Children's home run by Keswick Care Limited in Wakefield

Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 1 SC067865 Registered provider: Keswick Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company operates this home. The home works with children for as long as necessary to meet their identified care needs. The children can stay in the placement on a short- or long-term basis. The home also offers a flexible approach to the needs of the children and provides a range of services for short-term support that will lead to the child returning home or to foster care. There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 06/06/2017 Full Outstanding 13/12/2016 Interim Not judged Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 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, the 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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(c) and (e)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children. (Regulation 11 (1) and (2)(a)(ix)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 4 there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii) and (e))

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

children are effectively safeguarded; and

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the independent visitor provides an accurate report about safeguarding practice in the home, including allegations management. 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 5 (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that school attendance is promoted for all children and provide formal and informal learning opportunities and engagement when children are not in school.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment which the registered person considers to be substantive to, the missing child policy, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 34 (5)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children have their own going missing history document in line with the ‘South Yorkshire Missing from Home and Care Protocol 2017’. 30/11/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that risk assessments contain specific actions for staff to take if a risk occurs and that assessments cover the risk to children when they are alone or together. 30/11/2019

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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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 6 (Regulation 13 (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the correct action and recording is undertaken in relation to safeguarding matters and allegations. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 7

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improvement to be good

The children have not been able to build good relationships with all the staff. Through unforeseen circumstances, the staff team is inconsistent. The responsible individual is using staff the children know from other homes while several new staff go through induction.

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improvement to be good

One child’s attendance at school is variable. The staff promote the importance of education and do their best to get the child into school. Another child is not in formal education. While a new education placement is being sought, the delay is causing disruption to his daily routine. The staff are unsuccessful in maintaining a positive routine for the child, resulting in a lack of learning.

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improvement to be good

The children’s health is improving. The children access specialist services to improve their health. One child has stopped smoking. The staff encourage the children to have healthy diets and to undertake physical activities to improve their fitness, such as bike riding, boxing and going to the gym.

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improvement to be good

The staff promote the children’s sense of identity. They help the children to maintain positive relationships with their families. The staff facilitate family visits to the home and help children to travel long distances so that they can visit their families.

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improvement to be good

The children experience a range of activities, which improve their social skills and confidence. The activities they enjoy include motor-cross training, ice skating, trips to the seaside and go-karting.

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improvement to be good

The staff are developing ways to make sure that the children’s voice is clear in all their care planning. The recent introduction of positive comments books is providing the children with praise for their achievements and good memories of their time here.

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improvement to be good

The children do not experience consistent guidance and boundaries from staff. As a result, on some occasions, the children’s challenging behaviour escalates. The lack of consistency is due to the instability of the staff team and the skills and experience of some staff. Some of the staff have good relationships with children, which they use to manage any challenges positively. Other staff are developing their relationships with the children.

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improvement to be good

The children’s risk assessments are updated after significant events. The updates to risk assessments do not always cover all the risks to children, particularly the risks that the children present when they are together. The risk assessments do not always give staff clear instructions on how to manage risk and this leads to inconsistency in staff practice. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 8 Children who were previously at high risk of going missing from home have not gone missing from this home. The number of incidents when children are absent from the home is low. Although no children have gone missing from the home since the last inspection, the risk assessments in relation to children going missing from home do not give the staff clear instruction about what to do if a child goes missing. There are no documents in line with local area going missing protocols, which would provide essential

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improvement to be good

information to help the staff to work with the police to find the children quickly.

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improvement to be good

Improvements in the recruitment of new staff ensure that checks are appropriately carried out before the staff start work. New arrangements for monitoring the suitability of staff ensure that the staff remain safe to care for the children.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding procedures are embedding. The staff complete a range of training, which helps them to understand safeguarding practice. The training enables the staff to be able to identify the wider risks to children, such as child sexual exploitation and county lines.

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

The new responsible individual is striving to improve the quality of care for the children. Improvements are being hindered as the staff team is not stable. She is ambitious for the children to achieve. The responsible individual makes difficult decisions in the best interests of the children, including temporarily closing the home when the children’s needs could not be met.

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

The home has recently opened, and the management arrangements are new and are yet to embed. The responsible individual is currently taking the management lead in the home. A new manager has recently been appointed. The new manager is not yet registered with Ofsted. The manager is being supported by a deputy manager from another home.

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

The responsible individual can identify the strengths of the service. The management monitoring systems have helped the responsible individual to identify some shortfalls in practice, which she addressed quickly and robustly, but on other occasions the systems have failed to identify issues, for example the manager’s monitoring and recording of safeguarding allegations. The independent visitor is not always supporting the management to identify areas which need further development, particularly in relation to the recording of safeguarding allegations.

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

Notification of significant events is inconsistent. This inconsistency prevents the regulatory body from effectively monitoring safeguarding practice.

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

There are several new staff commencing employment, which will lead to more changes before the team becomes fully settled and practice becomes embedded. The staff report feeling supported by the managers. The staff receive practical support from the managers and support through formal supervision. The formal supervision gives the staff the opportunity to reflect on the children’s care needs. Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 9 The staff communicate well with a range of professionals, and they share information effectively about the children’s needs. The staff work closely with other services, such as schools, social workers and therapists, to make sure that the children receive the specialist help they need.

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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: SC067865 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keswick Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hylton House, 150 Barnsley Road, Hemsworth, Pontefract WF9 4PQ

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC067865 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 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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