Children's Home run by Keys Care Limited in Cambridgeshire

Requires improvement

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The home continues to require improvements, both inside and outside, to provide children with a valued environment and one which meets their needs.  Childcare plans present as confused and lacking clarity.  Children’s risk assessments are not always accurate and also lack clarity.  Leaders and managers have not provided with written information about the change to the home’s premises and the potential impact of these changes.  Leaders and managers have not sought the views of significant others, nor have they monitored and reviewed the service effectively to ensure that continuous improvements are made to the quality of care provided in the home.  Impact assessments considering the needs of children entering the home, against those already present, are not accurate.  The children’s guide is not written in an age-appropriate, accessible format for younger children placed.

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The children’s home strengths

 A significant refurbishment project is being undertaken and many rooms in the home offer a cosy, comfortable living environment for children.  New behaviour management plans have made a positive difference. There are significantly fewer negative incidents and the environment presents as a settled home.  All children are accessing, and being supported in, full-time education.  The differing cultural needs of children are met.  Children are supported to access a range of activities and social opportunities.  Some children have experienced a long-term home and have achieved and made progress as a result.  The home has a committed staff group who have worked through a very troubled period in the home. They feel positive about working there and about the changes that they make to young people’s lives.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard: In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that: (2)(c)(i) the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. 29 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: (2)(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 29 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(b)(ii)(iv) protect and promote each child’s welfare and provide personal care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plan, taking into account the child’s background. 29 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard: In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to having up-to-date, comprehensive and accurate risk assessments, the registered person must ensure that staff: 2(a)(i) 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. 29 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must give notice in writing to HMCI if the premises of the home are altered significantly. (Regulation (49)(g)) 29May 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that the registered person only accepts placements for children where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the children’s home produces a children’s guide. It must be age- appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure that they understand it. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)      

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to offer care and accommodation for three children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, between the ages of 11 and 17 years. A private company owns and operates this children’s home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

29 January 2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

4 February 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

At the point of the last inspection, and for several weeks following, the home experienced a significantly chaotic period. Children with a range of complex issues presented staff with an array of challenges to be understood and managed. Staff assisted these children to move on to more specialised placements where their individual needs would be met.

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Requires improvement

Since that time, the home has undergone considerable refurbishment and decoration due to the damage caused. It currently presents as a much improved environment for children to live in. Particular emphasis has been placed on the children’s bedrooms. These now offer a personalised, fresh and cosy space for children to spend time in, and to benefit from relaxation and sleep. However, while these improvements are evident internally, the exterior of the property remains in a poor state. Broken garden furnishings and poor garden maintenance is unlikely to provide an environment which would make children feel that their home is valued.

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Requires improvement

For children coming into the home, the children’s guide offers a comprehensive handbook which sets out the operations and running of the home. However, the guide is pitched at a level for older teenagers. More recently, the home has placed children from its youngest age range. A more age-appropriate guide is therefore required to assist children to settle and to understand how the home operates.

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Requires improvement

Children being admitted to the home fall within the range of needs as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. However, when considering a child as a potential new resident, the home’s impact assessment does not offer a robust pre-admission tool. It does not ensure that all information about the child is considered alongside the situations and presenting behaviours of those children already in placement. The unit is very much recognised as the child’s home, so any new resident should not compromise the safety and cohesion of those already living in the home.

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Requires improvement

The organisation has developed, and very recently introduced, a structured pre- admission process. This coming together of the organisation’s wider professional team considers the child’s presenting needs and creates a well-informed care plan. Staff also have ongoing access to, and the support of, the organisation’s dedicated clinical team to support them in their execution of the care plan and to meet the identified needs of each child.

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Requires improvement

Placement and care planning is currently a weakness in the home’s practice. This is primarily due to a lack of clarity in written plans, and to separate plans holding differing information. This practice does not offer staff clear information to ensure that they are meeting the identified needs of children.

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Requires improvement

Children’s differing health needs are met by staff. Children are registered with all medical personnel as required. Staff are now trained in first aid, ensuring that appropriate attention is available and given in the event of an accident or incident.

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Requires improvement

The organisation has an associated school which all children are attending. For some this is enabled by full staff support throughout the school day. Attendance figures are good and continue to improve. Children at exam level are supported in revision, and their pupil premium is used to supplement this further. Children have progressed in their education, and school leavers are being supported into higher education. Staff have helped to identify appropriate colleges, and have also assisted these children in attending their college interviews. Children’s educational outcomes have been enhanced by the support offered by the home.

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Requires improvement

Children living in the home come from a diverse range of heritage and cultural backgrounds. Staff have spent time researching these specific cultures to expand their knowledge and to reach a level of cultural competence to meet the children’s individual needs. Staff work alongside interpreters to ensure that children remain safe, and contact is positively supported. Some young people particularly enjoy cooking, an activity that regularly involves budgeting and purchasing the ingredients. This is encouraged and supported, both as part of an enjoyable living- together activity and as independence development. Children also access a range of activities and are assisted in undertaking their chosen activity. These activities help to build confidence and social development and offer opportunities for success and achievement.

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Requires improvement

A particular strength in the home’s practice is the development and implementation of a behaviour management plan. Developed by the manager, this document is wholly inclusive of the child’s views. It also helps the child to recognise their own areas of stress and the impact that they have on their well-being. It goes further, in helping them to also identify positive and negative influences in managing their behaviour. The implementation of this excellent tool has made a positive difference. Children are demonstrating that they are more able to self-regulate, recognising and managing their own thoughts and emotions.

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Requires improvement

For one child, this has been her long-term home. A social worker reported: ‘She experienced many previous placements, yet this has been a stable placement for her. She has lived there for almost two years.’ The home has provided her with a consistent and familiar environment where she has been able to settle and achieve in all areas of her life. Recent independence work will also assist her as she moves on from the home in a planned and structured way.

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Requires improvement

Although the staff team was recently formed, they have remained committed to meeting children’s needs and have worked through a very troubled period with the home. They continue to feel positive about working with the children and the changes that they make to children’s lives.

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Requires improvement

During this inspection, the one child available and recently placed chose not to speak with the inspector. However, observations made demonstrated that a closeness had formed between the child and staff and a good rapport had been established. Her social worker commented: ‘She is settling in well and getting support from staff.’ A sound routine has been established for this younger child, offering her consistency and a predictable, safe environment.

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Requires improvement

Staff recognise the value and necessity of forming good relationships with children. They are knowledgeable in how to build rapport and to form relationships considered trustworthy by children. They share an enthusiasm to offer children a good care experience. These established relationships have, in recent times, helped in contributing to the significant reductions in physical interventions, in sanctions being imposed and in missing episodes. There are significantly fewer negative incidents and the environment presents as a settled, ordinary home.

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Requires improvement

There is a shortfall in the children’s risk assessments. Similar to the placement and care planning, these assessments lacked clarity and were not always accurate. Identified risks were not consistently included in the range of paperwork and where a new risk presented itself, information was not effectively updated. Also, considerable refurbishment has been carried out at the home, and external building work has been ongoing for some time. The home has not considered all of these risks or the potential hazards to children, and therefore children’s welfare has not been consistently safeguarded.

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Requires improvement

During the recent troubled times, a number of safeguarding allegations were made. The home liaised appropriately with safeguarding agencies and acted in line with policy and procedure. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The home’s manager has recently gone through the registration process. She brings her past experience to the post, having worked within children’s residential care for the past seven years, both as a practitioner and as a deputy manager. This is her first registered manager’s post and she holds the required level 5 leadership and management diploma. She has brought together a consistent staff group which shares an enthusiasm and commitment to make a difference to the lives of young people in its care.

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Requires improvement

Staff receive regular supervision and, where appropriate, have also had their performance and development noted within annual appraisals. Each member of staff either holds the required level 3 qualification or is working towards it. Upskilling staff through training has been a significant undertaking during the past months. Staff have completed a range of training courses to enhance their knowledge and skills, which underpins their practice. Staff report that the training has given them confidence to manage situations as they arise. Staff are also able to form links between presenting behaviours and possible reasons for these. Children are now receiving care from a more competent and confident staff team.

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Requires improvement

Staff work well with the wider professional team. Regular communication and updates ensure that all involved are aware of current matters relating to children in their care. Staff also work well with parents and family members. Regular communication offers an open forum for up-to-date information sharing, and the facilitation of contact offers direct working opportunities.

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Requires improvement

The manager has not used the monitoring tools available effectively in order to recognise the home’s strength and areas for development. Therefore, development plans for the home are weak. There is a lack of consultation with parents and the wider professional team to obtain their views on service delivery. There is also a lack of management oversight and analysis of incidents within the home. These practices do not effectively ensure that continuous improvements are made to the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requires improvement

The home has failed to notify HMCI of the recent considerable change to the premises: the removal of a significantly large area of the rear garden. The home has also failed to consider how this change will potentially impact on the children in placement.

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Requires improvement

The recently reviewed statement of purpose for the home reflects the current premises, staffing and the ethos and objectives delivered by the home.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against ‘Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection’.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children’s home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children’s home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children’s home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children’s home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children’s home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children’s home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children’s

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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