Children's home run by Keys Care Limited in Belfast

Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 1 SC066469 Registered provider: Keys Care 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 managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2021.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/08/2021 Full Good 03/03/2020 Full Good 19/02/2019 Full Good 07/06/2017 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children feel safe and assured. They have confidence in the staff because they are dependable and provide consistent care. One child said, ‘This home means everything to me.’ Living in this caring and supportive home allows children to discover themselves and achieve positive outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Change can affect children. The manager understands this, and she carefully considers and plans for any movement of children living in the home. One child has moved into the home. The manager created opportunities for the children to meet and have fun before the transition plans had concluded. This relieved the children’s anxieties and helped relationships to form.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s education arrangements vary, as some children find formal educational environments difficult. The manager and the staff work in partnership with education professionals to remove potential barriers to the children’s learning. Education plans are created to meet each child’s individual needs and help them to achieve their objectives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a child has received a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the manager has implemented learning and support strategies for the child and the staff team. Staff have completed training to improve their knowledge and understanding of ADHD. The child has been supported to understand their diagnosis. They have been empowered to make decisions about their ADHD and support strategies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities. This provides them with quality time spent with staff as well as the opportunity to try new things and form friendships. One child had just joined the local Brownies group and was excited about these meetings and the opportunities and fun that being part of this social group will bring.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children live in a lovely home that is welcoming and homely. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and provide children with a sense of comfort and belonging. The home is nicely decorated and furnished, but the downstairs bathroom requires maintenance to bring this space up to an acceptable standard.

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

Children say that they feel safe and loved. Children are assured that staff can help them through any struggles, and together they explore strategies that help. Staff understand that children’s behaviours are a way to communicate an unmet need and want to understand and alleviate the child’s distress. The staff implement nurturing and supportive strategies to manage and reduce the behaviours that could place children at risk. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 4 Children can present a risk to themselves through self-harm. The manager has implemented safety plans to ensure that staff have the necessary guidance and strategies to recognise and respond to incidents. The manager has implemented lessons learned from recording shortfalls linked to a specific self-harm incident.

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

The home provides children with a sense of security. Therefore, missing-from-home incidents are rare. Missing-from-home plans have been created to provide staff with guidance around the response to such incidents and to aid the safe return of a child. However, for one child, their plan does not reflect the immediacy of staff’s responses should there be concerns around self-harm at the time of the missing-from-home incident.

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

The manager ensures that the home is a safe space for children, where the children can learn new skills. Children are helped to develop their confidence and ability to complete tasks, for example preparing their own food. However, to promote the children’s safety, the staff need to ensure that the cooking equipment is clean. This is to prevent the risk of accidental oven fires. In addition, the fire evacuation procedure needs reviewing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child-focused, and she is embedding this ethos in the home. The staff’s approach to the care of children is to provide love and nurture, and this is what the children say that they want and need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are cared for by a consistent team of adults who collectively have the knowledge, experience and skills to provide a high standard of care. While there are staffing vacancies, the team continues to pull together to minimise the impact on the children and to maintain their sense of security.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Irrespective of the length of time that professionals have been involved in children’s lives, their feedback about their care is consistently positive. They recognise the staff’s nurturing approach and how they strive to ensure that children make progress and feel cared for and cared about. Professionals say that communication from the staff is brilliant, and this helps them to work together to help children achieve their outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises the qualities of the staff team. She has sourced training courses for the staff to refresh their knowledge and provide new learning opportunities. The manager’s aim is to improve the practice standard and enable staff to develop within their roles. Staff are well supported by the manager, and they identify the positive difference that they bring to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s internal monitoring procedures provide her with clear insight into the progress and outcomes for children. The home also benefits from external monitoring visits, which provide an additional overview and level of scrutiny. The manager should ensure that the content in these external monitoring reports is accurate and compiled in line with regulation. Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 5 Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 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 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)) 10 March 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the statement of purpose provides the reader with the essential information about how they meet the needs of children. It should include specifics about the age range of children and the details of the qualifications and professional supervision of the staff involved in providing any therapy. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all areas of the children’s homes are homely, domestic environments. The downstairs bathroom requires maintenance. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure the design of the home should, where appropriate, enable children to develop independence skills. In particular, the safety of the oven needs to be reviewed, as the current cleanliness could result in an accidental fire. Fire safety plans also need to be reviewed in relation to a keylock being fitted to the front door. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.25)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home to ensure continuous improvement. These external monitoring reports should include consultation with staff, and the independent person should consistently Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 7 include their opinion about the welfare and protection of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: SC066469 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Pinsent Masons Llp, The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 3LP

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Inspector

Jennifer Fenlon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC066469 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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