Children's home run by Keys Education Ltd in Rossendale

Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 The registered person has failed to keep young people safe in this home. She has not followed safeguarding procedures.  Physical interventions are disproportionate and the recording does not document the reasons for the use of significantly restrictive restraints, such as floor holds. Staff do not de-escalate incidents prior to physical interventions being used.  Staff have failed to adequately supervise young people. They have not implemented young people’s risk management plans. This has led to significant safeguarding concerns, such as young people alleging sexually inappropriate incidents occurring.  Staff do not listen to young people when they tell them important information about their safety in the home. Staff do not follow safeguarding procedures by referring allegations or concerns about staff practice.  Partnership working is poor. Staff do not seek the advice or guidance of professionals such as health professionals after young people have taken

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

substances.  Fire risk management is weak and does not take account of incidents in the home such as young people smoking in their bedrooms.  Staff are inadequately trained to be able to understand and manage young people’s complex behaviours. As a result, behaviour management is weak and there is an over-reliance on physical interventions.  Management oversight is weak and ineffective. The registered manager is not child-focused. She has failed to listen and act upon young people’s allegations and concerns about staff practice.  The registered manager has not rigorously investigated young people’s allegations of harm. As a result, she has failed to promote young people’s safety and well-being.  Supervision provided to staff is ineffective and does not challenge poor staff practice. It does not focus on the young people’s needs, safety or progress.  The registered manager does not instil a culture of change and progress

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

within staff practice. She does not challenge staff practice so as to improve the quality of care that young people receive. Staff do not learn from significant incidents and staff practice remains poor and potentially unsafe.

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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 (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

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 the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard. In order to meet the positive relationships standard, the registered person must ensure that staff— (2) (a) (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard. In order to meet the protection of children standard, 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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern 25/09/2016 about a child's welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies; (b) that the home's day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so

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Requirement Due date

as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; (c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health; and (e) that the effectiveness of the home's child protection policies is monitored regularly.

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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 enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children's home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare; (2) (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; (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) (ii) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate (Regulation 20 (2)). 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that they comply with the requirements of the Fire Reform Order 2005 (a) and any regulations in it (Regulation 25 (2) b)). 25/09/2016 The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience (Regulation 33 (4) (b)). 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure (Regulation 35 (3) (a) (v)). 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’) has spoken to the user about the measure (Regulation 35 (b) (i)). 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure (Regulation 35 (c)). 25/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child (Regulation 36 (1) (a)). 25/09/2016

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to eight young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home runs a 12-week programme which focuses on engaging young people with activities. As part of the programme, young people spend periods of time away from the children’s home either camping or in bunkhouses.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

14/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inadequate

The quality of young people’s individual care is poor. Staff do not have an understanding about young people’s histories and the impact that this has had on their current behaviours. For example, some staff have bought inappropriate newspapers for young people with sexualised behaviours. Behaviour management plans are weak. They do not identify the individual needs of young people and how staff should respond to each young person. There is a lack of child-focused behaviour management strategies. Staff do not pay due care or give consideration to the young people’s identified behaviour management strategies or young people’s complex histories. For example, male staff have physically restrained a young female in a manner which has the potential to be traumatic given her complex history. Behaviour management is ineffective. Young people’s risks are not taken into account when considering them being placed together. Staff have failed to

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Inadequate

intervene on occasions when young people have been physically abusive to one another. Young people spend periods of time away from the home camping or in bunkhouses. However, when they come together as a group, this has led to incidents occurring. Staff have ineffectively managed this and this failure has led to incidents of young people barricading themselves into rooms. Staff are not learning from previous incidents and the registered manager has failed to support staff to learn from incidents. For example, there is no policy to address young people barricading themselves in rooms. Staff are reactive to managing crisis situations and rely on physical interventions rather than de-escalation. Poor partnership working with health professionals means that young people’s health is not promoted. After occasions when young people have told staff that they have used substances, staff do not link with health professionals to safeguard

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Inadequate

against any potential impact on young people’s health. Young people do not have regular health check-ups. Young people’s case files do not contain all of the necessary paperwork needed, such as looked after children health assessments. This means that staff do not have the vital information which they need to be able to inform their practice and promote young people’s welfare. The young people’s home environment is not safe, nor does it promote young people’s welfare. Due to the nature of the service, which offers young people a 12- week programme when they are in ‘crisis’, young people spend significant periods of time away from the actual home, either camping or in bunkhouses. Some young people say that they do not like this and wish to be settled in one place. The conditions of some of the bunkhouses are poor. They are remote and isolated with some having inadequate heating. Risk assessments are poor and do not take into

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Inadequate

consideration the location, heating, lighting or fire safety. When camping, young people are in a tent on their own while two members of staff share the other tent nearby. Staff do not consider the emotional impact that this may have for some young people. The main children’s home lacks personalisation. For example, there are no photographs of young people, there is no warmth in the environment and there are no soft furnishings. It does not provide young people with a nurturing environment. For some young people, activities such as kayaking, sailing, adventurous jumping and fishing, improves their self-esteem. Young people have education on-site and some have started learning again after a significant period away from an educational setting. Some young people have increased their self-esteem and self- confidence from this placement. Some placing authorities highlight the progress that some young people have made since being placed in this home. However, it is

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Inadequate

not clear as to the purpose of this home. There is more of a focus on outdoor pursuits. This has resulted in staff not focusing on safeguarding or ensuring that they fulfil their roles as residential childcare workers. Poor management oversight and a total failure to keep young people safe have overshadowed any positives.

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Inadequate

The registered person has failed to keep young people safe in this home by not following the organisation’s safeguarding procedures. For example, they have not referred young people’s allegations in a timely manner. On an occasion when a young person stated that a member of staff had physically harmed them, staff refused to allow them medical treatment or to call the police. The registered manager failed to investigate the allegation thoroughly. This meant that a young person was left at risk. The registered manager has failed to thoroughly investigate any of the young people’s allegations or complaints. There is an over-reliance on managers believing that they know staff and so disbelieve young people’s allegations. This is unsafe, completely unacceptable and unprofessional practice. Poorly recorded documents and poorly investigated allegations have placed young people at risk of harm. Young people do not have outcomes to their allegations or

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Inadequate

complaints. There is a total lack of focus on the young people and staff do not listen to them. Physical interventions are disproportionate to the behaviour displayed and do not promote young people’s emotional well-being. A number of physical interventions have included holding young people face down on the floor. While this is a recognised method of intervention, the recording of the interventions does not provide adequate reasoning for staff using such significant physical interventions. Staff do not tell young people prior to restraining them on the floor. They do not document the measures that they take to try to de-escalate situations. Physical interventions do not take into account young people’s traumatic histories or complex needs. For example, two male members of staff physically restrained a female young person on her bed in an unrecognised hold. The registered manager did not investigate this, nor did she debrief staff to ascertain their reasoning for

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Inadequate

such a restraint. Physical intervention recording does not document how staff helped young people to recover after physical interventions. Young people do not have opportunities to provide their views regarding physical interventions. Consequently, there is a serious failure to review any of the risk management strategies or to learn new ways of managing difficult situations. Staff do not have an understanding about safeguarding. They do not implement young people’s risk management plans which detail the required levels of supervision. Young people have shared allegations with staff about other staff members practice; neither the staff nor the registered manager have referred these allegations in line with procedure. Poor staff supervision of young people and a lack of implementation of risk management plans, has resulted in occasions when young people have alleged that they have smoked cannabis with one

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Inadequate

another, kissed other residents and, on one occasion, had sex with one another in their bedrooms. Sometimes, staff have failed to pass this information on to the relevant professionals in line with child protection procedures. There is a lack of learning from incidents as staff do not ask young people important questions, such as how they got the cannabis. Consequently, such incidents continue to occur and these place young people in continuing positions of risk The registered person has failed to ensure that young people’s physical environment is safe. Fire safety is weak. The fire safety risk assessment does not take into account incidents of young people smoking in their bedrooms. A significantly high proportion of staff are not up to date with their fire training. This places young people at significant risk of harm within the home.

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Inadequate

The registered manager is qualified to National Vocational Qualification level 5 in leadership and management. Out of 44 members of staff, only 21 of them are qualified to National Vocational Qualification level 3 in children and young people. Some staff have worked within the home for a significant period of time without obtaining the appropriate required qualification. The lack of management oversight in this home is inexcusable. The registered manager has failed to promote the welfare and safety of young people. She has not listened to the young people in her care resulting in the voice of young people being lost. For example, although she has referred allegations to the designated officer in the local authority, she has not ensured that she has objectively investigated allegations and ensured that staff practice has been safe or robust. The registered manager has relied on ‘knowing’ staff rather than investigating

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Inadequate

young people’s concerns. Consequently, she has failed to promote their welfare and safety. Supervision is ineffective. It is of poor quality, infrequent and it does not focus on young people’s needs or staff practice. The registered manager does not enable staff to learn after significant incidents. She has not challenged staff practice when it has been unsafe or when there have been concerns. As such, staff practice does not change and young people continue to not be heard when they raise concerns. Training is poor. Staff do not have adequate training in important areas such as safeguarding, advanced physical interventions and substance misuse. Senior members of staff have not completed current safeguarding training but have overseen safeguarding investigations. These safeguarding investigations have not followed the organisation’s safeguarding procedures. The registered manager has failed to place importance on staff having the skills and understanding regarding

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Inadequate

young people’s behaviour and emotional needs. This means that staff are failing to provide a safe environment for young people. Consequently, staff are failing to deliver services in line with the aims of the home’s statement of purpose. Through this inspection, the registered manager has become aware of the failures within the home. However, management monitoring, as well as external monitoring of the home has been inadequate and deficient and has not identified safeguarding concerns and areas of risk. The registered manager has told inspectors of her commitment to rectify the failures identified during this inspection to make sure that young people are safe in her care. The registered person has started to implement a robust action plan to address the shortfalls and to safeguard young people. The responsible individual has stated that she will not be admitting any more young people in the home until the failings have been

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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 that 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, workbased 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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