New Key Support Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 1 New Key Support Ltd Registered provider: New Key Support Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

provider

A private provider operates this service. It offers accommodation for up to 8 children in self-contained units specifically for the sole use of one child. The service also offers 3 shared or group living homes, which are limited to accommodating looked- after children or care leavers, for up to 8 children.

p.1

provider

At the time of the inspection, 12 looked-after children or care leavers, aged 16 and 17, were using the service.

p.1

provider

The registered manager, who is also the nominated individual, registered with Ofsted when the service was registered in July 2024.

p.1

provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 9 February and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 11 to 13 February 2026.

p.1

Outcome

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately 6 months.

p.1

Summary of findings

Leaders and managers admit children to the service who are not ready to live in supported accommodation. For these children, their progress is limited and risks to their safety increase because staff do not have sufficient oversight.

p.1

Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not have clear systems and oversight of the service to ensure that all staff have the right knowledge and skills to meet children's individual needs.

p.1

Summary of findings

Leaders and managers are not aware of the service’s areas of strength and areas for development. They rely on other agencies identifying shortfalls or regulatory Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 2 breaches. As a result, barriers to children’s progress are not fully understood or explored and this prevents children from achieving their goals and reaching their full potential. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 3

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s experiences of this service are mixed. For children who are ready to live in supported accommodation and have the emotional and practical skills they need, their progress is positive. However, the registered manager continues to admit children who are not yet ready for this level of independence, and for these children, their progress is limited and they are at an increased risk of harm.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff design children's support plans and provide them with a copy to read, review and comment on. This practice does not give children autonomy over their support arrangements or the chance to co-design their individual plans. As a result, children are unable to set their own meaningful goals and objectives. This leads to barriers in children’s engagement with their support.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s engagement with education, training and employment varies. There is a clear correlation between children who do not have the skills to safely live in supported accommodation, also not engaging with education, training or employment. Staff work with a small number of agencies who offer different work and training experiences. However, most of the children choose not to engage.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are not consistently aware of their rights and entitlements or supported appropriately to access these. For example, when children are entitled to benefits, staff are not proactive in ensuring that the people taking responsibility for children's claims are acting in their best interests. More commonly, when issues arise such as children not having passports or national insurance numbers, staff do not take quick action to resolve these matters.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children live in group premises where their needs are well understood and met. They quickly enrol on English speaking courses and receive support to adapt to the British culture safely. Staff support the children's individual cultural, religious and linguistic needs well. As a result, this cohort of children are making good progress in the service.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

Staff do not receive training that ensures they have the skills to meet the needs of children. For example, the service supports children who are part of the LGBTQ community and children who are at risk of exploitation. Despite these needs being known at the time children move into their new home, leaders and managers fail to recognise that staff require specific knowledge and skills to understand how to support these children safely and appropriately.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

Staff and managers do not appropriately or consistently challenge children when they fail to maintain the expected behaviour standards in line with their licence agreements. For example, during the inspection one child was observed to have used and stored illegal substances in their home. Staff said that this was a regular concern, but they had not issued a warning in line with the organisations policy. This Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 4 does not help children to learn the skills they require to hold their own tenancy agreement in the future.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

Although staff demonstrate a good understanding of their role and responsibility to safeguard children, at times, they lack professional curiosity, particularly when children are known to be at risk of exploitation. For example, a child acquired an expensive electric bike. Staff did not record this as a safeguarding incident and there was limited work with the child to establish further information about their safety. Equally, staff and managers do not correlate incidents or identify patterns, instead they view incidents in isolation.

p.4

How well children are helped and protected

Children living in solo accommodation premises often move in because they cannot live safely with other children and not because they have the skills to live independently. They are offered a maximum of 2 hours of support each day. For some children, they have chosen not to engage with the support available to them and this has led to staff not seeing children for several consecutive days. Risks to children living in solo accommodation are not fully understood or managed because of this lack of oversight. As a result, risks to children in these premises often increase quickly. For some children, this results in their placements ending suddenly.

p.4

How well children are helped and protected

The registered service manager and staff do not carry out any formal health and safety or fire safety assessments in the premises. Furthermore, fire risk assessments are carried out by managers who do not have the appropriate skills, knowledge or qualifications to do this. As a result, leaders and managers do not have any means of assuring themselves that children’s premises are safe for them to live in.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager has developed a statement of purpose that describes the needs and characteristics of children who would be outside of the scope of a supported accommodation service. For example, it describes children involved in gang affiliation and significant exploitation. Equally, it describes policies and procedures that are not carried out in practice by either leaders and managers or staff.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager does not have effective systems in place to ensure they have oversight of the service. As a result, the registered service manager is unable to identify shortfalls in the service that they deliver to children. For example, gaps in training and poor recruitment practice. Equally, the manager's lack of oversight means that they are unable to identify barriers that prevent children from making progress.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Shortfalls in recruitment practice mean that leaders and managers are not assured that staff are safe to work with children. For example, the recruitment manager has not carried out overseas checks on international staff and has not identified discrepancies in employment histories and therefore do not explore these. Similarly, when new staff start their role they are not provided with mandatory training, for example, safeguarding training, until they are assessed as suitable for Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 5 the role after three months of employment. This means that new staff do not have the skills to identify harm, abuse or neglect that a child may be subject to.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager has made progress in some areas since the last inspection. They have worked closely with staff to improve their knowledge and understanding about the organisations’ missing procedures. They have also developed new and improved recording tools to record children's support needs and their vulnerabilities. Staff are more attuned to keeping these records up to date. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 6

p.5

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.6

Requirement Due date

*The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

lead and manage the supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking's statement of purpose;

p.6

Requirement Due date

implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with children and to keep them safe from harm(1);

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of children to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of children to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions;

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1)(2)(a)(e)(f)(g)) 29 March 2026

p.6

Requirement Due date

*The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation— 29 March 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 7 comply with all relevant statutory provisions dealing with health and safety or fire safety matters. (Regulation 6 (1)(2)(b)(x))

p.6

Requirement Due date

*The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.7

Requirement Due date

ensure that children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

p.7

Requirement Due date

ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

p.7

Requirement Due date

keep the child's support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child's needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe. (Regulation 7 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)) 29 March 2026

p.7

Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.7

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the skills necessary to support children to identify, access and receive their entitlements in a way that helps them to learn to identify, access and receive their entitlements independently in the future. (Regulation 4 (1)(2)(i)) 29 March 2026

p.7

Requirement Due date

The protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.7

Requirement Due date

ensure that children— 29 March 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 8 are protected from harm;

p.7

Requirement Due date

have their individual needs met. (Regulation 5 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii))

p.8

Requirement Due date

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

p.8

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.8

Requirement Due date

engage and work with the accommodating authority if the registered person has concerns or if the child's support needs to be changed, including where that change may mean that the child requires more intensive support;

p.8

Requirement Due date

ensure that children are supported to access education, training or employment. (Regulation 7 (1)(2)(f)(m)) 29 March 2026

p.8

Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

p.8

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 9

p.8

Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: New Key Support Ltd

p.9

Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 7-8 Upper Norfolk Street, North Shields NE30 1PT

p.9

Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Charles Shipley

p.9

Inspectors

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector (lead) Eileen Bultitude, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: New Key Support Ltd 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.

p.9

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspectors

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

p.10