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

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 1 OFSTED USE ONLY

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SC035657 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 operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to seven children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, four children were living in the home.

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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: 15 January 2025

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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: SC035657 2 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/01/2025 Full Good 05/12/2023 Full Good 06/09/2022 Full Good 13/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 3 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children do not receive a consistent level of care due to shortfalls in leadership and management and safeguarding practices in this home. Staff have not consistently followed children’s plans to keep them safe, and they do not have the skills and experience to respond effectively to the children’s care needs or safeguarding concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff cannot meet the needs for all children who move into the home. For example, a child who speaks English as an additional language has limited ways to communicate with the staff team. The child has not had the opportunity to have important information shared with them in their own language or to freely share their views. This means that the child cannot fully communicate with the staff or their peers in the home. These barriers to communication mean that staff do not understand the child’s individual needs. As a result, risks for the child have increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Home conditions do not provide a warm and nurturing environment. There are areas of the home which are not maintained. Action has not been taken to repair damage to the home and furniture. Children’s bedrooms lack personalisation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

All the children who live at the home engage in a form of education. When there are barriers to children attending formal provision, staff work with the relevant professionals to try and overcome this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are supported to see their family members where appropriate. Staff maintain regular communication with friends and families to support children’s identities and maintain links with people who are important to them.

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

There are shortfalls in safeguarding practices which have led to an increase in risks for some children in the home.

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

There has been an increase in incidents of children being missing from the home. Staff have not followed children’s plans to report them missing to the police in a timely manner. There have been inconsistent and at times insufficient search efforts by staff to locate children. As a result, children have been missing from the home for prolonged periods of time.

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

Staff responses to children’s use of substances are poor. They do not consistently implement boundaries and consequences for children around substance misuse. This means that children have been smoking and vaping in the home unchallenged.

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

Staff do not consistently carry out searches of children’s rooms when safeguarding concerns are raised. For example, staff have not completed room searches when Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 4 OFSTED USE ONLY

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

children’s bedrooms have smelt like cannabis. On one occasion, there has been a delay in searching a child’s room when there had been a concern for them carrying a weapon.

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

Staff do not follow children’s plans to manage behaviour. They do not have the skills to de-escalate incidents of violent and aggressive behaviour involving children. This has led to the police being called to manage children’s behaviour.

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

The quality of recording and reporting in the home is poor. Children’s risk assessments do not contain clear strategies for staff to follow and have not been updated to include all relevant information. As a result, staff responses to children have not been consistent. Children’s incident records do not include all relevant details. For example, the recording of staff looking for children who are missing is poor and not always included in incident records. This impacts on the effectiveness of the monitoring and review of staff practice.

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

Ofsted has not been notified of all significant safeguarding incidents for children. This does not allow for effective regulatory oversight of the home.

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

Staff work with other agencies to support children around their risks. For example, they regularly invite the local police community support officer into the home to speak with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management arrangements in the home are unstable. At the time of the inspection, there was no registered manager in post. There had been serious allegations about the leadership and management team in the home. Although the provider had investigated and addressed the allegations, there were delays in taking action and in notifying Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff spoke positively about working in the home and said that they work well as a team. However, due to the changes in the leadership and management arrangements, staff said they are unaware of who is supporting them and when. This means that staff are not provided with clear leadership and guidance to care for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight of incidents involving children is poor. Leaders and managers do not evaluate staff practice following incidents. This means that shortfalls in staff practice are not identified or addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not had sufficient training relevant to children’s needs. For example, staff had not received training in child exploitation, despite this being a recognised risk for a child prior to their move into the home. This means that the staff team does not have the knowledge and skills to meet all of the children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 5 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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

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

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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff take action to safeguard children following incidents. The registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments give staff clear guidance to follow to safeguard children. Additionally, the registered person must ensure that staff understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children, particularly in regard 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 6 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

to exploitation, substance misuse, and being missing from the home.

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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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there is a suitably experienced and qualified manager in post who can oversee the management of the home. The registered person must ensure that monitoring systems are used to identify and address shortfalls in the quality of care that children receive. In addition, the registered provider must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and training to care for the children living in the home. 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 7 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii); and

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(vii)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children who speak English as an additional language have regular opportunities to share their views, wishes and feelings, and receive information about their care in their own language.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (2)(vii)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the home conditions are maintained to a high standard and that broken furniture and fittings are removed and/or replaced. 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 8 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

Regulation 40 (4)(b)(e)) 9 November 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. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s plans are updated and contain relevant information. In addition, the registered person must ensure that all records contain staff actions to monitor their welfare when children are absent from the home. 9 November 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: SC035657 9 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare 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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Inspectors

Hayley Smith, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Nicola Rutherford, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035657 10 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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