Children's Home run by Keystone Staffordshire Ltd in Stoke-on-Trent

Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 1 Registered provider: Keystone Staffordshire Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in April 2024 and is owned by an independent provider. It offers care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties and are likely to have experienced trauma.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and has a relevant management qualification. The manager has experience managing in other residential children’s homes.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/08/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child was present during the inspection, and the inspector was able to speak with them and take account of their views.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s safety, experiences and progress have been compromised by poor leadership and management and failure to take effective action to improve the quality of care in the home. As a result, a compliance notice has been issued under Regulation 13. A notice restricting accommodation has also been issued so that no more children can move into the home. This will be kept under review.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child has lived at the home for five months. Although they are now making progress, they have had some negative experiences because of poor care planning and risk management.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers and staff fail to ensure that children have secure long-term placements. Since the last inspection, three children have come to live at the home and three have left. One child, who came without full information, moved on after four days when additional information was presented. One child left earlier than planned when their complex behaviours escalated and staff could not keep them safe. Poor risk planning and assessment contributed to the disruption of a third child’s placement. This child’s placement ended abruptly following a significant safeguarding incident. The child’s social worker said the child was ‘aggrieved’ when they had to move on in an unplanned way. This poor care planning does not support children in building attachments and making good progress. It means that children continue to have poor experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Although the home is well maintained and has many homely aspects, fire signage and visible electronic and manual locks on doors to communal areas give the home an institutional feel. In addition, children are restricted from accessing certain parts of the home, such as a toilet designated solely for staff use. These limitations reduce the child’s sense of comfort and ownership of their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

More positively, staff have established a warm and trusting relationship with the child, who says he likes the staff and that they help and support him. The staff ensure that the child attends all health appointments and take proactive measures when additional health needs are identified. The child is making good progress in education from his starting point. Managers and staff demonstrate a clear understanding of the barriers to education and consistently advocate for the appropriate support. They encourage the child to regularly engage with education, resulting in him developing aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support the child’s life skills at a pace appropriate to his individual needs. He is supported to go shopping independently, plan and cook his meals, and undertake daily chores around the home. Staff support the child's involvement with his favourite football Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 4 club. The child recently completed a 40-mile walk during February to raise funds for the football club’s charity.

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

Leaders and managers have not consistently assessed and managed all known risks for children living together in the home. This has resulted in some children experiencing an escalation in risk. In one instance, one child inflicted harm on another, and some children engaged in offending behaviour and inappropriate relationships. As a result of these risks becoming unmanageable, some children have moved on from the home earlier than planned.

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

Managers have failed to ensure that staff are experienced enough and have the skills to manage children’s complex behaviours. Staff do not always act proactively and take decisive action when children are placing themselves at risk. This has resulted in prolonged incidents when a child has harmed themselves and assaulted staff. Staff frequently call the police to manage the children’s complex behaviours. Consequently, children have been arrested and have a record of police involvement.

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

Although managers recognise shortfalls in staff practice, they do not take prompt or effective action to address them. Managers discuss concerns in team meetings and supervision meetings; however, they do not act to source or provide additional relevant training. As a result, staff do not acquire the necessary skills to keep children safe or support them appropriately. This leads to an increase in unsafe behaviours and in children leaving the home earlier than planned because their needs are not met.

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

Staff are skilled at having important conversations with the child. They educate the child using resources about topics relevant to their care plan. They talk to the child about his risks and involve him in strategies to manage them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership team has allowed a child to move into the home soon after a child with extremely complex behaviours has left. This has not given staff enough time to recover and reflect on their practice. Staff have not managed the complex behaviours of children well, and leaders have served notice. There were just 12 days between one child with extremely complex needs leaving the home and the next child moving in. Although staff say that morale is now good, they acknowledge that it has been affected by the behaviours of children with extremely complex needs and those whose risks escalated when they lived together. Staff describe the impact on them as ‘massive’ and say that they were getting ‘really deflated’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that children have continuity of care. Poor decision-making about the children who came to live at the home has affected the recruitment and retention of staff. Seven staff members have left the home since the last inspection, while another seven have joined. Five members of staff left in a five- month period, which significantly affected the consistency of care for one child. Several Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 5 staff members who left had no previous experience working in a children’s home or caring for children with complex behaviours. This affected staff’s resilience and their ability to manage children’s complex behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Feedback from external professionals is mixed. Most say that the manager is skilled at building positive working relationships. This promotes partnership working and ensures that children receive appropriate support. However, one child’s social worker said that managers had not shared relevant information when their child came to live at the home. This contributed to an unplanned ending for their child, which disrupted their care and stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not ensure that all staff receive training on the impact of trauma and attachment difficulties as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. When persistent shortfalls in staff practice are identified, managers fail to secure additional guidance, support and training. This results in staff lacking a comprehensive understanding of children's complex behaviours and the necessary skills to provide safe and effective support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff receive regular supervision, which is reflective and challenging. New staff receive a well-planned induction. Managers support staff in developing in their roles. For example, staff are given specific responsibilities, which develops their understanding and practice. However, staff do not receive an annual appraisal. This is a missed opportunity to praise staff and develop their practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that they fully assess all children’s known risks, continually monitor and assess staff’s knowledge and skills when children’s risks escalate and take action to address shortfalls in staff’s knowledge and skills as required. 17 August 2025

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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— 17 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 7 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers exercising critical oversight of decision-making when children come to live at the home with other children, that they provide staff with relevant training to meet children’s complex needs, that they take steps to improve staff resilience to optimise staff retention, and that they reflect on lessons learned when children move on earlier than planned. Additionally, managers should ensure that staff can meet the needs of any future children who come to live at the home, particularly those whose behaviours are affected by trauma and attachment difficulties.

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that they realistically assess the potential to offer children long-term 17 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 8 stable placements and that children have a positive experience of moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 17 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a homely, nurturing and supportive environment for children. The home must comply with relevant health and safety legislation, such as alarms and food hygiene. However, in doing so, the home should seek, as far as possible, to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. Specifically, fire signage and visible electronic and manual locks on doors in communal areas give the home an institutional feel, and they should be minimised or removed. Just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Specifically, bathrooms in communal areas should not be locked, and they should be available for children to use. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraphs 3.9 and 3.10)

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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: 2773571 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keystone Staffordshire Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 24 Brookside Business Park, Stone, Staffordshire ST15 0RZ

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2773571 10 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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