Children's Home run by Kelwel Care Limited in Havering

Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 1 Registered provider: Kelwel Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care for up to five children. The provider’s statement of purpose states that care is provided for children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in August 2019. The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

Due to COVID-19, at the request of the Secretary of State, we suspended all routine inspections of social care providers on 17 March 2020. We last visited this setting on 29 October 2020 to carry out an assurance visit. The report is published on the Ofsted 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 good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not previously inspected Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff forge strong relationships with children. These relationships have played a vital part in supporting children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. One child who tested positive for COVID-19 said, ‘If I didn’t have my support worker, I would have gone mental.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from regular, individualised and good-quality key-work sessions. Staff regularly support children with good reflective discussions about their needs and daily lives. This helps children to feel valued and to recognise the progress they are making.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff place great importance on helping children to achieve academic success. Children who are reluctant to engage in school are consistently encouraged to attend and helped to build their skills to manage social situations within the school environment. Leaders and managers consistently and creatively seek ways to engage children who refuse to attend any education provision. As a result, most children are proud of their daily achievements at school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from excellent opportunities to have fun. For example, children regularly attend activities of their choice, such as escape room experiences, trampolining and go-kart racing. This helps to promote children’s special interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders, managers and staff encourage and support children to keep in touch with family members. Managers and leaders offer strong support to parents and carers to promote good-quality family time. Staff are instrumental in repairing relationships between children and their family. They ensure that, where possible, families engage with children for special occasions, including birthdays and Christmas.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have not made any formal complaints. Children spoken to during the inspection say that they feel able to share any worries with trusted staff members.

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

Staff focus their efforts on building positive and meaningful relationships with children. This child-centred care helps children to feel safe and know that people care about them.

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

Staff only use physical restraint when it is necessary to safeguard children and others from harm. Following incidents, children receive very good support which enables them to reflect on their emotions. As a result, serious and violent incidents have significantly reduced. Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 4 Allegations against staff are managed well. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the policies and procedures relating to whistle-blowing and the management of allegations against senior staff. This helps to keep children safe.

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

Staff understand children’s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. They use this informed knowledge to encourage children to make safe decisions. Leaders and managers are tenacious in escalating concerns to the police and the placing authorities. However, a risk assessment relating to one child in possession of a knife is not sufficiently detailed and does not include enough information about how this risk will be mitigated.

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

Children who go missing from the home experience a well-coordinated response, and there is a clear plan of action in place to safeguard them. Staff keep in touch with children while they are missing and make efforts to locate them to ensure their prompt return home. However, not all staff demonstrate a good understanding of when to report children as missing from care. The manager took prompt action to address this and has plans in place to regularly review this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced registered manager and there is a permanent, skilled staff team. The manager plan shifts well and uses regular bank staff to provide consistent care while recruitment for permanent staff takes place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported. They benefit from regular supervision, appraisals, team meetings and the support of the in-house therapist. Leaders and managers regularly involve children in the undertaking of staff appraisals. This helps staff to take children’s views into account when supporting children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers know the children extremely well and advocate effectively on their behalf. Managers ensure that new strategies and interventions are considered from specialist providers to address changing needs. This ensures that children remain the focus of interventions to keep them safe and develop necessary life skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers place great emphasis on helping children to move into the home and preparing children to move on from the home. This helps children moving into the home to quickly settle in and to start to make progress physically, emotionally, socially and educationally. Children who leave the home are supported very well. For example, leaders and managers purchased new furniture and a bed for one child to support his move from the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Most of the time, leaders and managers are good at reporting significant incidents to the regulator. However, one serious incident, although managed well, was not reported to the regulator. The failure to report this has compromised external oversight. Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 5 Independent monitoring reports do not regularly show evidence that conversations have been held with stakeholders or parents. Independent monitoring visits continued to take place remotely, even when guidance suggested that it was safe to visit the premises. This was not challenged effectively by managers. Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

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)(e)) 20 December

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and

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Requirement Due date

to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires. 20 December Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 7 A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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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

This specifically refers to ensuring that risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated to include any emerging risks and the strategies to reduce these risks. 20 December

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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: 2535887 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kelwel Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Jubilee House, The Drive, Brentwood CM13 3FR

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Inspector

Jayshree Pillay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2535887 9 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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