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

The home is owned by a private provider and offers care and short-term specialist support for up to four children. The provider states in the home’s statement of purpose that in addition to the registered home, children will also use a variety of off-site 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, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in October 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 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

15/06/2022 Full Good 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

Children are making progress from their starting points. Children who have previously found it difficult to attend school are supported to engage in educational programmes that are tailored to their needs. Alongside this, children are supported to reflect on their experiences and develop key skills to help them to keep safer in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s healthcare needs are being met. Staff provide the children with positive messages about their health, which support them to attend their medical appointments and access health services. As a result, positive healthcare outcomes are being achieved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with a range of fun and enjoyable activities, such as mountain biking, rock climbing and kayaking. These opportunities help to empower the children to break away from the behaviours that have concerned other people in the past. Children are supported to pursue their interests, while developing positive relationships and lasting memories with the adults who look after them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they enjoy living in this home. They say that they get to do lots of different activities alongside ‘some education’. Children are relaxed and comfortable in the home, and when they are staying at the off-site accommodation. Children feel able to talk to staff, and say that they are helped to keep safe. One child commented that since living in the home ‘it is probably the safest’ he has been.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to move in to the home in a positive way. The registered manager reads the child’s information and speaks with their social worker before the child moves to the home. Consequently, the registered manager can determine whether children’s needs can be met before they move to the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s guide provides a nice overview of the home and the activities that are available to children. Staff are trained in a variety of different outdoor pursuits. As a result, children receive safe instruction from skilled adults who know them well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and feels welcoming, with plenty of outdoor space and adventure equipment available for children to use. As children have time away from the home, all children’s bedroom doors are fitted with locks. However, while staying in the home, bedrooms remain locked. As a result, children are required to carry a key or ask staff to let them into their bedrooms. This detracts from the otherwise homely feel.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move out of the home, the manager advocates for suitable move-out plans that are in the child’s best interests. However, the home’s register of children who have moved to and from the home is incomplete. As a result, children who Inspection report for children’s home: 1280578 4 request to view these records are not provided with a clear picture of where they moved from or where they moved to.

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

When staff are challenged by the behaviours of children, staff use a variety of strategies to support children to express themselves safely. When restraint is used, it is necessary and proportional to the risk of harm and used to keep children and others safe. The registered manager evaluates the use of each restraint and supports staff and children to reflect on what could be done differently in the future.

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

Staff support children to take part in key conversations about the topics that are important in their lives. Staff help children to understand how they can keep themselves safe and achieve their aspirations. Records of key conversations are written to the children and provide a nice overview of the guidance and support that are offered by staff. As a result, children can look back through the records of these conversations and remind themselves of the advice that was provided.

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

When safeguarding concerns are raised, they are shared with the relevant external professionals to ensure that a multi-agency response is provided. However, in one case, after sharing concerns about an agency member of staff, leaders and managers did not take sufficient action to ensure that the response from external professionals was robust. This resulted in delayed action, which, although did not place any children in the home at risk, could have affected other children. This was corrected during the inspection.

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

Leaders and managers have identified a recent increase in the number of concerns that are raised about staff. Leaders and managers have reflected on the challenges of maintaining oversight of multiple off-site accommodation provisions and staff teams. In response, leaders and managers have provided staff with additional guidance about safeguarding procedures. Staff talk confidently about their safeguarding practice and how they help children to keep safe.

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

When a child goes missing from home, staff follow the agreed protocols, including looking for the child in the local area, contacting the child’s family and friends, and reporting the incident to the police. Staff are supported to reflect on their practice and proactive actions are taken to prevent future missing from home episodes. When children have returned to the care of staff, they are supported to reflect on their reasons for going missing from home and their experiences while they were away. However, on some occasions, opportunities to support children to identify what they could have done instead of running away are missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers evaluate the quality of care being provided and identify areas for improvement to inform the home’s development. The registered manager recognises the strengths of the home and has addressed the requirement and recommendations made at the last inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 1280578 5 External professionals can identify the progress that the children have made, and they are positive about the care and opportunities that are provided by the staff. External professionals recognise the collaborative approach that leaders and managers take with external services to inform the care provided to the children. External professionals say that children’s individual needs are met by a committed and passionate staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team recognises and celebrates the achievements that children make each day. Staff group handovers and debrief sessions complement team meetings and staff supervision sessions. These forums support staff to reflect on the needs of the children, risk management strategies, and the care that staff provide to help children to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s plans and risk assessments provide staff with an overview of how to care for the children. However, some plans and risk assessments are out of date, and they are not reflective of the child’s current needs or the progress that has been made since living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Location assessments help staff to consider and manage the risks in the areas surrounding the home and the off-site accommodation provisions. This supports staff to think about how the risks in the local areas may interact with the behaviours of children that they consider to be risky. As a result, staff can reduce risk and help children to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Although the home has some staffing vacancies, leaders and managers are clear that they are not considering a new child moving to the home until the vacancies have been filled. In the meantime, leaders and managers have used a consistent group of agency-employed staff to ensure that children receive care from adults who they know. The agency provides leaders and managers with the details of suitable temporary members of staff, including their enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, references, and relevant experience. However, leaders and managers do not verify for themselves that these checks are satisfactory. Robust safer recruitment checks are in place for permanent members of staff, and agency members of staff do not work alone with children. 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, The 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that children’s plans and risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated in line with children’s needs and progress. 4 September 2023

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the home’s admissions book records all necessary information to be helpful for children in the future. 4 September 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 1280578 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of children. In particular, the registered person should ensure that all reasonable actions are taken to safeguard children and help children to keep safe following concerns about staff practice and episodes of children going missing from home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  The registered person should ensure that recruitment practice safeguards children and minimises the potential risks to them. In particular, the registered person should verify the safer recruitment checks that are performed by agencies when agency members of staff are used to work with children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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

Martin Brown, 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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