Children's Home run by Keswick Care Limited in Wakefield

Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 1 Registered provider: Keswick 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 provider. The home provides medium- to long-term care for up to four children who may experience social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There are currently three children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2022.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/01/2022 Full Good 09/10/2019 Full Good 23/04/2018 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making progress from their starting points. They enjoy positive relationships with staff who provide them with consistent, nurturing care. Children respond to the boundaries and structure in place. This provides them with security and stability and has helped them to be increasingly settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are attending education and making progress. Staff advocate for children who experience barriers to their education to ensure that they receive the right support to meet their individual needs. For one child, this has led to improved attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s emotional and mental health needs are supported. Staff respond sensitively to children when they have harmed themselves. They ask children about how they are feeling, which helps them to understand the difficult emotions they are experiencing. Some children are accessing therapy in line with their plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to see the people who are important in their lives. Family time is promoted in line with children’s plans. Children enjoy spending time with their peers, and staff help them to maintain positive friendships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult with the children regularly and respond to their wishes and feelings. They are involved in decisions about the things that are happening in their lives, the care they receive and their home. This provides children with a strong sense of belonging. Children say that they feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff create memory books for children, starting from the first day they move into the home. They capture the child’s experiences in photos, memorabilia and messages written by staff. This provides children with positive memories that they can take with them into adulthood.

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

Staff understand the children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. Risk assessments identify all risks to children. They provide clear guidance for staff and are updated regularly. Staff are clear about the steps they must follow to ensure that children are better protected, and they respond to children when risks change.

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

Children rarely go missing. They have individual plans which provide staff with clear steps to follow if this does occur. Staff are clear about their responsibilities to children who go missing.

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

Staff respond to children when they show unwanted and risky behaviour. They understand how children’s experiences have an impact on their behaviour. Staff talk Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 4 to children about their behaviour, which helps them to have an understanding about how they are feeling.

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

Records show that staff follow children’s individual safety plans when incidents of children self-harming occur. This includes carrying out bedroom searches to ensure that the environment is safer. Key-work records show many examples of how staff support the children to understand the difficult emotions that they are feeling.

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

Holds and restraints of children are rarely needed. When restraint is used, it is necessary and proportionate. When staff apply consequences for the children’s behaviour, they speak to the child about the measure so that they can reflect and learn from the incident.

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good

The systems in place to monitor and review the quality of care provided to children and staff development are not effective. While the audit tool is used, it has not identified some shortfalls, which means that they have not been addressed. This prevents the manager from having full oversight of the home.

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good

Some staff do not have up-to-date core training. Where courses have been allocated to staff, they have not been completed within the time frame outlined in the home’s training plan. The manager has not had full oversight of overdue training and the shortfall has not been addressed with staff.

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good

Some staff have not completed the relevant qualification for their role within the regulatory time frame.

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good

Staff receive reflective supervision, and they discuss the children’s plans. Staff say that they feel supported by the manager. Some staff have not received supervision in line with the frequency identified in home’s policy. The system in place to record when staff receive supervision is ineffective and has prevented the manager from identifying the gaps.

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good

One child does not have an up-to-date care plan written by the placing authority on their file. The manager has not followed the escalation policy to request the document.

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good

The use of door alarms on children’s bedrooms is not assessed for individual children. They remain on throughout the day and night. A risk assessment has not been carried out to keep this arrangement under review and to keep it in line with children’s plans.

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good

The home is well decorated and homely, and photos of the children are on display. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their personalities. There is a ‘chill- Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 5 out room’ in the loft space, which has been designed by the children. However, the door to access this room is kept locked. The rationale for using this measure is not clearly recorded and is not kept under review.

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good

The manager has good relationships with professionals and there is evidence of partnership working. Professionals involved in the children’s care feel that the relationships between children and staff are a strength of the home. One professional said, ‘The manager and staff are great. Despite the challenges, they never give up.’

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good

The manager values her staff team, and she provides them with positive role modelling and support. This positive environment means that morale is high and staff are committed to wanting the best outcomes for children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should use their escalation policy to ensure that the placing authority provides an up-to-date care plan for each child living in the home. 28 August 2023

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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 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)) 28 August 2023

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 7 the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the use of door alarms on children’s bedrooms and locking internal doors in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. 28 August 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 8 (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a))

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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: 1183197 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keswick Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 17, Cedars Business Centre, Barnsley Road, Hemsworth, Pontefract WF9 4PU

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Inspector

Rachel Webster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1183197 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 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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