Children's Home run by Keys QTC Limited in Gloucestershire

Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 1 Registered provider: Keys QTC Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This four-bed home offers emergency crisis care for children who need short-term specialist support. The statement of purpose confirms that in addition to the registered home, children will also use a variety of temporary accommodation as part of an outdoor adventure activity programme.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/10/2019 Full Good 18/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

In March 2022, the home reopened following a temporary closure and two children moved in. Before they arrived, the manager obtained critical information from the children’s placing authorities about the children’s needs. This helped the manager to assess each child’s needs and develop a care plan and risk assessment. These plans are regularly reviewed and align with the aims and objectives set by the placing authorities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children told the inspector that when they moved in the staff were warm and welcoming, which helped to lessen their anxiety. From their starting points, both children are making good progress with the health, well-being and learning programme managed by the home. This is a result of the team’s ability to quickly form respectful relationships with the children. Children’s confidence has grown because of this. One child told the inspector that moving into this home has been life-changing for him. He said, ‘I knew the difference between right and wrong before, but I now understand the impact making wrong decisions will have on my future.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational needs are met in a variety of creative ways and include formal and vocational learning courses. These are bespoke programmes to meet the children’s individual needs. Children gain qualifications and develop new talents and skills. One child has discovered an interest in carpentry. As a result, staff have secured a placement for him on a three-week work experience carpentry course.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are really positive about their experiences since moving into the home. One child said, ‘I like it here and I am now clear that the decisions that are made for me are in my best interest. I don’t like learning, but my learning programme here is more interesting.’ The other child said, ‘I arrived with nothing and now I have everything. I would advise any child who is moving into this home to take advantage of what is offered. I know what I want and what I need to do to achieve what I want.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from social workers is overwhelmingly positive; they say the children have made significant progress. The children are provided with opportunities to learn and explore new interests and find new talents. Because of this, the children are aspirational for their own futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the impact children’s previous experiences have had on their current welfare and safety. Staff have open and meaningful discussions with the children. This helps the children to understand the impact their actions have on themselves and others. Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 4

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

Children say that they feel safe here and are kept safe. Since reopening, there has been one reported safeguarding concern. The manager followed safeguarding procedures well. The manager and staff attend regular safeguarding refresher courses and have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children.

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

Safer recruitment practices are followed; children are looked after by adults who leaders and managers have assessed as suitable. However, interview processes can be improved. Interviewers do not consistently evaluate whether the candidate has the right skills to work with children who have complex needs.

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

Risk assessments are comprehensive. They provide staff with good-quality information, enabling them to recognise and respond effectively to children’s changing anxieties and frustrations. There have not been any reported missing- from-home incidents, physical interventions or police involvement.

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

The manager takes effective action when dealing with complaints. Senior leaders completed a comprehensive investigation in response to the one complaint received since the home reopened. The investigation findings, the actions taken and the final outcome are well documented.

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

The manager keeps the home’s locality assessment under regular review. The assessment is extensive, but includes information that is not relevant, for example, schools in the local area. The manager agreed to review this document.

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good

Senior leaders took the decision to temporarily close this home as they were concerned following safeguarding incidents and ineffective leadership of the home. While the home was closed, the registered person undertook a full investigation into the concerns, devised an action plan and made the necessary improvements before reopening the home.

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good

A new manager has been appointed. She has worked closely with the responsible individual and staff team to address previous poor cultural issues in the home. Together they have worked to improve care practices and implement a new monitoring system. These improvements are in the early stages of implementation and as a result are not yet embedded in practice or tested for effectiveness.

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good

Feedback from staff about working in this home is unanimously positive. They have confidence in the leadership team and say the manager leads by example. They said team morale has improved significantly and it is now a pleasure to work at the home. Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 5 All staff are compliant in basic mandatory training. In addition, the team has received specialist training to meet the needs of the children currently living in the home. Staff told the inspector they would like to have a better understanding of children’s mental health. The responsible individual confirmed that there are arrangements in place to deliver such training.

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good

Team meetings take place regularly and staff say that they find these meetings helpful. Despite this, minutes of these meetings do not reflect all discussions held. They do not confirm if the team reflect on patterns and trends of behaviour, or record the discussions held that will improve children’s opportunities and experiences.

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good

All supervising staff have received training in how to provide effective supervision. Despite this, records of these discussions vary in quality. Staff spoken to confirm that they receive regular formal supervision and said they have found these sessions helpful and supportive. However, some supervision sessions do not provide staff with an opportunity to reflect on children’s progress or the impact the member of staff has had on the quality of care and support they provide to children.

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good

Overall, management oversight of the quality of care has improved. However, further improvement is required to ensure that all records accurately reflect the discussions held and actions agreed. Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 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 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

ensure staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must progress their plans to ensure staff are provided with specialist training courses that will help them understand and respond to the complex needs of the children they care for. 30 August 2022

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that records of staff supervisions and team meetings are of a good quality and reflect feedback from children and all agreed actions and findings from monitoring activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)  The registered person should review the location of the premises and ensure that all risks in the local area are properly considered and that strategies for managing them are documented. This particularly refers to ensuring that the contact details of all emergency services are identified, along with their response times in the event of an emergency. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 7

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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 for children's home: 1280578 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Keys Care Ltd, Maybrook House, Queensway, Halesowen B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Agata Dokszewicz

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Victoria Forest-Mitchell

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Inspector

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 1280578 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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