Consultation outcome

Social care common inspection framework review: interim inspections of children’s homes and residential holiday schemes for disabled children

From:: Ofsted
Published: 2 November 2021
Last updated: 11 March 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Read the full outcome

SCCIF review (interim inspections of children’s homes and residential holiday schemes for disabled children): report on the responses to the consultation

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Equality, diversity and inclusion statement: interim inspections of children’s homes and residential holiday schemes for disabled children

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Detail of outcome

This is a report on the outcomes of the consultation on the proposals for changes to the social care common inspection framework. In particular, the way we carry out interim inspections of children’s homes and the way we inspect residential holiday schemes for disabled children (RHSDC).

In summary, for children’s homes we will:

replace the current relative judgement with a single judgement based on the findings of the inspection
revise our inspection methodology so that the inspection activities we carry out will provide better assurance that children are well cared for and safe
rename the inspections ‘assurance inspections’

For residential holiday schemes for disabled children we will:

update the language and emphasis in the SCCIF for RHSDC to increase the emphasis on the child’s experience and reduce the focus on their progress
work with providers, professionals, parents, carers and children where possible to gather evidence remotely. We will reduce the time on site from 2 days to half a day and carry out a variety of inspection activities off site.
require schemes to provide a formal notification of the proposed date(s) and location(s) they will operate from *contact the responsible individual or registered manager approximately 10 days before the first day of the scheme. We will work with the provider to arrange a manager’s interview (at an agreed time), review the arrangements for the scheme such as recruitment and planning, policies and risk assessments and agree the most suitable time to visit.

Original consultation

Consultation description

This consultation seeks your views on our proposals to change the way we carry out interim inspections of children’s homes and the way we inspect residential holiday schemes for disabled children (RHSDCs).

Children’s homes inspections

We are proposing to revise the purpose of an interim inspection of a children’s home and how we carry them out to:

provide assurance that the home has not declined since the full inspection
ensure that children are well cared for and safe, and that leaders and managers are effective.

We propose to:

provide a single judgement based on the inspection findings
evaluate the effectiveness of any improvements leaders and managers have made since the last inspection
replace ‘interim’ with a more meaningful name.

Residential holiday schemes for disabled children

To ensure that we remain focused on the arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children while having a proportionate approach to a scheme where children are on a short holiday, we propose to:

update the language and emphasis in the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) for RHSDCs
use a combination of on- and off-site inspection activities
require schemes to provide a formal notification of the proposed date and location they will run from
carry out an interview with the manager before the scheme starts.

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