Children's home run by Cambian Autism Services Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 1 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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SC026910 Registered provider: Cambian Autism Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned by a private national organisation and provides care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The home operates as a residential special school. The home currently provides care for nine children across two houses on the same site as the school.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been a recent change to the registration of the home; splitting the multiple houses across two different registrations. The registered manager has been in post since December 2015 and is responsible for the two houses under this registration.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 16 September 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 2 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/09/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/09/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 21/06/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 3 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make sustained progress at this home. Staff work hard with the children to enhance their lives and are ambitious for what they can achieve. All children have made progress, with several children having made significant progress, from their starting points due to the persistence of staff to support their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in enriching activities and outings, which develops their confidence and encourages friendships. There have been examples of several blossoming friendships over shared interests, which the staff encourage and support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from parents was positive. Parents praised the staff for the quality of care they provide, and their communication in keeping them updated and involved. All parents noted the progress their child has made since being at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from professionals was equally positive, noting the progress the children have made and continue to make. Social workers of children new to the home felt their move into the home was managed sensitively and well. They feel that staff work collaboratively with them and the children’s families. Some professionals further noted the improvement and development that have happened over the previous year, in particular the timely reporting of incidents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Plans for children moving on from the home are considered and thoughtful. The child’s expressed feelings are supported and they are helped to understand their emotions and make a positive move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy and relaxed at the home and with the staff who care for them. Staffing levels are high, which enables children to do bespoke activities either in the home, making use of the additional space for activities, or out in the community.

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

Children are kept safe at this home. Staff recognise and respond well to safeguarding concerns. The actions of leaders and managers are timely and involve the relevant people to take concerns forward and investigate these. However, in one incident, the decisions of other professionals were not challenged appropriately, and not all of the relevant sources were used to provide a complete picture, including requesting a medical perspective. Discussions with leaders and managers during the inspection were reflective, with a clear commitment to learn and improve practice going forward.

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

Staff’s use of restraint is proportionate to the needs of children. Reflection on practice following incidents is evident. Furthermore, there has been a continued improvement in management oversight and professional challenge since the previous inspection. Children’s records are updated in light of new events occurring. However, low-level Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 4 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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

restrictions applied to children, such as holding them, are not captured in the same way, making it difficult to have full oversight of restrictions, regardless of how discrete these other actions may be.

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

There have been some medication errors during this inspection period, a number of which apply to the same child. Leaders and managers have taken swift action in response, including ensuring any impact on the child is minimal and well managed. Lessons have been learned, and these examples have been used to train all staff further to help prevent a reoccurrence.

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

Staff do good work in preparing children to attend health appointments, such as through dentistry clinics with dentistry professionals seeing the children at the home. There are also strong relationships and collaboration with other health professionals to work towards the child’s individual goals.

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

In addition, staff are creative in how they support children with their day-to-day health needs, such as helping a child develop a daily habit of brushing their teeth. This included helping the child explore different toothpastes and making a model of a mouth and teeth to demonstrate to the child what was expected.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from the home. All children have an up-to-date Philomena Protocol so staff are ready to respond should a child need to be reported missing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers are dedicated to provide good quality care to children. They reflect on feedback and strive to do better. There is clear ambition for the children and the service. Leaders and managers are excited about the scope and potential that the recent changes to the home’s registration offer them, with an ambition to continue on the positive trajectory.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is robust management oversight of the home, with processes and plans in place to address areas of vulnerability, such as some training lapses. Not all staff have received training in the home’s therapeutic approach, although this has been planned. Additionally, children’s records do not yet consistently refer to this approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s improvement plan is well under way. The properties have had new kitchens, and all the bathrooms are in the process of being upgraded. In addition, there are plans to continue with the modernisation of the lounges and children’s bedrooms. Plans are in the early stages to consider the gardens too, although at present these are somewhat neglected spaces and do not achieve the potential of enhancing and enriching the children’s living spaces or maximising their sensory capacity for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been one complaint, which was managed effectively once the service was informed of this event. An environmental health officer came to the home to complete a Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 5 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

report as a direct result of the complaint, which was positive and raised no concerns about the home or its practices.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision is of good quality, overall. They evidence staff reflecting on their practice and looking at their developmental needs. Children’s needs and how staff meet them are routinely discussed as part of supervision sessions. Furthermore, leaders and managers will hold single-subject supervision sessions with staff, which can be linked to an incident, event or training need. This helps promote learning and opportunity for practice improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment follows safer recruitment practices, and there has been an improvement in recording the decision to appoint or not. For overseas staff, the required checks are completed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 6 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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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

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

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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 (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, challenge professionals to ensure the child receives appropriate input and oversight from medical professionals. 28 November 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; and

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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)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure robust practices are in place to fully assess any safeguarding concerns, drawing on the expertise of all relevant professionals, witnesses and the child’s family where appropriate. 1 October 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 7 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure strong oversight of staff training and that staff are up to date with the required training and supported to maintain this, with access to the appropriate resources to support their learning. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should ensure there is consistent and robust recording of any restriction of a child’s liberty of movement, in particular restricting a child’s access to an area of the home and also when using ‘hold and stabilise ’techniques. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.42)  The registered person should ensure the staff understand, apply and embed the use of their therapeutic parenting model, and that this is more consistently captured in the children’s records. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

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Recommendations

standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)  The registered person should ensure they continue to improve the home environment, paying particular attention to outside spaces. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: SC026910 8 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Autism Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Melissa McCarthy

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Inspectors

Katie Ratcliffe, Social Care Inspector Wendy Anderson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC026910 9 FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Inspectors

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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