Children's Home run by Keys Cwc Limited in South Gloucestershire

Unique reference number SC374640 Inspection date 14/01/2014 Inspector Paul Clark Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 25/04/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children's home is owned by a public limited company. The group has eight children's homes, three semi-independent units and a school. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning disabilities. At any given time, two children can be accommodated under short-break arrangements and one child can live at the home as a permanent living arrangement.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress .

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Progress

At the time of this Interim Inspection an assistant manager and a care worker were on duty caring for a single young person. The young person was receiving home tutoring from a teacher from their placing authority. An officer from the agency was also present who was conducting a health and safety review of the home. At a later stage in the inspection the registered manager arrived. High staff to child ratios help to provide a good level of care.

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Progress

The children's guides for the home are detailed and comprehensive and provide young people with full information about the home and avenues of support. This helps young people to feel safe and be kept safe. The recommendation from the previous inspection report that the children's guide for short term breaks contains the contact details of the Children's Rights Director has now been met. The data summaries of completed questionnaires returned from children, young people and parents, staff, placing social workers and independent reviewing officers indicated that stakeholders feel that the home provides a good level of care and that the home consults them about ways to improve the service. However, the inspector shared with the assistant manager that although the majority of placing authority social workers thought that they were consulted about their views of the running of the home, one stated that they were not.

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Progress

The home’s Statement of Purpose was last reviewed in August 2013, it is comprehensive in content and includes the home's aims and objectives. Regular review of the statement helps to ensure that all stakeholders know what the home currently provides and what its overall intentions are.

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Progress

A number of notifications of significant events which were received from the home by Ofsted related to another of the agency's homes and not Overleaze. The agency's central office had incorrectly submitted these to Ofsted using the 'Overleaze' registration number. This was reported to the agency's headquarters office by the inspector in September 2013. This error has not occurred since. At the inspection the home claims to have made four notifications since the time of the last inspection but these have not appeared on Ofsted's system for recording notifications. Upon examination it was found that the home had submitted the notifications to Ofsted without the inclusion of the home's registration number and therefore these notifications have not been recorded by Ofsted. The details of these four notifications were made available to the inspector during the inspection and these were discussed with the assistant manager. One dated 26th September 2013

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Progress

referred to a young person who had an accident whilst at the agency's school. A second dated 27th November 2013 referred to a young person injuring his hand whilst on a trip out. Medical attention was sought in both cases and appropriate action taken. The third dated 5th December 2013 referred to an external agency staff member making a complaint about the conduct and professionalism of a permanent staff member. This complaint is currently subject to an internal enquiry. The permanent staff member who is the subject of the complaint is not being allowed unsupervised access to young people while this enquiry is being conducted. The fourth notification dated 28th December 2013 refers to a young person suffering a seizure. Medical attention was sought and the appropriate authorities informed. The failure to ensure that notifications are correctly submitted to Ofsted means that young people may not be properly safeguarded.

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Progress

The home's record book of concerns and complaints received did not contain the details of the recent complaint made by the external agency staff member on 5th December 2013. Failure to keep a written record of complaints received is not indicative of effective leadership and management of the home.

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Progress

Monthly monitoring visits are carried out by a member of the organisation who is independent of the home. These visits were unannounced and written reports carried out by the independent visitor indicate that the home is being effectively run. One comment in the report was about the need to continue with the updating of the décor and carpets in the home. This has been planned for the coming month to include the inclusion of a sensory room in the home. The latest quality assurance report under Regulation 34 dated January 2014 contained all the data required by Schedule 6. Effective responding to external monitoring improves the quality of care for young people.

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Progress

There has been a change of the responsible individual since the last inspection and an updated certificate is now in place.

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Progress

Ofsted records were checked and it was found that here has been no enforcement activity necessary within the last inspection year.

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Progress

The young people said that they were positive about their experiences in the home. They were assisted by staff in food preparation and enjoyed cooking and presented the inspector with a cup cake that they had made earlier in the day. They were pleased that there were improvements made to the décor and furnishings in their room. They felt that they had good relationships with the staff.

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Progress

Staff told the inspector that there are weekly house meetings where young people are able to comment on the standard of their care and make any requests for changes and improvements in their day to day living arrangements. Parents are always included in care plan reviews and are sent written copies of the reviews. This allows them to contribute to the plan and raise any views about the standard of their children's care.

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Progress

The manager conducts periodic questionnaire surveys of all stakeholders and the findings from these are used to construct a development plan. Included in the latest plan are proposals for additional Makaton training for staff, and for improvements to the internal and external environment including the provision of a sensory room and external play equipment.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that a written record is made of any complaint received. (Regulation 24(5)) 15/01/2014

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person has a system in place to notify Ofsted of any of the events listed in Schedule 5 without delay. (Regulation 30(1)) 15/01/2014

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

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