The Property - Identify and Enquire
– Identify Property
– Can you get planning permission?
– Can you get insurance
Children’s home providers and managers must meet a range of legal requirements; this includes a requirement to register with Ofsted. If you want to apply to open a children’s home, you should also read Ofsted’s ‘Guide to registration for children’s social care services’, which sets out the process of registration for all children’s social care providers.
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 (QCF Level 5 children and young people) Registered Manager who has their own personal registration with Ofsted.
- 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:
- If you are new to the sector – seek expert advice from the outset; there are many experienced consultants in the sector; it will save you time, money and heartache.
- Makes sure the property is the right size, in the right location and get the planning consent.
- 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.
- Once you have the property, recruit your manager; they will help set everything up thereafter.
Support from Kayn Consultants
We can assist with a full or part support in the registration process:
| Service |
|---|
| 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 held before Ofsted inspector is due to visit the home. |
| Review and support with Fit Person Questionnaire and Interview |
| Placement and referrals: – Guide to website development – Advice on marketing material – Advice generating referrals – Guidance on E-Marketing – Guide to placement portals and networks |
| Supervision of RI and/or Registered Manager |
Example Timeline of setting up a Children’s Home
GUIDE TO PLANNING PERMISSION FOR CHILDREN’S HOMES
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) Order 2005 (amended further in 2010) distinguishes a range of uses of buildings and specifically permits changes of use from one use to another within individual classes. Where activity results in a material change of use of a building to a use falling within a different use class then planning permission will be required to authorise that change of use. Depending on the circumstances of each case, a children’s home will fall into either a C2 or C3 use classification.
Classification
Use Class C2 (Residential Institutions) of the above Order reads as follows:
- Use for the provision of residential accommodation and care to people in need of care (other than a use within class C3 (dwelling houses).
- Use as a hospital or nursing home.
- Use as a residential school, college or training centre.
- Use Class C3 (Dwelling houses) reads as follows: Use as a dwelling house (whether or not as a sole or main residence) by —
- a single person or by people to be regarded as forming a single household;
- not more than six residents living together as a single household where care is provided for residents;
- or not more than six residents living together as a single household where no care is provided to residents (other than a use within Class C4).
A material change of use from class C3 to C2 amounts to development requiring planning permission. There is therefore a potential requirement for planning permission to use a dwelling house as a children’s home.
Legalities
The starting point is to first establish as a matter of fact and degree, whether such a use would constitute a change of use from C3 to C2.
The issue largely centres on whether or not the children are in themselves capable of living together as a single household.
Class C3 (b) of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order as amended refers to “use as a dwelling house by not more than six residents living together as a single household, (including a household where care is provided for residents).” If a children’s home was being run on this basis, with children being looked after by a permanent occupant of the dwelling, there would be no requirement for planning permission.
However, the matter is less clear when the care is based on shift patterns. In the North Devon District Council [2003] case Justice Collins made the point that children “need to be looked after. They cannot run a house. They cannot be expected to deal with all the matters that go to running a home … children are regarded as needing fulltime care from an adult, someone to look after them, someone to run their lives for them and someone to make sure that the household operates as it should.” The North Devon judgement confirms that it is unrealistic to expect children to look after themselves in a single household. It also clarified that carers who provided 24 hour care but were not resident could not be regarded as living together in a household.
The concept of living together as a household means that a proper functioning household must exist and children and carer must reside in the premises. In such circumstances, the use cannot therefore be considered to fall within Class C3 (b). A children’s home run on shift patterns could not be considered to fall within Class C3 (a), because clearly, this is not occupation of a dwelling house by a single person or people living together as a family.
Children’s homes based on shift patterns would not be considered to fall into these criteria either. Following an assessment of case law and an Inspector’s decision of 2010 at Stockport, use of premises as a children’s home will generally be held to fall within Class C2 of the Order (Residential institutions).
Planning Permission
If planning permission is required, what are the issues?
- The key issues relate to the impact on the amenity of nearby occupiers. Relevant factors will include the movements to and from the premises associated with such a use, including shift patterns, the need for visitors on a regular basis (including the emergency services).
- The internal fitting out of the premises with fire alarms, lockable doors etc would also be factors suggesting that a material change of use may have taken place.
- If the premises in question provides for sufficient parking, outdoor space and the amenity effects on neighbouring dwellings are capable of being mitigated, it is the case that these developments would normally be appropriate uses, in planning terms, in residential areas.
- Similarly, if the surrounding area is not mainly characterised by single family dwellings, it may well be the case that such a use could continue with little quantifiable impact subject to there being no increased concerns in other areas such as to highway safety. Conclusions The issue of whether or not a material change of use has occurred will ultimately be a matter of fact and degree in each individual case.
The key issues are however the numbers of residents involved, whether or not staff work shift patterns or have a permanent residence at the site and the materiality in planning terms of any change of use. The starting point will be to consider:
- The number of residents involved and how the operation is to be conducted, for example whether or not staff are employed and if shift patterns are in operation or whether staff are permanently resident. If the number of residents is not more than six and the staff live in full time then this is consistent with a C3 use.
- By contrast, where the staff working shift patterns and are not full-time residents this is consistent with C2 use.
Ultimately it will remain a matter of planning judgement but this should be the start of a sequence of considerations to help establish whether or not a change in the character of a dwelling-house has occurred, for example, through increased coming and goings and disturbance.
Check list for registering a children’s home
Check List:
- Application form SC1 (Provider completes).
- The documents listed in the appendix for each relevant individual connected to your application.
- Statement of purpose.
- Location risk assessment.
- Children’s guide.
- Application fee.
- Copy of a certificate of insurance or written confirmation that insurance will be provided, for example a letter of intention and a quote for the provision of insurance.
- Copy of planning permission granted, a certificate of lawfulness, a copy of a planning application or evidence that planning permission is not required.
- Financial Bank reference.
- Business plan.
- Cash-flow forecast.
- Last two annual reports, including, where applicable, reports for the holding company and subsidiaries for that holding company.
- Last two annual accounts or Bank reference.
- Missing child policy.
- Accident and missing resident procedure.
- Safeguarding policy.
- Behaviour management policy (including restraint).
- Prevention of bullying policy.
- Complaint’s procedure.
- Equalities policy.
Fitness of Property (once you have obtained planning/exemption from planning):
- Property must meet ‘fire regulations’ – get a fire risk assessment completed.
- Health and safety Risk assessment.
- Legionellae’s assessment and certificate.
- PAT testing on electrical items.
- Gas safe certificate.
- Electrical certificate.
- Asbestos survey to be undertaken.
- Proof of lease (3 to 5 minimum) / If you own the property proof to show that it can operate as Childrens’ home from the lender.
- Fire alarm to be fitted and signed off.
- You may want to consider fitting door alarms to children’s bedrooms.
- The property must be fully furnished.
Appendix
- Declaration and consent form (SC2).
- Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate.
- Health declaration booklet.
- Fit person questionnaire (this is not required as part of your initial application, your inspector will request this).