About us

Eleven years ago Cavendish Care was founded with a view to providing the best care available for young adults with learning disabilities. Sue Keshavarz joined as General Manager and began to identify staff with the relevant qualifications and experience. The background of all the staff was working with people with autism and it was noted that there was a severe lack of residential care homes for young people leaving children’s services with autism and challenging behaviour.

One of the main principles of the company is that we have never rushed to fill a home; we believe strongly that the compatibility of the client group outweighs the need to fill homes quickly and subsequently, Chippings (the first home) took over a year to fill with the appropriately mixed client group. We feel it is indicative of this principle that in the twelve years Cavendish Care has been running, only three clients have moved on due to a severe change in needs. Within two years of Chippings opening, all members of staff were involved in the accreditation process with the National Autistic Society, of which we remain members today. Many of these staff members are still working within the company ten years on and we are proud to say that in an industry that is well known for its high turnover of Support Workers, many of our staff throughout the homes have been with us for five years or more. Over the eleven year period we have gone on to open a further five residential homes and five supported living provisions.

All our houses within Cavendish Care work to Care Quality Commission (CQC) National Minimum Standards that relate to our particular service (copies of inspection reports may be accessed through their web site). We aim to achieve excellent ratings for all our services.

Cavendish Care is proud of its staff and we believe in the importance of investing in our employees. Two years ago we moved into new offices which hold a training room. In the past we found external training companies could offer training only to certain sized groups which produced delays for us. Over a year ago we employed a full-time qualified trainer within the company. We are now working towards Investors in People.

New staff members are required to complete a two week induction that will include mandatory training such as; Safeguarding Adults, Equality and Diversity, Learning Disability Qualification, Health and Safety etc. After their three month probationary period, all staff will be asked to carry out their NVQ training (if not already completed). In addition all existing staff refresh their mandatory training annually and attend additional courses such as Autism Awareness, Responding to Aggressive Behaviour, TEACCH, PECS, Epilepsy, Working Alone, Makaton and any course or conference we feel is relevant to our field.

Team meetings are held on a monthly basis. Staff members have regular supervisions and in addition have key worker supervisions. Managers of all the houses work very closely together and with all staff and there is an open policy that enables all staff to approach all lines of management at any time.

Sue Keshavarz (General Manager) visits all the houses throughout the week to support both staff and clients/tenants and to discuss issues if required with managers.

Managers' meetings and Assistant Managers' meetings are held on a monthly basis. On-call meetings are held when required. All the managers have a very positive working relationship and are enthusiastic and supportive of the company.

We believe in working closely with clients'/tenants' families, advocates and friends. We offer a transition that is appropriate to the needs of the client/tenant and work closely with the families to ensure this is successful. Upon transition tenants are given a Care Plan. The Care Plan is an ongoing working document that is regularly updated. It includes a summary of history and of assessed needs and will set out objectives for the person’s health and social needs. It will identify how this can be organised and delivered. Care Plans will always include a review date.

A timetable will be established that will meet the needs, choice and decisions of the client/tenant. It will be structured and staff will be allocated to support whenever needed.

A Service User Plan will be developed to show the services and facilities that will be provided to the client/tenant.

A key worker will be allocated and together with the client/tenant a Person Centred Plan will be developed. This is a continuous working document that shows all aspects of the client’s/tenant’s life, what they would like to achieve and how staff can support them to reach their goals.

All areas of client/tenant every day living is fully risk assessed. Risk assessments are graded at low, medium and high and are reviewed accordingly. The maximum time between reviewing is six months.

As a company we feel it is important to work closely with outside agencies involved with our client group. To this end we employ our own College Co-ordinator based full-time at Central Sussex College. Several of our clients attend this college along with East Surrey, Caterham and Brinsbury. The role of the Co-ordinator is to oversee the smooth running of everything associated with it and enable our clients to benefit fully from their experiences at college including learning, socialising and communicating. Many of our clients are supported on a 1:1 basis by Cavendish Care staff and the Co-ordinator is responsible for these staff when attending college. This ensures the staff and clients are always well represented.  The College Co-ordinator works very closely with clients/tenants, their Key Workers and Service Managers to ensure that the correct college courses are in place for them which in turn gives maximum benefit to all attending. We are the only company that has their own on site College Co-ordinator which also incorporates two full-time members of staff working solely at the colleges on our behalf; all these factors have helped us to gain an excellent and well-respected reputation.

Obviously college does not always meet the needs of some of our clients/tenants in which case the timetables will still be structures with activities that may cover the following choices; music, drama, aromatherapy, art sessions, pottery sessions, access to sensory rooms which is located in one of our houses and was set up by ROMPA), home management, hydrotherapy, swimming, horse riding, life skills courses and others.

With many of our clients looking towards employment we have our own Placements Officer. It is her role to work closely with other agencies and employers to establish suitable work experience placements with a view to possible future employment; this has proved successful so far in many cases. In fact, in one young man’s case, he was awarded Volunteer of the Year 2007 for his work on the computer he carries out at Furni Aid. Another young man was offered part-time paid employment at Asda after 18 months work experience and he has now been with them for more than two years and receives all the benefits offered to staff there. We positively promote work experience for all clients/tenants even though many of them will always need 1:1 support from our staff.

Specialist services resources are stretched and often problems have been resolved by the time a client/tenant is seen. As a company we wished to resolve this problem so we sponsored one of our managers to gain a diploma in Positive Behavioural Support at the Tizard University of Kent. This has proved so successful and beneficial to some of our clients that we are continuing to sponsor her to do Applied Behavioural Analysis Graduate diploma. In September 2009 we are sponsoring another manager to obtain a degree in Autism. In addition we have our own company Communications Officer who can set up and maintain communication aids that are appropriate to the clients’/tenants’ needs. The company has a Medications Officer who audits all medication on a monthly basis and trains new staff fully in the handling of medication before they are able to administer.

Clients’/tenants’ leisure time is kept as structured as required to meet their needs and choices. Some of the evening or weekend activities include; gym, trampoline, pub visits, trips to the cinema or theatre, bowling, dance nights, social clubs, theme parks, trips to the coast, long walks and picnics. Staff remain on a consistent rota throughout evenings and weekends too. In addition we run a holiday project which incorporates various days out to places of educational interest and fun. All these activities are planned between the Key Worker and their client and help to keep timetables structures during college holiday periods. All houses have at least one vehicle to assist with transport and, where required, there are additional vehicles which can be used. We also encourage the use of public transport with support. There is also an annual holiday arranged where possible; we have had many successful holidays over the years including Center Parcs, Ireland, Butlins, Euro Disney, Tenerife, Haven camps, Scotland. In addition long weekends away are arranged in hotels or camping. Clients/tenants choose to attend these with their peers or on an individual basis.

We aim to give the clients choice in their lives with appropriate support and guidance, keeping them safe but letting them learn through experience. We aim to encourage them to achieve as much independence as possible and to take control of their own lives as far as they are able to.

Cavendish Care is a forward-thinking company and we are 100 % committed to providing an excellent service to all our clients and tenants. We continue to be excited and enthusiastic about the future.