Children's Home Set Up
In summary, a children’s home must have:
- A registered provider and, where the provider is an organisation such as a company, a person known as a ‘Responsible Individual’ who represents the organisation to Ofsted.
- A qualified Registered Manager.
- A Statement of Purpose that sets out the overall aims of the children’s home and the objectives for children who live there or those provided with short breaks – the law sets out the information that the statement must contain in regulations; you can find these in schedule 1 of ‘the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.’
- A Children’s Guide, which explains what a child can expect from the home’s care, including the support each child is entitled to, how they can make a complaint and how they can access advocacy support; the guide must be in a form that is appropriate to the age, understanding and communication needs of the children
- A number of policies and procedures – these are set out in the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.
- An appropriate/suitably equipped and furnished property, with planning consent to operate as a children’s home.
- Ofsted will also undertake financial viability checks on the provider including bank references, business plan and financial forecast.
Ofsted registration process can take up to 16 weeks.
Once the application has been submitted:
1. A site visit is undertaken – is the property fit for purpose?:
- Property must relevant planning consents
- Property must be fully furnished (ready to admit children/young people)
- All health and safety requirements must have been fulfilled with appropriate certification provided including fire doors and fire alarms
- All fire certification met/signed off
- All PAT Testing to have been completed
- Appropriate insurances must in place
- Premises must clean and tidy – including gardens.
- Floor plan of the home needs to be created
- During the visit, inspector will also look at:
- policies and procedures
- some staff recruitment files
- certification
- staff rota’s
- Training matrix
2. ‘Fit Person’s interviews’ (Manager and Responsible Individual):
A set of questions is completed and then formal interviews held. During the interview process previous work history/inspections will be discussed in detail, as well as understanding of practice (including SOP), policies, procedures and regulations.
A note of caution:
- Budget well: you will need between £60k to £100k for the setup costs (depending on the size of the home).
- Do not take the risk with hiring an inexperienced manager; they will not get through the Ofsted interview process.
- This is not a short-term business with quick returns, it is a long-term investment which requires long term financial commitment. Talk to other small providers.
- Be realistic about your expectations
We can assist with full or part support in the registration process:
Initial site visit / consultancy: to look at the suitability of the property home; with report/ action plan.
Reviewing key paperwork:
– Statement of purpose
– Children’s guide
– Locality risk assessment
– Business plan
– Financial forecast
– Mandatory policies and procedures
– Staff handbook
(If you do not have the above – we can produce these for you).
Manager and Responsible Individual recruitment – advice and support, including:
– Reparation of job specification
– Preparation of interview questions and scoring sheets
– Shortlisting
– Preparation of offer letter
– Safer recruitment checks
– Support with employment contract
Attendance at interview
Advice and support pre-submission of Ofsted registration application.
– Include review of application form
Pre-registration inspection visit audit; this is held before Ofsted inspector is due to visit the home.
Contact us to discuss how we can support you in setting up Residential children’s homes, Supported Accommodation or Residential Family Assessment Centre's.