Children's Home run by Keys Care Limited in Durham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 1 SC423407 Registered provider: Keys Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 8 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 6 children living in the home at the time of the inspection. All children were spoken with during the inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: SC423407 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/07/2025 Full Good 17/09/2024 Full Good 14/11/2023 Full Good 28/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 3

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Summary of findings

Children are happy living in the home and develop trusting relationships with staff, who listen to their views and provide meaningful support to help children develop relationships with their families and experience a range of activities. Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities. They respond well to manage risks and promote positive behaviour in the home. However, leaders and managers do not consistently evaluate practice or the experiences children have to drive continuous improvement and inform the development of the service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they like living in the home. Children build trusting relationships with those caring for them and say that they feel listened to and able to talk to staff about their worries. Children have regular access to an advocate, who visits the home monthly and provides further opportunities for children to have their wishes and views heard and acted on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do well in education and are making good progress. This is because staff support the children to attend their educational provisions regularly and are enthusiastic about children’s achievements and progress. Children are positive about school. One child who was not accessing education before moving to the home is now attending daily. This encouragement from staff means that children remain motivated to achieve in their studies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to have positive relationships with people who are important to them. Staff advocate for children to spend time with their family, supporting children to rebuild their relationships. Staff have supported one child to reconnect with their sister and another child to spend more time with their family, including overnight stays. Families say that they are kept up to date and staff promote them having positive relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to participate in a wide range of activities. Their individual interests and preferences are recognised, and staff provide personalised opportunities to help them develop existing hobbies and try new experiences. Children are actively involved in deciding where they would like to go on holidays and day trips, and they contribute to the planning and preparation for these outings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from having their own pets, which they speak about with great affection. Staff support children to understand the responsibilities involved in caring for their animals and help them develop the skills needed to meet their pets’ needs. One child said that staff have helped them learn how to care for their pet and understand that shouting can have a negative impact on animals. This support helps children Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 4 develop a sense of responsibility, empathy and a greater awareness of how their behaviour can affect others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive a positive move when they are welcomed into the home. Children have the opportunity to visit before they move, but when children have moved in without visiting the home, this has been considered and planned in line with their needs. However, children’s pre-admission risk assessments do not always identify the risks to children from their peers and how staff should respond.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff do not always complete preventative work to help children develop strategies to manage their emotions. For example, staff have not taken action to implement additional preventative measures around some children’s access to vapes. As a result, opportunities are sometimes missed to promote children’s health and wellbeing.

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

Risk assessments are effective in helping staff to understand and respond appropriately to each child’s individual risks. Assessments are up to date and have clear guidance for staff to follow, which includes any indicators that a child may be at risk. This helps staff to intervene effectively when a child is at risk of harm.

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

Positive behaviour is consistently promoted in the home. Staff work well with multi- agency professionals to implement strategies to help children develop positive relationships with each other, for example through reviewing children’s activities and providing different options for the younger and older children. Additionally, staff support children to understand positive friendships and boundaries. This has had a positive impact on reducing incidents in the home.

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

Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and take effective action when there are concerns about children. The staff escalate their concerns to the necessary services in a timely manner. Staff work well with multi-agency teams, and children are provided with external support when they need it.

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

When children go missing from home, staff actively search for children to support their safe return. On their return, children are offered support and the opportunity to speak with an independent person. However, the response to missing-from-home episodes is not consistently reviewed to assess its effectiveness. The same measures are often used without reviewing whether they are appropriate, individualised or restorative. As a result, staff do not always adapt their approach to understand what works best for each individual child.

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

When allegations are made, the manager responds in a timely manner and puts measures in place to ensure children are safe. This is followed up by the staff working with multi-agency professionals. However, children are not always consulted about the outcome of investigations. This limits their opportunity to understand what has happened and have their views considered. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Management oversight is not yet effective in identifying and addressing patterns and trends in children’s experiences and outcomes. This includes learning from placement breakdowns and practice issues. Although the manager has oversight of individual incidents and identifies actions to support children, these are not consistently brought together to identify wider learning and improve practice. This means that there are missed opportunities to continuously learn from and develop practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Recording of incidents, including follow-up discussions with children following restraint, are not always completed, detailed or clear. There is key information missing from records, which makes it difficult to get a clear account of the child’s views and experiences. This was identified at the previous inspection. However, improvements have not been sufficiently embedded to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers do not always follow up outcomes of allegations with staff or review the learning and actions arising from them. Children’s views on the outcomes of allegations are also not consistently sought or used to inform practice. As a result, there are missed opportunities to identify shortfalls, share learning with staff and improve the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager does not ensure that supervision provides staff with sufficient opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills. Although staff say that they feel supported by managers, individual supervision sessions are brief and do not provide the staff with the opportunity to review their skills or reflect on the needs of the children. This includes new and inexperienced staff. This means that staff miss opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to provide consistent care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is run by an experienced manager who knows the children well. The manager is committed to supporting children to achieve the best outcomes. Staff, children and professionals speak positively about the management of the home, which helps embed a nurturing culture.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Team meetings are held regularly and provide staff with a clear and consistent message of expectations for staff practice and how the children’s needs should be met. Some incidents and learning from these are discussed, helping staff to reflect on their practice and develop new skills and strategies to support children. This helps to ensure that staff share accountability for their practice and that there is consistency for the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager and staff have developed strong working relationships with multi-agency professionals and parents. The staff communicate regularly with parents, social workers and education professionals to make sure that the children receive a consistent response. Professionals commented, ‘They update me straight away’ and ‘Communication is fantastic. I can’t praise them enough.’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 23 September 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should inform children of the outcome following an investigation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.17) Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 7  The registered person should ensure that staff work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and wellbeing, such as actively preventing children from vaping and supporting children to develop strategies to manage their emotional wellbeing. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18)  The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature. In particular, any consequences should be individual to each child and/or situation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that the child’s relationship history and the

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Recommendations

impact that the child’s arrival may have on the group living in the home are fully considered before children move in. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.3)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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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: SC423407 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: C/o Pinsent Masons Llp, The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 3LP

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Inspectors

Natalie Clark, Social Care Inspector Amber Merriman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC423407 9 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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