Children's home run by Keys Direct Care Limited in Southend-on-Sea

Inspection report children’s home: SC430587 1 SC430587 Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a large national provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably qualified and experienced. The manager has recently resigned from their position, and they will be leaving in December 2022. A new manager has been appointed.

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Information about this children’s home

Children were spoken to and gave their views on the home and their care during this inspection.

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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: 26 October 2021

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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: SC430587 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/10/2021 Full Good 01/10/2019 Full Outstanding 19/06/2018 Full Outstanding 14/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making good progress from their starting points. They have positive relationships with the adults in the home and are provided with supportive and nurturing care. However, high staff turnover has impacted on some of the children; one child talked about the difficulties in trusting staff when they know that the staff will leave.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have suitable education in place and are starting to make progress. Staff work closely with education providers to ensure that children are appropriately supported and given opportunities to engage with education. One child has started to have music lessons and recently took part in a concert. This was attended by staff and family, and is a good example of how children’s confidence and self-esteem have improved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to stay in touch with people who are important to them. They are also developing friendship groups away from the home, and this supports the development of their social skills and independence. Some family networks have improved, and children have spent more time with family members and are supported to maintain these links. Children have good relationships with each other and are supported to resolve any conflicts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have started to attend clubs in the local community, and one child recently represented the cadets at a Remembrance Day service. This supports children to be connected to their communities and in developing hobbies and interests away from the home. One child aspires to have a career in the armed forces, and they are being helped to try and achieve this goal.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans do not consistently contain all relevant information, or link to other relevant plans. One child does not have a current care plan that has been agreed with the local authority and, as a result, it is not clear if the home is working in line with an agreed plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some significant and relevant information about a child’s individual needs is not documented within their care and behaviour support plans. This means that important information may not have been considered when implementing strategies designed to help and support a child and where adaptations to working practice may need to be made. Additional support is available from the company’s internal therapist when implementing plans and responding to behavioural needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A child has recently moved on after the decision was made that the home could no longer meet this child’s needs. The manager worked well with the local authority in transition planning and supporting this move to a new home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 4

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

Children’s risk assessments do not consistently contain all known and relevant information. At times, they are contradictory, and in one of the plans a significant risk factor had not been included when the assessment was updated by the manager. This has the potential to place children at risk of harm if this risk factor is not considered by staff.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home have been well managed, and staff have followed the protocols in place. The manager has been part of a multi- disciplinary team and has contributed to safety planning meetings. The minutes from these meetings are not on file and the manager could not access them. This prevents essential information from being incorporated into safety plans and shared with the team.

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

The manager has not provided good evaluation of incidents and it was not clear whether external professionals have been informed of all incidents. Not all actions that should have been taken in response to incidents are reflected in the evaluation. For example, it is unclear whether a self-injurious behaviour was shared with the company’s internal therapist. This prevents additional support and guidance being provided to the staff team and child.

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

Allegations have been managed well, and the manager has taken appropriate action in response to any allegations made. They have worked with external professionals in reaching outcomes and have taken necessary internal action. On one occasion, a child made an allegation during an incident, and this was not responded to or reported by staff and was not reflected within the manager’s evaluation. This allegation had previously been investigated by the manager with no further action taken, but was not further considered when raised in a subsequent incident. This means that concerns could go unrecognised and action not taken in response, which would place children at risk of harm.

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

Incidents of restraint have reduced recently. The responsible individual for the home undertook their own analysis of incidents that required physical intervention and highlighted some concerns around some management of incidents. Action has been taken in response to these concerns.

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good

The manager has not had clear oversight of the home and, as a result, essential records in the home have not been kept up to date. They do not consistently contain all known and relevant information. There has been a lack of effective management evaluation of incidents and ensuring that information has been shared with relevant professionals. This has the potential to prevent external scrutiny and action in response to incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 5 The manager has not ensured that they have kept themselves appraised of recent events and, as such, were unable to provide requested information. The manager was not able to easily access or locate information on the online system, which impacted on the inspection process.

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good

The home has been through a period of transition that has led to high staff turnover and a loss of key staff. This has impacted on staffing levels, which has led to the manager undertaking shifts to cover the shortfalls and mentor new staff. Most of the staff are unqualified and inexperienced in residential care so have required additional support and guidance. There have been some concerns around staff practice, and these have been managed appropriately. The manager has been supported by the senior management team and other managers in completing necessary tasks.

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good

Staff say that they feel supported. However, until recently, they have not had regular or meaningful supervisions. This limits opportunities to reflect on and develop working practices. Only one staff member has had an appraisal. This has been partially completed and did not contain any targets or an overall summary. This is not supportive to staff and limits opportunities for progression and development.

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good

Staff have access to a range of training courses and are up to date with mandatory training. Most of the training is completed online, and staff complete several courses in one day. The manager has not evidenced staff learning from these courses through discussion or competency checks, such as administration of medication training.

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good

Staff do not have their competency regularly checked and there has been several errors in the administration of medication. The manager took appropriate action in retraining staff, but did not reassess their competency. One staff member was observed to administer medication despite not having had relevant training since starting employment. This has the potential to place children at risk of harm.

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good

The manager has good relationships with external professionals and has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Essential minutes from strategy meetings were not on file and the manager was unable to locate these. This has the potential for relevant information to not be included within children’s plans or shared with the staff team, and required actions not being responded to. Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to having up-to-date care plans, and ensuring that all known and relevant information is included in plans. 5 January 2023

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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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 5 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 7 understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to staff responses to self-harm and allegations, and also to ensuring that risk assessments contain all known and relevant information.

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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 to fulfil their potential;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to improving management oversight, monitoring and understanding of the home and events, ensuring that information is accessible and available when needed, and monitoring staff’s understanding and competency in relation to training. 5 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 5 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 8 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to employees receiving supervision and appraisal in line with the organisation’s policies and procedures.

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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: SC430587 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Direct Care Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Sarah Orriss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC430587 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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