Key Safe / Property Access Log

How should a home care service log key safe use?

When care workers let themselves into someone's home, you need a record of who went in, when they left and whether the home was secured. This key safe log gives you that record without ever holding the code itself. It is written for home care services.

The law says you must protect people from theft or misuse of their money or property. Theft of money or jewellery left lying around is a recognised pattern of abuse, and if property goes missing, a clear access record shows who was in the home and when.

The five parts of the log

• Part A, the access arrangement: how workers get in, who changes the code, where it is held and the person's consent

• Part B, one line per visit: times in and out, and checks that the key safe was closed, the code scrambled and the home secured

• Part C, signing keys held by the service out and back in

• Part D, code changes, lost keys, damaged or open key safes and suspected misuse

• Part E, the manager's audit

Fill in Part A when care starts and look at it again at each care plan review. If the person lacks capacity to agree to the arrangement, follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and record the best interests decision.

Keeping key safe codes secure

Never write a key safe code, door code or alarm code on the log, on rotas, in texts or in daily notes. Codes live in one secure system, and only the workers who need them for a visit see them. Key tags show a key number, never the person's name or address.

If a key or code may have been lost or misused, workers tell the office straight away and ask the person or their family to change the code. A code shared with the wrong person may be a personal data breach, which means personal information reached someone it should not have.

Before you use it

Add where your service holds key safe codes securely, and who may see them.

On a no-reply visit, the Missed Visits Policy & Procedure tells workers when they may use the agreed access method. Concerns about theft go through your Safeguarding Policy & Procedure, and a leaked code falls under the Data Protection & Information Governance Policy.