being.

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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 each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10 (1)(b) (2)(a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that medical attention is sought when children are under the influence of substance misuse;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff are aware of their responsibilities in line with seeking necessary medical advice for children. 21 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: SC484671 10

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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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Inspector

Syvanna Matthew, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC484671 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 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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