Children's Home run by Keys Educational Services Limited in Lincolnshire

Inspection report children's home: SC363422 1 SC363422 Registered provider: Broadwood Education Services

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is one of several run by a large privately-owned organisation.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

p.1

inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

inadequate

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

p.1

inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

This children‟s home is inadequate because:

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 Young people do not feel safe in their own home. They do not have good relationships with each other. Measures to combat bullying in the home have Inspection report children's home: SC363422 2 been ineffective. The manager has not worked with other agencies to establish a more effective response. Staff have not followed the care plan when managing bullying behaviour.  Care planning is weak as it does not provide good information to staff about the young people. Plans are too generic and are not sufficiently tailored to the needs of individual young people. This does not demonstrate an individual approach to care.  Young people have sporadic attendance at school and their achievement is below what is expected. Staff do not communicate effectively with schools. Young people are allowed to go to school in clothes that do not comply with the school uniform policy.  Staff have put young people at risk of harm by leaving keys in the office door.

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

 Impact risk assessments are not accurately completed. They do not demonstrate careful evaluation of the potential impact of new admissions on existing residents.  Complaints from young people and other agencies are not managed well.  Young people‟s views are not taken into consideration when sanctions are imposed.  This home has not had a registered manager since October 2016. During this period there have been four different managers overseeing the home. This has created instability, inconsistency and a lack of clear direction.  Staff want the best for young people and have a willingness to learn. However, they have had a lack of leadership and guidance. This has impacted on their ability to effectively manage the behaviour of the young people.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Senior managers responded positively and quickly to the shortfalls identified, demonstrating a willingness to improve the service provided for young people.

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 31/08/2016 Full Outstanding 23/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/07/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children's home: SC363422 3

p.2

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to involve each child‟s placing authority effectively in the child‟s care, in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans; seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children‟s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(d))

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure effective communication with external agencies to prevent bullying behaviour and encourage school attendance. 31/07/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

p.3

Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans, taking account of the child‟s background; (Regulation 6 (1) and (2)(b)(iv))

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure care plans provide staff with good information to enable them to provide an individual service for each child. 31/07/2017

p.3

Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 31/07/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC363422 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

p.3

Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child‟s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child‟s education and training and to maximise the child‟s achievement;

p.4

Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) and (2)(a)(vi)(x))

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure there is effective communication with schools that young people attend.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11 (1) and (2)(a)(xii)(xiii))

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure effective action is taken in managing bullying behaviour. 31/07/2017

p.4

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.4

Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2)(b))

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, take effective action to reduce bullying behaviour within the home and ensure staff adhere to protocols about keeping keys safe. 31/07/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC363422 5 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that—

p.4

Requirement Due date

ensures that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(e)(h)) 31/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive well-planned care from the home and have a positive experience of admission and transition processes.

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.5

Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to ensure—

p.5

Requirement Due date

that each child‟s relevant plans are followed;

p.5

Requirement Due date

that the child‟s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child‟s relevant plans is requested, when the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet his or her needs. (Regulation 14 (1) and (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(j))

p.5

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that impact risk assessments are accurately completed taking fully into account the child‟s history; that each child‟s plans are followed; that staff work closely with placing authorities and have a good understanding of bullying behaviour and the effects this can have on both the perpetrator and the victim. 31/07/2017

p.5

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”)—

p.5

Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 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 (3)(b)(i)(ii) and (c)) 31/07/2017

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any 31/07/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC363422 6 complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(3))

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not have good relationships with each other. A young person said: „I have been assaulted four times. I‟m getting a bit scared of her now and have asked to move houses.‟ A social worker is concerned that young people are „very separated and isolated as they do not have a friendship group in the home‟. This is because of several incidents of bullying that have taken the form of verbal and physical aggression.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not making good progress at school. Attendance is sporadic and achievement is below what is normally expected. Staff allow young people to go to school in clothing that breaches the school‟s uniform policy. This generates unnecessary conflict with teaching staff which, in turn, makes young people less willing to attend school. Staff do not communicate effectively with schools. School staff complain that they don‟t have a consistent member of staff to talk to, and that they are not always told about important issues. For example, there was no communication from the home prior to a child, who had pierced her own tongue, arriving at school.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care planning is weak as it does not provide good information to staff about the young people. Plans are generic and there are similarities between young people‟s plans. Health plans do not detail known health conditions, and the young people‟s ethnicity is not clearly stated. For example, one young person‟s ethnicity is described as „mixed‟. Not only is this meaningless, but there is no information about how staff can help to promote the young person‟s cultural identity. Care planning does not demonstrate that the individual needs of young people are considered. Furthermore, plans are not adhered to. For example, one plan states that a young person should have a key-working session after a bullying incident. This does not happen.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff talk to young people about their care, and some good key-working conversations have been recorded. For example, young people have been encouraged to watch a drama series about sexual exploitation and have had meaningful discussions with staff after the programmes. This helps young people to have a better understanding of sexual exploitation.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people have good access to health care. They are registered with doctors, opticians and dentists. They also have access to mental health services as well as therapeutic input from a company therapy team.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people benefit from positive contact with their families. Staff facilitate contact in accordance with agreed contact plans. Inspection report children's home: SC363422 7

p.6

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Young people are not protected from bullying and intimidation in their own home. This means they do not feel safe. After bullying incidents, young people have self-harmed, run away from the home or not attended school.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff are not having discussions about inappropriate behaviour after most bullying incidents have occurred. This means that young people do not know that their behaviour is unacceptable. Most key-working sessions are not planned and so do not provide a proactive approach towards helping young people to learn more acceptable behaviour. Furthermore, staff do not provide consequences for bullying behaviour. This means that young people may believe this type of behaviour is acceptable, and the victim of bullying believes that the child doing the bullying „has got away with it‟. This creates a sense of unfairness. A young person said: „When she assaults me, they don‟t give her any punishment and she goes out the next day.‟

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

When young people have been given a consequence to inappropriate behaviour, they have not been asked to comment on the record and the manager has not signed the record to show that they have discussed the consequence with the young people. This does not demonstrate that young people‟s views are taken into consideration.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff have not followed good procedures about keeping keys safe, and this has put young people at risk of harm. For example, staff left the office key in the office door. Young people subsequently accessed the office and took the car keys that were not locked away. They then drove the car up the road. This had the potential to lead to significant harm to young people and other road users. Staff were subsequently directed not to leave keys where they would be accessible to young people. A few weeks later a similar incident occurred except that, on this occasion, a young person handed the office keys back to staff.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Young people have some good relationships with staff. A young person said: „The staff are really nice and supportive.‟ Young people are starting to have trusting relationships with some staff as they have talked about historic abuse. This means staff can begin to help young people have a better understanding of their pasts to enable them to move forward. Good therapeutic support from a company therapist guides staff in their responses to young people during this difficult time. A young person said that staff always intervene when she is being threatened. This ensures that she is not assaulted. However, the lack of proactive work and subsequent discussions or consequences does not mean that she feels safe.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This home has not had a registered manager since October 2016. During this period there have been four different managers overseeing the home. This has created instability, inconsistency and a lack of clear direction. There has also been a high turnover of staff. This means that young people are looked after by staff who are new to Inspection report children's home: SC363422 8 the home and inexperienced with the young people. Furthermore, monitoring systems have not been effective in identifying shortfalls identified in this inspection.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to organise a risk management meeting with external agencies so that they can formulate intervention strategies to reduce or eliminate current bullying behaviour. This has meant there has been a continuation of bullying behaviour, which has escalated in the last few weeks.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Impact risk assessments are completed prior to young people moving into the home, to ensure that the staff team can meet the young person‟s identified needs and that they will not negatively impact on other young people already living in the home, or vice versa. However, these assessments have not been completed properly taking into account all known information, specifically about bullying. This means that young people who are known to be either the perpetrator or victim of bullying have been living together, and there is no clear plan to reduce or eliminate the risk of bullying.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Complaints are not always effectively managed. For example, a young person who made a complaint about being bullied is recorded, in the complaints log, as being satisfied with the response she received. The log states that she received a key-working session to discuss the issue, but no key-working session has been recorded. Furthermore, the young person continues to feel bullied and, therefore, the action taken was ineffective. Additionally, a school made a written complaint to the home‟s manager. School staff say this was responded to, but there is no record of either the complaint or the response. School staff say they are not satisfied with the response they received.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most staff do not currently have an appropriate qualification for their role. Most, however, are enrolled on or completing a relevant qualification. They do present as wanting the best for young people and have a willingness to learn. However, they have had a lack of leadership and guidance. This has impacted on their ability to effectively manage the behaviour of the young people.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior managers responded positively and quickly to the shortfalls identified, demonstrating a willingness to improve the service provided for young people.

p.8

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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 whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

p.8

Information about this inspection

Using the „Social care common inspection framework‟, this inspection was carried out Inspection report children's home: SC363422 9 under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children‟s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the „Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟. Inspection report children's home: SC363422 10

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadwood Education Services

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Hall Hey Road, Rossendale BB4 6HR

p.10

Inspector(s)

Joanne Vyas, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC363422 11 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children‟s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.10

Inspector(s)

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, 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 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.11

Inspector(s)

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

p.11

Inspector(s)

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.11