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 analysis of the 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.
• 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.

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 or preparing key documents:

– Statement of purpose
– Children’s guide
– Locality risk assessment
– Business plan
– Financial forecast
– Mandatory policies and procedures
– Staff handbook

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