Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 1 SC424141 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

This privately run home is registered to provide care for up to 6 children with social and emotional difficulties. The home has been closed since February 2024. On 11 June 2025, Ofsted imposed a condition on the home’s registration. This required the provider to notify Ofsted 3 months before it intended to move any children into the home. The provider notified Ofsted of its intention to reopen. On 8 July 2025, a monitoring visit was completed and the home reopened.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 3 children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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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: SC424141 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/04/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/04/2022 Full Good 23/02/2022 Full Inadequate 04/02/2020 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Four children have moved into the home since it reopened. Two of the children moved into the home within 3 days of each other, a week before the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has returned to the care of their parent, moving in and out of the home quickly. The care planning was responsive to the child’s needs, and the manager and staff adapted to the emerging plan. This enabled a positive ending and a smooth transition back to the child’s family home. The child’s parent was complimentary about the care provided to their child. They said staff were ‘brilliant’ and it was ‘like a home from home’ for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Before a child moves in, the manager seeks information from their social worker and people who know them well. The impact assessments completed by the manager do not analyse this information or consider how staff should respond to the child’s identified vulnerabilities. This is a particular worry when children have similar vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the manager has not sought information from all possible sources, such as education and health professionals, to ensure that she gains a holistic knowledge of the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Of the 3 children living in the home, only one child is attending education, although there are barriers to this child regularly attending. The manager liaises with education professionals and social workers to support education attendance for all the children. However, currently, all 3 children lack a clear routine in the day and have limited educational activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Records show that there are regular and frequent conversations between children and staff about things that are important to keep children healthy and safe. Staff appropriately challenge children when needed and children share worries and concerns with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Where possible, staff support children to be in contact with and spend time with their families. The manager proactively ensures that social workers are kept up to date with how children are feeling about this family time, so that children’s voices can inform future care planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has received a significant refurbishment since the last full inspection. The home now feels warm and welcoming. Children’s bedrooms are appropriately furnished, and the environment is kept clean and in good repair.

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

Children said that they feel safe and happy living in the home. Staff have developed positive relationships with the children, which means that there have been very few Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 4 behavioural incidents within the home. When incidents have happened, staff managed them without the need to physically intervene. This aligns with the ethos of the home.

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

When children go missing from home, staff respond appropriately and in line with the children’s plans. Only one child goes missing from home. The manager extensively liaises with relevant professionals to share information and support the child to be as safe as possible. The child has the opportunity to speak to someone independently when they return home, to support an understanding of why they were missing and how this can be prevented in the future.

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

Staff work with children to help them understand their vulnerabilities and to address some of the issues. This includes conversations to educate the children about the risks and to celebrate with them when something positive happens. Since moving into the home, this approach has successfully supported one child who no longer goes missing from home.

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

Children’s vulnerabilities are identified and understood well by the manager and staff. Staff’s responses are age-appropriate and based on each child’s individual vulnerabilities. For example, there are bedroom door alarms installed, but none of these are in use. Children’s privacy is respected when there are no identified risks.

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

However, written documents do not contain the same level of information about the children’s risks and strategies to use. There are also some delays capturing emerging vulnerabilities in written plans, although these are shared verbally with staff. Furthermore, when emerging risks are identified, additional strategies to support staff to manage these are not considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is qualified and experienced. She has recruited a new staff team to reopen the home. For many of the staff, this is their first role working within children’s residential care. However, the manager is aware of the limitations of staff’s experience and feels that staff have relevant transferable skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is evidence of good oversight in response to behavioural incidents, and the manager quickly addresses any issues with staff practice to reduce the opportunity for the same thing to happen again. However, the quality of children’s documents varies. Staff write journals for children to record their day-to-day life in the home. These are written to children, capture love and care from staff and are a strength of the home. However, several more formal documents contain typing errors, including the name of another child on a different child’s file.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision meetings take place monthly and are further complemented by at least one additional spot supervision with staff. However, supervision discussions lack reflection. As the whole staff team is newly recruited, this also means all staff, except the manager, are in their probationary period. Additionally, staff receive regular Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 5 probation reviews to ensure that they meet the minimum requirements of their job description. Team meetings take place monthly, and most of the team attends. The manager uses the time well to discuss various topics, including talking about the children. There is often time spent upskilling staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s social workers share positive experiences of working with the staff and manager. They commented on the positive communication and said that they were kept up to date with children’s day-to-day care. All professionals spoken to said that children were safe and the manager had supported children’s transitions. Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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; 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure a thorough assessment of vulnerabilities takes place before children move in. The assessment must consider the risks of all children and the potential impact of the child moving in. When vulnerabilities are identified, clear strategies for staff to address these must also be identified. 16 February 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children attend education in line with their plans. When children cannot attend education, there must be a plan developed to ensure that children continue to receive appropriate education, in line with their needs and care plan. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that children’s records are factually accurate and that any mistakes do not change the meaning or context of the records or hinder them being used for their purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 7  The registered person should ensure that staff receive supervision which supports and allows them to reflect on their practice, with a view to improving. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph

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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: SC424141 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: 4 th Floor, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Joanne O’Donnell

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Inspector

Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC424141 9 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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