Children's home run by Keys QTC Limited

Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 1 SC009653 Registered provider: Quality Time Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to six young people and it describes itself as a crisis centre. The home accommodates young people for up to 90 days. The home is managed and operated by a private provider. The home runs a programme that focuses on engaging young people with activities. As part of the programme, young people spend periods of seven days away from the main children’s home in temporary accommodation. Accommodation includes caravans, cottages and tents. Young people return to the main children’s home every six weeks.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 November 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 12 December 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2017 Full Good 02/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/09/2016 Full Good 09/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 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

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met, children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, staff adhere to the policies and procedures regarding children and staff smoking tobacco. 26/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure 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 to the child; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 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; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; and 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 26/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and that the training available meets the needs of the children in their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should develop and implement an internal quality assurance monitoring and reviewing system to ensure that practice is consistently good and ensure the continuous improvement of practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.54)

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Recommendations

 As well as longer-term support for children to move on from the home effectively (regulation 6(2)(b)(vi)), the home has an important role in supporting each child leaving the home in the period immediately before their departure. The registered person should work with the placing authority to ensure that each child’s transition is planned and help each child to prepare for leaving both practically and emotionally. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 57, paragraph 11.9)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. 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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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people make good progress living here. They benefit from individual care and support. They have structured daily routines, which have a positive impact on their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people arrive with a history of persistent risk-taking behaviours. From the day that they arrive, instances of the risk-taking behaviour reduce.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have good relationships with staff. Staff speak positively about the children and support them to have positive outcomes. When relationships are not positive, managers and staff intervene. They resolve the issues, and furthermore provide the required support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people access educational activities daily. They appear to like the activities on offer and engage well. When children disengage with the programme, staff Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 5 overcome the issues at the earliest opportunity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are not prepared to move on to independent living. In these instances, there are no statutory pathway plans in place. Consequently, young people are not aware of their plans and what this means for them.

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improvement to be good

The home is well maintained and there have been improvements made to the accommodation over recent months. The settings off-site are also in good repair. However, the health and safety arrangements for the off-site settings do not reflect that of the registered setting. Furthermore, the risk assessments for off-site accommodation do not consider the potential risks of harm to children and staff. Consequently, safety plans are not robust enough and children and staff are at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments and plans are not always accurate. Furthermore, they are generic and not individual to the child. As a result, strategies to reduce risk-taking behaviour, and to keep children safe, are not clearly identified.

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improvement to be good

Placement matching has improved over recent months. However, there have been occasions when children have not been appropriately matched to the setting. In these instances, children’s behaviours have escalated, and they have put themselves at risk. In addition, they have assaulted staff. Consequently, children’s placements have ended.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people are aware of the complaints policy and use this to express their concerns. When children and young people make complaints, managers respond in a timely way. However, the investigations and reports do not provide all the information required. Furthermore, they lack analysis and the actions are not clear enough.

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improvement to be good

Children do not always receive the continual support and help that they need to meet their health needs holistically. This is particularly in relation to smoking tobacco. Children do not have the correct plans in place to reduce this risk-taking behaviour. In addition, staff do not follow the smoking policy and smoke cigarettes on-site.

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improvement to be good

Record-keeping in the home is not consistent. Records are sometimes ambiguous, and, in several instances, there are gaps in information. This means that staff do not have access to all the information that they need to keep children and young people safe and to support them to progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The current manager was registered with Ofsted on 19 May 2015 and holds a relevant qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers and the staff strive for children and young people to have good outcomes. Senior managers also play an active role in the home and provide support to Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 6 managers and staff. The home is benefiting from this leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and the staff work well with other professionals and advocate on behalf of the children and young people. A social worker spoke positively about the home. They said, ‘I’ve been more than satisfied with communication both from the manager and staff.’ In addition, the social worker said that they have been proactive in meeting the identified needs of the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The training available to staff is good. Nonetheless, staff do not routinely receive all the up-to-date training that they need to meet the children’s and young people’s needs. Furthermore, the coordination of the training undertaken is not effective. As a result, some staff have not undertaken mandatory training within timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff are committed to developing the home and to enhancing their practice. They are able to reflect and to learn from their experiences. This provides them with the opportunity to develop further their knowledge, skills and abilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inconsistent management oversight results in limited evaluation of the quality of practice. This has an impact on practice and has resulted in some shortfalls in 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: SC009653 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Quality Time Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Tanya Chamberlain

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Inspectors

Lisa Gregoire-Parker: social care inspector Mandy Williams: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC009653 8 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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