Quality of Care Limited

Quality of Care Limited Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Maggie Fobister, Ofsted Inspector

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address: Perton Manor Wrottesley Park Road Perton Wolverhampton WV8 2HE Monitoring visit: Quality of Care Limited, 26 and 27 July 2023

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Context and focus of visit

Ofsted undertakes to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of apprenticeship training provision funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency and/or the apprenticeship levy. This monitoring visit was undertaken as part of those arrangements and as outlined in the ‘Further education and skills inspection handbook’, especially the sections entitled ‘Monitoring visits’ and ‘Monitoring visits to providers that are newly directly publicly funded’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Quality of Care Limited is an independent learning provider based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. At the time of the monitoring visit, there were 21 apprentices in learning. Of these, 13 were on the level 2 adult care worker standard and eight were on the level 3 lead adult care worker standard. The provider does not work with any subcontractors.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have a clear rationale for the apprenticeships that they offer. They work in collaboration with social care providers locally to design curriculums that enable care managers to respond to significant skills shortages within their workforce. Leaders adapt the curriculum effectively for care settings that specialise in caring for service users with complex dementia and severe mental health needs. For example, they provide apprentices with additional training such as in dementia awareness and end- of-life care that enables them to provide their service users with high-quality care. Care managers highly value the contribution that apprentices make to their businesses.

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders have carefully selected well-qualified care professionals with the skills that they need to teach their apprentices. They observe trainers’ practice frequently and provide them with useful opportunities to maintain their sector expertise through professional development days within care settings. Consequently, apprentices benefit from trainers with current industry expertise who help them to apply theory to practice.

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders have appropriate procedures to enable them to evaluate the quality of their provision. However, leaders do not evaluate all aspects of the provision sufficiently. Processes to review apprentices’ progress are not robust enough to Monitoring visit: Quality of Care Limited, 26 and 27 July 2023 enable leaders to quickly identify those apprentices who fall behind with their studies. As a result, in a few cases, leaders do not implement support plans to help apprentices catch up quickly. Leaders are acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses and have started to implement quality improvements. However, it is too soon to see the positive impact of these actions.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have yet to take steps to benefit from effective external scrutiny to support and hold them to account.

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Reasonable progress

Curriculum managers and trainers design and teach curriculums in a logical way. Apprentices first learn about health and safety, safeguarding and the principles of providing personal care before they move on to more complex topics such as de- escalation management and intervention and end-of-life care. As a result, apprentices build their learning in meaningful steps over time.

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Reasonable progress

Most apprentices gain substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours as a result of their apprenticeship. They deepen their understanding of end-of-life care and become more knowledgeable about caring for people who have had a stroke. They learn about the different types of dementia, such as vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. This enables them to better understand and support the needs of service users in their care. Apprentices confidently provide specialist care that adds value to their employers’ business.

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Reasonable progress

Managers and trainers assess what apprentices know and can do at the start of their apprenticeship. However, they do not use this information well enough to individualise learning for all apprentices. As a result, in a few cases, apprentices with prior experience in the care sector do not progress as quickly as they can.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices complete an assessment of their English and mathematical skills at the start of their programme. Trainers use this information to provide apprentices who are working towards functional skills qualifications with resources and support that enable them to fill their identified gaps in these skills. However, trainers do not track the progress that apprentices are making well enough. Consequently, not all apprentices make the swift progress that they can. Trainers do not ensure that all apprentices who start the apprenticeship with the required level of English and mathematics continue to develop these skills from their respective starting points.

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Reasonable progress

Trainers’ feedback on apprentices’ written work is not always sufficiently precise. As a result, apprentices do not always know what they need to do to improve the standard of their work. Monitoring visit: Quality of Care Limited, 26 and 27 July 2023

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders have implemented appropriate procedures to keep apprentices safe. The designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy DSL have completed relevant training. The DSL has implemented suitable reporting procedures for recording safeguarding incidents. Leaders follow suitable recruitment practices to check that staff are safe to work with their apprentices.

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders and managers have appropriate safeguarding policies in place. This includes their response to the ‘Prevent’ duty. However, they have yet to ensure that all staff undertake relevant ‘Prevent’ duty training.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices have a thorough understanding of safeguarding and know how to keep themselves and their service users safe. Leaders provide apprentices with specialist de-escalation management and intervention training at the start of their programme to ensure that they are safe when working with service users with severe mental health needs. However, leaders have yet to provide apprentices with training on the risks associated with radicalisation and extremism. Monitoring visit: Quality of Care Limited, 26 and 27 July 2023 regulates and inspects 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

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Reasonable progress

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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Reasonable progress

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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