Children's home run by Keys Cwc Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 1 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people, irrespective of gender, who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

In February 2018, a national organisation acquired this home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted to manage this home in 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: This is the home’s first full inspection since the ownership of the home changed.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: A monitoring visit took place in April 2018 to review the actions taken to meet the compliance notice issued after the interim inspection. This notice was deemed to be met. Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/02/2018 13/07/2017 25/04/2017 Interim Full Full Declined effectiveness Requires improvement Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 3

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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.

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Requirement Due date

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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

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Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 06/09/2018

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The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are 06/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 4 helped to do so.

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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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;

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help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non- attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and 06/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 5 promotes their welfare.

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

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demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received.

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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

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(g)(i)(ii)h))

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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improvement to be good

Staff do not promote and support the children’s learning needs outside of the school day. Leaders and managers have not been successful in obtaining educational reports and assessments for the children in their care. As a result, staff do not know sufficient information about children’s educational progress, targets, attainment and attendance.

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improvement to be good

Consultation with children and seeking their views require improvement. Children’s views about their day-to-day experiences are sought informally every day. However, staff do not formally talk with children about their feelings of being held during an incident. Children’s meetings are frequently refused, and formal key worker sessions do not take place Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 6 regularly.

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improvement to be good

Parents’ feedback about the quality of care is varied. Although two parents agree that their child is safe, one parent expressed concern that behavioural incidents have increased, and said that communication with the home requires improvement. In contrast, the other parent spoke positively about the quality of information shared with them and about how well the staff respond to her child’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences of living together and the progress they are making need to improve. Leaders and managers work with other professionals to assess the risks of children living together. However, in recent months there has been an increase in children displaying challenging and high-risk behaviours. The children’s engagement at school has become problematic, resulting in poor attendance and an exclusion.

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improvement to be good

Each child benefits from living in a physical environment that is warm, welcoming and well maintained. Photographs of children enjoying activities with staff are displayed around the home. Children are relaxed in their environment, and both children said that they feel safe and are happy and enjoy spending time with the staff.

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

Child protection concerns are managed well. The home’s policies and procedures are followed effectively. Since the last inspection, leaders and managers have successfully introduced new safeguarding reporting and recording systems. Safeguarding agencies said that the information sharing by the manager is excellent, and reports provided to them are of a good quality.

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

Complaints are dealt with effectively. Children know how to raise a concern, and their complaints are responded to well. Complaint records are detailed and demonstrate a clear audit trail of the actions the manager takes to address the concerns. Children are kept informed about the outcome of their complaint.

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

Staff support children well to manage their emotions and feelings. When physical interventions are used, they are proportionate and appropriate to manage the seriousness of the risks. Restraint practices are monitored effectively. However, the manager does not always make a record about the actions he has taken when he has identified deficiencies or omissions in restraint records.

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

Missing from home incidents are rare. One reported incident has taken place since the last inspection; this incident was managed well. Staff follow children’s individual missing from home protocols effectively to ensure that the children return quickly and safely to the home.

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

Overall, fire safety is managed well. All staff have received training in the actions to take in the event of a fire. All children and staff who have worked at the home have engaged in a fire evacuation drill. Despite this, the manager has not identified that the frequency of practice evacuations has reduced in the last six months. Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the ownership of the home has changed. Since the new owners took responsibility for the home, there has been an improvement in the management of safeguarding concerns and the decisions made about which children live in the home. As a result, staff morale has improved significantly, and children receive care from a motivated and enthusiastic staff team. Staff said that they now feel listened to and valued.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have not ensured that all staff receive specialist training to help them to understand the children’s needs. For example, training in understanding Asperger syndrome, harmful sexualised behaviour and attention deficient disorders has not been provided. In addition, not all staff have completed or been enrolled on the social care diploma.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Supervision is not used effectively to ensure that staff are provided with the opportunity to reflect on their practice. The frequency of supervision has improved and team meetings are well attended.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff keep detailed records about children’s daily experiences. Recording systems are complex, requiring staff to duplicate information across several different reporting systems. This means that records about children’s progress, key worker sessions and the use of sanctions are not monitored effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Monitoring of the quality of care provided in the home requires improvement. Neither the independent visitor nor the manager has recognised the weaknesses in the records identified during this inspection.

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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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out 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: 1245569 8 Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Keys Group, Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1245569 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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