Children's home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Birmingham

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young

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people are not protected, their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded,

their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress.

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

 Young people living in this home do not have their welfare safeguarded. Young people are exposed to emotional and physical abuse from their peers. They are threatened and assaulted.  Some staff have raised concerns with the registered manager and the director for children’s services. They do not feel that their concerns have been taken seriously. They are concerned for their own safety and the safety of the young people.  At times, the young people have the balance of power in the home. They have control of the home. Some young people continually use poor, abusive and threatening language towards each other and the staff. Staff fail to challenge this. A culture has developed whereby staff try to avoid situations escalating by not challenging the young people.  Physical intervention in the home is used on a regular basis to try to protect the staff and young people from harm. At times, the use of this intervention

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

has been inappropriate. Young people are unhappy about this and were able to describe other ways that staff could respond to them more positively.  There is a current staffing shortage in the home due to a high level of staff sickness. The organisation has failed to ensure that effective contingency planning is in place to address this. As a result, the manager has been undertaking shifts, resulting in him not effectively managing the home.  There has been a high level of damage to the home. Not all of this damage has been repaired in a timely way. This has resulted in the home looking neglected.  Staff fail to actively engage young people in activities. There is a recognised culture of staff spending lots of time in the office, leaving young people to their own devices. This has resulted in young people being bored and trying to gain the attention of staff through poor and challenging behaviour.  Staff fail to ensure that young people refusing or not attending education

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The children’s home provision is inadequate because:

are provided with structure to their day. One young person was allowed to stay in bed until nearly lunchtime. Another spent time listening to loud music and using the internet in their bedroom. There is a lack of educational encouragement or aspirational thinking by staff.

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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

In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must ensure: (1) that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure: (a) that staff: (iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child overcome any such barriers (iv) help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment (v) promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. 20 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationship standard, the registered person must ensure: (1) that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from relationships based on: (a) mutual respect and trust (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour (c) positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure: (a) that staff: (i) meet each child’s emotional and behavioural needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the 7 June 2016 child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding (viii) strive to gain each child’s respect and trust (ix) understand how children’s previous and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children

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Requirement Due date

(x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children do the same (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (1) that children are protected from harm and are enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure: (a) that staff: (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (b) 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. 20 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard*

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must ensure: (1) that the registered person enables. Inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that: (a) helps children to fulfil their potential 7 June 2016 (b) promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to: (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on: (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this requirement, the registered person must ensure that: (1) no measure of control of discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child (2) the following measures may not be used to discipline any child: (c) any restriction, other than one imposed by a court or in accordance with regulation 22 on: (i) a child’s contact with parents, relatives or friends. 20 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this requirement, the registered person must ensure that: (1) restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing: (a) injury to any person (including the child) (b) serious damage to the property of any person (including the child) (2) restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. 20 June 2016 36: Children’s case records

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this requirement, the registered person must: (1) maintain records (case records) for each child which: (b) are kept up to date (c) are signed and dated by the author of each entry. 20 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet this requirement the registered person must: (4) notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if: (e) there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious, in particular when young people are physically assaulted. 20 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered for three children or young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural issues. The home is part of a large national organisation.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

12 February 2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

19 February 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inadequate

Young people who do not attend school are not provided with structure to their day. Young people reported getting bored as a result of this approach to their care. Some staff were not able to provide the inspector with details of any educational activities that they might do with young people. There is a lack of aspirational thinking and educational encouragement for young people. As a result, educational progress is hampered. Young people report feeling emotionally distressed living in this home. One young person who had not self-injured for a period of time has started displaying some superficial, but worrying behaviours. Staff reported that this was due to them being so unhappy living in this home. Young people report not feeling cared for or listened to. They are able to identify the inconsistencies in the care provided to them and their peers. Young people stated to the inspector that they have learned that the best way to get what you want is to display

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Inadequate

aggressive and challenging behaviour. This leaves young people who do not demonstrate these behaviours feeling marginalised and treated unfairly. One young person feels so angry about house rules not being consistently applied that they have taken it upon themselves to write new rules in an attempt to try to regain some control and order in the house. Young people who have made complaints are not always satisfied that their concerns have been taken seriously. Not all complaints are effectively managed. Some complaints are dealt with superficially or over authoritatively. Lessons are not learned from complaints. One young person was found to be wearing shoes with large holes in the soles. When asked about this, the young person reported to the inspector that this was due to the brakes on their bike not working. They reported that the only way to stop their bike is to use their feet. The inspector examined the young person’s bike and found no brakes. This

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Inadequate

demonstrates neglectful parenting. Young people are not consistently provided with positive and good role models. For example, one young person returned to the home with a bike that does not belong to them and subsequently painted it with white emulsion. Staff failed to challenge the young person about this bike, to support the young person to hand it in to the police station or to return it to where it was found. Staff fail to challenge young people about their regular use of poor, abusive and threatening language and behaviours towards staff and each other. Staff instead try to placate the behaviours with such things as going for a cigarette with young people. This avoidance adds to young people not feeling safe and secure in their home. Relationships in the home are poor. Young people do not feel that their relationships with staff are built upon trust or respect. Relationships between young people are, at times,

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Inadequate

abusive. This results in a volatile and, at times, unpredictable environment. The home looks neglected, both inside and outside. Damage caused to the fences has not been repaired in a timely way. The garden is overgrown and needs some urgent attention. The grounds do not encourage young people to enjoy the outside space. One young person said to the inspector, ‘This house does not feel like a home; look at the state of it.’ The home lacked some basic cleaning. Paintwork is tired and requires freshening up.

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Inadequate

Young people reported to the inspector that they do not feel safe living in this home. One young person’s description was, ‘This isn’t a house any more, it’s a war-zone.’ Another young person stated, ‘I didn’t feel safe, and I couldn’t get to sleep’. Their views about their safety were echoed by some of the staff. At times, young people gain control of the home and dangerous, highly aggressive incidents occur. While staff do their best to contain these incidents, young people are being emotionally and physically harmed in the process. Some incidents are completely out of control and young people and staff are assaulted, as a result. Staff reported to the inspector that they have raised concerns about unmanageable, high- risk situations with leaders and managers. Staff report that they do not feel listened to and stated that they felt that the focus of the organisation was not on the young people. Physical intervention has been used in the home inappropriately. For example, staff have

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Inadequate

physically removed young people from the office rather than look at other ways of deflecting and engaging young people. This had led to small incidents escalating very quickly into dangerous and abusive situations. Not all staff working at the home have received the appropriate training to ensure that they can manage behaviours safely. This has resulted in some co-workers feeling unsafe and feeling unable to manage situations safely, should they arise. The registered manager has recently identified a high level of medication errors. There was some delay in these errors being identified. This poor practice has been addressed with staff. The manager has put in place an action plan to try to reduce the risk of this happening again.

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Inadequate

The registered manager has failed to respond effectively to concerns raised in respect of poor and unacceptable practice. As a result, this poor practice has continued. The inspector raised the practice concerns with a senior leader during the inspection and she immediately took action to deal with them. The manager has failed to ensure that he actively and regularly monitors the quality of care provided. He has failed to have oversight of incidents in the home. There are no effective systems in place to enable the manager to consider triggers and themes for challenging behaviours. The approach to incidents has not been reviewed to look at risk- reduction strategies. The registered manager has failed to ensure that care planning documents are up to date and that they reflect the current concerns and risks in the home. The management oversight of documentation is poor. This has resulted in a lack of focus on outcomes for

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Inadequate

young people and, at times, an ad hoc approach to care and de-escalation of incidents. The manager has failed to ensure that staff receive regular and meaningful supervision. The independent visitor for the home has highlighted this following their visits. No effective action has been taken to ensure that supervision is prioritised. The registered manager reported that this was due to the current staff shortage and him needing to cover shifts. There is no effective contingency plan in place to support these difficult times. Staff report that they are not currently feeling listened to about their concerns for the safety of the young people in the home. Staff have raised their concerns to the registered manager and senior leaders within the organisation. This has added to the current significantly low morale of the staff team.

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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 children looked after 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 children looked after 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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