Children's home run by Keys Nhcc Ltd in Rossendale

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 is in a poor state of repair. It is not homely and is sparsely decorated. Maintenance repairs are not completed prior to new young people arriving at the home.  Staff training is insufficient. Staff do not have the input they need to be able to develop their skills to provide good-quality care to young people.  Young people do not make progress with their education. Educational arrangements, such as which school young people will attend, lack rigour and are not in place at the start of young people’s placements.  Staff do not always implement risk-management plans when young people go missing. They do not always share important safeguarding information with relevant professionals, such as social workers.  Young people do not always have positive transitions to the home because communication with placing authorities has been ineffective.  Concerns about placing-authority decisions are not escalated to senior

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

managers. Young people are left without the services and input that they need.  Important statutory documents are missing from young people’s files. Staff do not have up-to-date information about placing authority decisions.

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The children's home strengths

 Despite the complexity of young people’s needs, staff remain committed to the young people and want to provide them with good-quality care.  Staff support young people to see their families. Staff keep in contact with young people’s families, and make sure that the families are involved with the placement.  Staff and young people enjoy good relationships with one another. Staff talk openly with young people about the difficulties young people are experiencing.  The registered manager has formed excellent relationships with other professionals, such as the police and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). She works in partnership with them to provide young people with a team approach to their care planning.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that 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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met

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Requirement Due date

To meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(c) that if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

To meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b)(vii) that staff provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

To meet the education standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(x) that staff help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child's relevant plans. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

To meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) that staff 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 16/12/2016 to the child; (ii) that staff help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) that staff have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (v) that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare

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Requirement Due date

(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. 13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

To meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(c) that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

To meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(1)(a) that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home; (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 16/12/2016

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for one young person who has emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 11/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 08/10/2015 Full Good 16/10/2014 Full Good

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Requires improvement

Young people make limited educational progress. Since the last inspection, two young people have been admitted to the home, and both have moved out. Neither of them was in education, and there is a lack of detailed documentation as to how staff supported and promoted their education on a daily basis. There is a lack of planning prior to young people arriving at the home, which means that they do not have an educational placement ready when they arrive. Poor communication between the registered provider and the placing authority has led to one young person’s care planning becoming unstable. For example, the young person was moved to a secure children’s home without the prior knowledge of the registered manager. The same young person was then admitted back into the home without the placing authority communicating this to the registered manager. This led to instability for the young person, and has not promoted their development.

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Requires improvement

Young people’s behaviour-management plans are in place, and take into account young people’s needs. However, they lack detail as to how staff provide individualised care to a young person. For example, the plans do not include detail on how to welcome an individual young person back into the home after they have been missing, or how staff should communicate with, and support, a young person when they are upset. Following damage caused by a young person, the home has required significant repairs and is still in a poor state of repair. At the time of this inspection, a new young person was due to be admitted to the home. Repairs had not been fully completed prior to her arrival, and the home lacked personalisation and did not look like a ‘home’. On occasion, staff have relied on restricting young people’s environment to manage the risks presented by young people. For example, one young person has been using plastic cutlery due to her high risk of self-harm, and

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Requires improvement

ornaments and furniture have been removed. The lack of homeliness potentially means that young people will be less willing to invest in the placement or view it as their home. The environment is not conducive to promoting the well-being of young people. Staff promote young people’s relationships with their families. Staff support young people to see family members they have not had contact with for significant periods of time. Staff liaise with young people’s families regularly, and involve them in the young people’s placement plans. This benefits young people, as they are able to see a joined-up approach from the adults around them. Staff are committed to the young people they care for. Although there has been a significant period of instability due to young people’s highly complex needs and behaviours, staff have remained consistent in their approach to young people. Staff complete key-working sessions with young people regularly. They cover a range of

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Requires improvement

topics with young people, including education, feelings and family relationships. Staff use the positive relationships they have established with young people to engage them in activities such as football clubs and horse riding. They use the advice of other professionals, such as therapists, to inform their practice and the care they provide to young people.

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Requires improvement

Overall, staff keep young people safe. Staff liaise with other professionals, such as CAMHS, to develop their skills and knowledge to best meet young people’s needs. However, this has happened after young people have been admitted to the home, when they have been in crisis, and not as part of the preparation for young people arriving at the home. This demonstrates a lack of preventative, planned risk- management strategies. Young people’s risk-management plans provide staff with guidance as to how to keep young people safe. On occasion, staff have not documented that they have followed young people’s risk-management plans effectively. For example, when a young person has gone missing, documents do not contain enough information about what actions staff took to find them. When young people have been missing, which has been a rare occurrence, they have an opportunity to speak with their social workers about the reasons they went missing.

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Requires improvement

Safeguarding procedures in the home lack rigour. Staff do not always follow up on safeguarding information – for example, when young people have told them important information, or when staff have observed safeguarding issues such as young people’s mobile phone use. Staff have not asked young people important questions that would provide further information for staff to be able to adequately safeguard young people. Staff have not always documented what actions they took to safeguard young people after incidents of substance misuse. They have not always shared safeguarding information with other professionals. This has left young people at potential risk of harm. Young people’s risks around fire are not taken into consideration fully when assessing the home environment. For example, when a young person has a history of fire-setting behaviours, the registered provider has not consulted with the fire service prior to the young person arriving at the home, or soon after the young

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Requires improvement

person has moved into the home. This places both the young person and staff at significant potential risk of harm. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

There is a registered manager in post who is qualified to national vocational qualification (NVQ) Level 5 in leadership and management. Of the 14 staff members, 10 are qualified to national vocational qualification Level 3. All staff have a valid first aid certificate. However, staff lack training in specific important areas, such as drug awareness, child sexual exploitation and going missing, which relate directly to the needs of the young people they care for. Staff lack some of the key skills they need to be able to provide good-quality care to young people. The registered manager is child-focused. She is aware of the strengths of the home, as well as the progress young people have made. She supports her staff team through supervisions and frequent team meetings, which focus on the needs of young people and how best to support them. Good-quality partnership working has led to a team approach around young

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Requires improvement

people’s care planning. The registered manager has established good working relationships with other professionals, such as therapists and the police. However, advice and guidance from other professionals has not always been sought at the beginning of young people’s placements. This has resulted in young people not always receiving the services they are entitled to, such as educational placements. Although the registered manager advocates strongly on behalf of her young people, she has not always escalated concerns in a timely manner. For some young people, this has resulted in them being left in the placement far longer than is acceptable after the provider has assessed that they are unable to keep the young person safe. Potentially, this has impacted on the young person’s safety and well- being in the home. Management oversight has not been rigorous enough. There has been a lack of management oversight of significant incidents, and a lack of learning and

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Requires improvement

development. Management arrangements and management oversight when the registered manager has been on leave have not been sufficient. This has led to confusion regarding one young person’s placement, and a sudden move to another placement without the knowledge of staff or management. As a result, the home is not delivering its Statement of Purpose.

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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 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 that 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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