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Guidance

Register a children’s home: guidance for applicants

How to register with Ofsted and apply to open, manage, or be associated with a children's home.

Updates to this page

From:
Ofsted
Published:
12 April 2012
Last updated:
10 July 2026
Show all updates

  1. Children's homes registration policy – added a note to explain that we have revised our guidance on managing children’s homes applications, including how we prioritise these applications. We’ve also clarified which directors should complete the SC2 forms and updated our guidance on a single manager being responsible for 2 homes. We've also added a new section on 'Pausing applications' and provided clarity around circumstances where registration may be refused before a registration visit. Apply to register a children's home – added a note to explain that we have revised our guidance on managing children’s homes applications, including how we prioritise these applications. We’ve also updated our guidance on completing a location assessment. The 'Prioritising applications' section has also been updated to reflect the changes to the 'Registering children's homes: prioritising applications guidance'. Apply to be associated with a children's home – updated our guidance on which directors should complete the SC2 forms.

  2. Children’s homes registration guidance updated. The guidance is now organised into 4 clear sections: - Children's home registration policy - Apply to register a children's home - Apply to be associated with a children’s home - Responsibilities of providers and managers in Ofsted-registered children’s homes

  3. Added a note to explain that there are significant delays in processing new registration applications due to an exceptionally high number of submissions.

  4. Added note to explain that there are significant delays to processing new registration applications due to an exceptionally high number of submissions.

  5. Removed the need for a financial reference, following a change in legislation.

  6. Updated the ‘Children’s homes that provide care and accommodation for adults’ section to include information about individual circumstances where it would be in the child’s best interest to live in a children’s home after their 18th birthday. We have also the updated the ‘Guidelines for judging if a home is meeting the ‘wholly or mainly’ definition’ section and added a new paragraph to the ‘Principles to apply where a young adult resides at a children’s home’ section.

  7. Clarification added to the location assessment about consulting with relevant local bodies and updated the unregistered section to clarify when we may undertake a criminal investigation. We have also removed guidance on indicators for supported accommodation that is now in our guidance for registering supported accommodation.

  8. Guidance on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children removed in the interim whilst the Home Office and Department for Education review current position.

  9. Clarified the section 'When you do not need to register' and removed guidance on unregulated establishments as this content is currently under review.

  10. Clarified our guidance about applications to manage more than one children’s home.

  11. Added link to guidance about applying to register a multi-building children's home.

  12. Clarified our guidance on one manager managing two homes.

  13. Revised guidance on applying to manage more than one children's home.

  14. Revised throughout for clarity.

  15. Minor updates to reflect a legislation change on exemptions from registration for 16 to 19 academies (p5), and to clarify existing guidance on unregulated and unregistered providers (p16).

  16. Updated this guidance to clarify that we do not register satellite children’s homes.

  17. Updated to make it clear when unregulated and unregistered services should register.

  18. Updated to bring in line with legislation changes in 2015.

  19. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Children’s homes registration policy

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Apply to register a children's home

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Apply to be associated with a children’s home

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Responsibilities of providers and managers in Ofsted-registered children’s homes

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Registering a secure children's home or school

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Details

We have revised our prioritisation guide explaining how we will manage children’s homes registration applications. Applications that do not meet the criteria for priority, including existing and newly submitted applications, will remain on our waiting list.

This guidance explains the policies and registration requirements Ofsted uses to assess your application to run a children’s home. It also outlines what to expect after your children’s home is registered.

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