Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Central Bedfordshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 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 operated and provides care for up to 4 children aged between 11 and 18 of single gender. The home specialises in providing care for children at risk of exploitation.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. The inspector spoke with the child as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left in August 2024. A new manager was appointed in January 2026 and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 2534827 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/05/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/10/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/05/2023 Full Good 26/05/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 3

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Summary of findings

The child living at the home is making positive progress. They are settled and staff know them well. There is a new manager in post who is still embedding new ideas and practice with staff. There are also shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home. These relate to staff training and appraisal, the oversight of consequences, actions in the fire risk assessment, and the quality of care report. Overall, the child is still experiencing good-quality care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child was spoken to and described the home as ‘supportive’. The child is settled and comfortable in the home environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child’s successes. The child is no longer subject to an additional court order. Staff offer praise and recognition to the child about the progress they have made. A party was held to celebrate the child’s progress. This helps the child to feel pride in their actions and feel supported by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child’s education. The child struggles to attend school. Managers and staff work closely with the school to ensure online tutoring is available. Staff support the child to engage in the online tutoring and educational activities during the school day. The child will soon be taking some exams, and staff support them with preparing for these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Key-work sessions take place regularly. Staff talk to the child about a range of topics that are relevant to them. The manager has oversight of all key-work sessions and identifies when further conversations are required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s voice is valued. The child has taken part in a children’s panel for the wider organisation to offer feedback on their experience. The child is encouraged to be part of the organisation and to have their views heard to help make positive changes across the organisation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is not as homely and welcoming as it could be. Some improvements are being made, including a new bathroom floor being fitted during the inspection. However, another bathroom would also benefit from a new floor, but this has not been requested. There are also areas on some walls and skirting boards where repainting is required following some damage. There is also a door that has marks. Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 4

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

Incidents do not happen often. When incidents occur, staff use effective de-esclation skills to support the child. There has been no use of restraint or incidents of the child going missing from home since the last inspection. There is management oversight following all incidents, which identifies any lessons learned.

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

The child has made progress, which means they are no longer subject to a court order. A plan was put in place to support reducing the restrictions in a planned way. This was successful and the child is no longer subject to additional restrictions. The child now has some free time, and this is being regularly reviewed to ensure they develop their own independence safely.

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

Staff work closely with other professionals to support the child. An external exploitation worker visits regularly to support the child. Staff ensure the exploitation worker is informed of any concerns or incidents. The child also works with a mental health practitioner. The practitioner also offers advice and child-specific training to staff to help them to develop their practice and offer tailored support to the child.

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

Not all actions from the fire risk assessment have been completed within the timescales set. This has not impacted on the child’s safety. The actions relate to a fire evacuation plan needing to be in place. Managers took actions during the inspection to start creating this plan.

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

When children receive consequences, the manager does not review if the consequence was sufficiently effective. Therefore, staff could be repeating ineffective actions. It is not always clear about how long consequences are in place for. This means it is not possible to fully determine if each consequence is proportionate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager started in January 2026 and has applied to register with Ofsted. The manager is aware of the areas of development for the home. They have introduced some changes to practice, but these are still being embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager does not have full records for the staff team. The home was not operational for a period during the inspection year, and staff were redeployed to other homes. The manager is not aware if staff have had appraisals completed within timescales. This means staff may not have had their performance appraised. One staff member is out of date for their appraisal, and other staff are likely to be out of date due to lack of records. This means managers and staff members may not be aware of the staff’s skills and areas of development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The quality of care review has not been completed. The last report was up to June 2025. No report has been completed since this date. Although there were no children living at the home for about 6 months of this year, the home remained a registered children’s Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 5 home and therefore a quality of care review should still be completed to identify areas of development. Regulation 45 was also raised as a requirement at the last inspection, and therefore it has been restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Following a complaint from the child, the manager identified that all staff should complete professional boundaries training. This training has not been completed. This means staff continue to work without completing training that is relevant to their roles. The manager has not acted promptly to complete the action they have told the child they will complete.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Supervision sessions take place in line with the home’s policy. These sessions are detailed and include discussions about children and any safeguarding concerns. Regular team meetings ensure that all staff are kept updated and are working in a consistent manner. Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 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

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (1) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, actions set in the fire risk assessment must be completed in the timescales set. 26 June 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 31 July 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(c) (5))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 26 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of children. In particular, ensure walls and skirting boards are repainted where required, bathroom floors look clean and any damaged doors are repaired. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that consequences used are all clearly recorded to show how long the consequence was in place for and evaluated to ensure they were effective. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs. In particular, staff must complete training in professional boundaries as identified in a complaint response. (‘Guide to the Children’s

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Recommendations

Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: 2534827 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: Caretech, Parkview, 82 Oxford Road, Uxbridge UB8 1UX

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Inspector

Leanne Lyon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2534827 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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