Children's Home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 1 SC412476 Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education 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 run by a private organisation. It provides care for up to four children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in November 2019 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were three children living in the home.

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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: SC412476 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/08/2022 Full Good 11/05/2021 Full Good 11/02/2020 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/02/2019 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has been supported to move on from the home as part of a planned move into adulthood. This was achieved with excellent advocacy and planning for this child to ensure that they moved into a suitable home that would meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is considerate care planning when a new child moves into the home. This includes seeking the views of the children currently living in the home and ensuring that staff have the skills and experience to care for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are attending school or college and have plans for the new term. The registered manager is proactive in advocating for children when there are struggles with their engagement. This ensures that plans are reviewed and appropriate arrangements are made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are given opportunities to develop and are supported to pursue their career choices. For example, one child interested in health and social care was supported to complete work experience with children with disabilities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have built loving relationships with children. One child said, ‘All the staff are really lovely and have helped me grow; they really show they care and are my family.’ These strong relationships mean that children are all making progress and are settled in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are shortfalls in the arrangements for children’s medication and health plans, which guide staff in the support needed for children to be healthy. For example, children’s care plans are not reflective of children’s changes in their medication. Additionally, the arrangements for the safe storage of medication are not in line with the providers policy. For example, keys are left in medication cabinets and not secured away. However, action was taken during the inspection to ensure that storage was secured and staff were reminded of the medication policy.

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

The home is spacious and provides a warm, welcoming environment for children to live in. There is ample space for children to enjoy and bedrooms are personalised to children’s preferences.

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

The registered manager is proactive in ensuring that staff reflect on their practice and how this can be improved. For example, reviewing serious incidents involving children and what could have been done differently. This supports staff learning and development. Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 4 The staff are proactive and look for children on the rare occasions that they may go missing from home. Risk plans are followed by staff, and children are welcomed home and have follow up discussions with staff to look at how they can reduce the risks of being missing from home.

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

Managers respond promptly to any safeguarding incidents. The staff are confident in the action to take to safeguard children and their safeguarding responsibilities.

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

Children are supported to take age-appropriate risks. When children push boundaries, s taff encourage them to reflect on their behaviour and to look together at how risks can be reduced, while maintaining their independence.

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

Children’s plans are not always updated or informed by local authority plans following a review. Staff do not always read plans when new risks emerge for children. While staff are aware of the changes and can describe these verbally, the registered manager is aware that this is a development area for the home and has plans to improve on this and ensure that local authority plans are received following children’s review meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is passionate about children growing up in a family home where they feel safe, loved and respected. This is achieved by the staff team, who the registered manager describes as ‘very committed and supportive of each other’, adding that this ‘sets an example to the children of how we work together to support each other’. This was evident in the relationships that the staff and children have built.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team feel incredibly supported by managers, leaders and each other. Regular and reflective supervision, annual appraisals and team meetings compliment this support. There is effective communication between staff to ensure that children’s care needs are known, and staff know how they can support each child individually. Equally, the registered manager is supported by the responsible individual, who visits the home on a regular basis and knows the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children and staff team are supported by the provider’s in-house specialist support advisers. This includes regular consultation with the clinical psychologist to reflect on the journey that the children have been on from birth into the home and how this can impact on their trauma responses and relationships with staff. Feedback from the clinical team regarding staff in the home is positive. One clinician stated, ‘Children have trust and safety in their staff relationships, which allows us to do some of that difficult work with children. It’s a really nice reflection of the therapeutic model.’ Staff’s relationships with children contribute to the children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff have the required skills, experience and training to work with children and are either suitably qualified or undertaking the relevant qualification. There are Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 5 opportunities for the staff’s ongoing professional development through training and learning opportunities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reports required under the regulations by an independent visitor are not always sent to the regulator in a timely way. The registered manager has completed a thorough evaluation of the quality of care for the children. However, this has not been sent to the regulator in a timely way. The delay in these important evaluations inhibits the regulators’ ability to monitor the quality of care provided for children. Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(c) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the plans for children’s health and medication reflect their current care needs and are informed by children’s annual health care reviews. 30 November 2023

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))(c)) 30 November 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 7 In particular, the registered provider should ensure that children’s local authority care review documents are available and inform care planning decisions, and that plans for children are updated to reflect their present care needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(a)) 31 October 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered provider should ensure that reports completed by an independent person are sent to the regulator in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months. The registered provider is responsible for ensuring these reports are sent to the regulator in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, pages 64 and 65, paragraph 15.2)

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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: SC412476 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Group Progressive Care & Education 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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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Callard

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Inspector

Sara Stoker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC412476 9 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 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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