Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Cambridgeshire

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It provides care for up to 12 children with ongoing mental health needs who may not be able to live in the community without continued support.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a separately registered school on site. The inspectors only inspected the social care provision.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left the home in October 2024.

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Inspection date: 20 October 2025

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection date: 20 October 2025

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 2

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Findings from the inspection

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care and protection of children at this assurance inspection:

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Findings from the inspection

 Physical assault between children that has not been risk assessed effectively to minimise incidents occurring again.  Poor risk assessments that do not include all known and emerging risks.  Weak oversight from leaders and managers, meaning that poor practice has gone unchallenged.

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Findings from the inspection

Children have experienced harm due to weak and inconsistent management oversight, poor staff supervision and ineffective safeguarding practices. Inconsistent leadership has left children vulnerable and staff practice has led to repeated harm. There are immediate risks to the safety and well-being of the children living in the home. Consequently, Ofsted imposed a restriction of accommodation notice and issued compliance notices following the inspection.

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Findings from the inspection

Despite high staffing levels, children have been left unsupervised and involved in serious incidents, including physicalassault and physical harm. Staff failed to follow risk management plans, intervene appropriately or escalate concerns. There is no evidence that leaders and managers have explored how these incidents occurred or addressed staff practice. This lack of oversight led to further harm to a child following an initial incident.

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Findings from the inspection

Although the manager is undertaking a critical review of the most recent incident, this remains incomplete. There is no evidence that staff on shift have been spoken to in order to ensure accountability. The lack of robust risk assessment and insufficient challenge to staff practice has resulted in children continuing to spend time together in unsafe circumstances, leading to further harm.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff are provided with clear guidance to follow when children self-harm, underpinned by sound psychological reasoning. However, staff do not consistently follow these procedures. In one serious incident, staff failed to call emergency services as directed, and leaders and managers did not identify this failure. This lack of oversight placed the child at further risk of harm.

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Findings from the inspection

Risk assessments do not take into account all known and emerging risks for children. For example, one child is at high risk of sexual exploitation, yet assessments fail to address how social media and phone use contribute to this risk or guide staff on how to manage it day to day. Risk assessments are not routinely updated following significant incidents, meaning staff lack vital information about children’s behaviours and needs. Additionally, assessments do not reflect children’s neurodiversity, leaving staff without the necessary guidance to communicate effectively with children when they are distressed. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 3 Staff do not intervene effectively during serious incidents, resulting in significant harm to children. In one case, a child used piercing equipment on another child after barricading themselves in a room, despite staff having access to a second entry

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Findings from the inspection

point. The injured child required a general anaesthetic to remove the piercing. In a separate incident, staff failed to prevent a child from tattooing themselves. These failures demonstrate that staff do not understand or act on the expectations placed on them to keep children safe.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff use a behaviour management approach referred to as ‘lockdown’, which involves locking doors to separate children within the building. There is no clear guidance on who can authorise this or when it should be used, leading to inconsistent practice and the potential for children to be unnecessarily deprived of their liberty.

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Findings from the inspection

While referrals to safeguarding partners are generally timely, staff failed to report a serious allegation made by a child in front of them, and the manager did not identify this from the incident report.

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Findings from the inspection

Management oversight is weak, with leaders failing to identify poor staff practice, gaps in risk assessments and ineffective handovers, including those related to serious incidents that resulted in harm to children. For instance, staff did not alert leaders and managers effectively regarding the incident involving the piercing equipment and resultant harm to two children, and leaders and managers equally failed to identify what happened and act on it.

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Findings from the inspection

Leaders and managers have not responded effectively to issues raised by children and a social worker in independent visitor reports. There is no chronology of action taken or outcomes. Concerns are not being identified and are not being dealt with adequately.

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Findings from the inspection

When the manager is absent, there are no suitable alternative management arrangements in place and notifications to Ofsted have been significantly delayed. This reduces the ability of Ofsted to maintain thematic and regulatory oversight of incidents and respond accordingly.

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Findings from the inspection

Children have low attendance at the on-site school. It is difficult to ascertain how staff are supporting children to improve this. A member of staff advised that routines are still being embedded in the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff respond appropriately to children when they are missing. Staff follow the children and report them missing to police when needed. This helps to keep children safe when they are not in the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Multi-agency meetings take place when necessary. This ensures that all relevant individuals are involved in decision-making about the children. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 4

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/04/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/04/2024 Full Good 16/01/2024 Full Good 13/12/2022 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 5

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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;

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

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that:  risk assessments contain thorough, up-to-date information about known and emerging risks and vulnerabilities 16 November Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 6  risk assessments provide staff with clear strategies on how to support children when they exhibit unsafe behaviour, and that appropriate action is taken to help reduce risks  risk assessments include details of neurodiversity and best ways for staff to communicate with children to help them in unsafe situations  managers and staff understand the requirements and expectations in fulfilling risk assessments and self-harm checklists  staff read risk assessments and acknowledge the information contained within them  arrangements for locking internal doors are made clear to staff.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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

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

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

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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— 16 November Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 7 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h)(f)(g)(ii)(h)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

 systems are in place to enable effective management oversight of the home, including during periods when the manager is away from the home  poor staff practice is responded to immediately to minimise the likelihood of such practice occurring again  when concerns are raised, for example by children and social workers, that these are identified and responded to and that there is appropriate evidence in place to evidence the action taken and outcomes.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must implement a more effective system to understand the combined risks of children living together.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated. 16 November

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 16 December Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 8 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have a system in place so that all allegations of abuse are notified to Ofsted within 24 hours. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.13) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 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: 4th Floor, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Inspectors

Hannah Phillips, Social Care Inspector Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 1257796 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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