Children's Home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 1 SC412476 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020.

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Information about this children’s home

We last visited this setting on 28 September 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on our website.

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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 good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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: 11 February 2020

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/02/2019 Full Good 16/01/2018 Full Outstanding 13/02/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between staff and children are based on mutual respect and trust which supports a culture of openness. Staff have a good insight into the children’s needs and circumstances. Children feel confident in approaching individual members of staff when they need attention and guidance. One child said, ‘All staff are supportive, but my key workers really go far to support me, they listen and understand me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress. This is supported by effective multi-agency working between professionals, the registered manager and the staff team. Children access mental healthcare support and attend required medical appointments. Staff work alongside these external professionals to help and support children’s individual emotional and behavioural needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children attend school regularly and they have improved their academic levels. They take pride in their achievements and share their enthusiasm with staff. Staff understand that education is challenging for some children. They successfully encourage and promote children’s attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain and use the complaint procedures confidently. The registered manager and staff promote a restorative approach to help resolve any issues raised by children. Staff provide updates to children once outcomes have been reached. Therefore, children feel safe to express their feelings, thoughts and wishes and they know that staff listen to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children take part in a variety of activities such as visits to a local theme park and to the beach. Some children access the community independently to meet friends. This improves their independence skills, self-esteem and gives them a sense of belonging within their peer groups.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in developing independence skills. They take responsibility for the decisions that they make. Transition to adult life is individualised for each child. Staff reassure children that this process does not happen until they are ready. A child’s social worker said that she is pleased that staff are helping the child build confidence in growing up and taking more responsibilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child spoke extremely positively of mealtimes. She enjoys the feeling of eating together as a family, and the conversations that she has with her peers and staff.

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

Staff help children to understand risks and how to stay safe. They encourage children to become independent and to learn about healthy relationships. This has supported children to access the community on their own and make safer friendship choices. Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 4 High-quality key-worker sessions with children help them understand how to keep safe when they are not with an adult. However, records of these sessions do not always show that children have had an opportunity to contribute to them. This means that records do not always capture children’s views or confirm that they agree with the contents.

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

Staff effectively use de-escalation skills to manage any tensions. They help to resolve conflicts and support children to build respectful relationships. Children are encouraged to talk through any incidents of concern. This enables children to express their wishes and feelings. This gives them a sense of belonging and reassurance. It also helps staff to understand the child’s perspective and to use this to help reduce the chance that incidents will reoccur.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the children’s needs. Risk assessments are in place that support children’s safety inside and outside of the home. However, these documents are not regularly reviewed. Consequently, staff may refer to out-of-date information about children’s risks.

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

Some behaviour management plans are not detailed and do not have clear strategies to follow in order to support some children with managing their behaviour. Despite this shortfall in relation to written plans, practice in relation to behaviour management is good.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. When this does happen, staff are proactive in their responses. They follow each child’s missing-from-home protocol and share information with all relevant agencies promptly. However, the registered manager’s oversight of these recorded incidents is not timely. This lack of a prompt review means that any management actions required following such an incident could be delayed.

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

The organisation uses effective safer recruitment procedures when employing members of staff. Any individual who works in the home has been suitably checked. This promotes children’s safety.

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

Medication is administered and stored appropriately. Consultation takes place with medical professionals when children refuse their prescribed medication. This ensures that children’s health and well-being is carefully considered.

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

There is a registered manager in post. Although she shows strong leadership in some aspects of her practice, other areas require some improvement. For example, management monitoring systems in place are not wholly effective. However, this shortfall has not affected the progress made by the children. Staff speak positively about the registered manager and recognise the support she provides to the team.

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

The home environment requires improvement. Some children’s bedrooms are not clean or furnished appropriately. The home is not homely throughout. For example, some communal areas lack domestic touches such as pictures, and one bathroom requires Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 5 some repairs. The rear garden is hazardous in places. Some fire doors do not meet safety standards. These hazards could cause harm to children. The organisation took immediate action to address these concerns during the inspection. However, delays in maintenance work led to the decline in the environment and this created potential risks to children.

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

Staff do not receive regular supervision. When a supervision session does take place, these do not consistently provide focus on staff development. Staff do not receive supervision notes in a timely way to ensure that they can address any actions. The registered manager has not completed supervision skills training. This inhibits the development of some members of staff.

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

The registered manager’s quality of care review report demonstrates that she is aware of the strength and weaknesses of the home. However, the report does not include feedback from professionals and parents to inform this review. This is a missed opportunity to gather valuable information that could inform service development.

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

The shortfalls in recording in relation to risk assessments and behaviour management plans show that the manager does not have clear oversight of them.

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

The leadership team works collaboratively with other professionals. A social worker spoke positively about the registered manager’s commitment and reliability in delivering good practice in her care of children. Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 6

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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 registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 30 June 2021

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. (Regulation 11 (1) (2)(a)(i)(x))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the need to ensure that behaviour management plans identify clear strategies to manage behaviour. 30 June 2021

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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;

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 30 June 2021 Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(h)) If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(a)(b)) 30 June 2021

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(5)) 30 June 2021

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  The registered person must ensure that the home has a nurturing and supportive environment that meet the needs of their children. Children’s homes will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 8 domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, 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: SC412476 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2nd Floor, Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspectors

Paul Thomas, Social Care Inspector Alphie Khumalo, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC412476 10 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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