Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2025.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/02/2024 Full Good 21/09/2022 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of this inspection, no children were living at the home. One child had recently moved out in a planned move after living at the home for a year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff at this home deliver highly individualised care, underpinned by the home’s therapeutic model. Staff benefit from regular input from an in-house mental health practitioner, which strengthens their ability to provide consistent, supportive approaches to children. As a result, during the child’s time at the home, they experienced stability and formed secure and trusting relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work effectively and in partnership with health professionals. As a result, the child’s physical and mental health needs were well met. Access to in-house, one-to-one therapeutic support contributed to improvements in the child’s emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child made significant progress in education. Before moving to the home, they had been out of education for over a year. The manager ensured that tailored educational provision was in place, enabling the child to re-engage with learning. Consequently, the child completed SAT examinations and achieved good results. At the point of leaving the home, they had successfully transitioned to a full-time school placement, supporting their academic development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote positive family relationships. They worked proactively with the child’s family to support regular contact, which progressed to unsupervised visits. This strengthened the child’s relationship with their family. A parent commented, ‘The staff were lovely and did a great job at looking after my child.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child moved to a home closer to their family. Staff advocated effectively when delays occurred in the planned move. They ensured the ending was positive by arranging activities chosen by the child. However, communication between this home and the home the child was moving to was not consistently clear, which affected aspects of planning. This is because the manager did not share a clear plan with the staff and the child about what to expect during this time. The social worker for the child said that staff at the new home could have been provided with more information, which would have helped to make the move smoother.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is clean but not maintained to a high standard. Wear and tear is not addressed promptly, and the garden is untidy. This detracts from the overall homeliness of the environment. Although there is a plan to improve the garden, timescales for completion are unclear.

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

The child was protected from harm during their time at the home. Staff understand what Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 4 actions to take to keep children safe. This is because they are provided with clear guidance and training on how to keep children safe. On the rare occasion when staff do not follow children’s plans, the manager ensures that learning takes place through reflective discussions in team meetings and supervision. This helps staff to improve the care they provide to children.

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

Staff provide consistent boundaries that recognise and reward children’s progress. This helped the child to develop the skills to manage their feelings safely. The child’s social worker said, ‘Incidents reduced massively, the child was able to manage their emotions better.’

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

Staff are skilled in using de-escalation techniques. As a result, physical intervention is rarely used and only as a last resort to keep the child safe. The manager has thorough oversight of any measures used. Following the use of physical intervention, children are spoken with to gain their views, and staff engage in restorative conversations following incidents.

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

Staff are skilled are supporting children’s emotional well-being. This helps to reduce risks around children self-harming. Staff respond sensitively to their needs using therapeutically informed care. As a result, the child at this home had improved mental health.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the risks that the internet poses to children. They implement effective strategies to manage these risks. The child received support to access the internet safely, and staff held important conversations about online safety. As a result, the child was able to use the internet and gaming devices safely.

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

New staff members are generally safely vetted. However, the home had not received the most recent employer reference for one new staff member. The organisation made multiple attempts to obtain this reference, but these attempts were not escalated as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager has worked at the home since November 2024 and is working towards her level 5 qualification in leadership and management. The manager is passionate about her role and is committed to providing children with stability. She has high expectations for what children can achieve. This ethos is instilled across the staff team, who deliver high-quality care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have effective monitoring and review systems in place. They usually identify any shortfalls in the quality of care children receive. However, they have not identified or acted on some of the shortfalls in the home environment. The manager has good oversight of any incidents and follows up with identified actions, such as further learning required for staff members. Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 5 Staff say that they feel well supported. One staff member said, ‘The manager has made lots of positive changes, she communicates well and is always child focused.’ Team meetings take place regularly and are an effective forum for developing staff practice. The home’s mental health practitioner attends each meeting. One staff member said this helps to give the team new perspectives and strategies. This supports the staff to work as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision is supportive and child focused. Any performance issues are addressed effectively. This helps staff to improve their practice. Staff supervision does not always take place in line with organisational policy. This means that some staff had not had supervision for the past two months. This impacts on staff’s ability to reflect on their practice and how they are meeting the needs of children in their care. The manager was aware of this shortfall and said that this had been impacted by staff being re-deployed to other homes in the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive training to meet children’s needs. The manager and the mental health practitioner have delivered bespoke training based on the specific child’s needs. Permanent staff are qualified or working towards their qualifications within the required timeframe. This ensures that staff have the required skills and experience to meet children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 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 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

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;

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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)(a)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that the home is maintained to a high standard. Leaders and managers must ensure that staff have regular supervision and that all statutory employment checks are completed prior to staff working at the home. 2 January 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 7

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Recommendation

 Staff must help each child to prepare for any moves from the home. They must plan effectively with staff in the child’s new home to ensure a smooth transition. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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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: 2620366 8

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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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Inspector

Jenny Smith, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2620366 9 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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