Apply to register a residential holiday scheme for disabled children

Question 1

Who needs to fill in the form

Accepted Answer

The person who needs to fill in the offline SC1 form depends on the type of provider you are.

Organisations, including limited liability partnerships

To fill out the form, you must be in one of the following roles, or be authorised by someone in one of the following roles:

a director acting for the company
an individual performing the same or similar functions as a director
a partner
a trustee, director or chairperson acting for a charity or statutory body
a chairperson or committee member acting for a committee

Partnerships not registered as limited liability partnerships

To fill out the form, you must be one of the partners acting on behalf of all the partners in the partnership.

Individual providers

If you are an individual provider, you must fill out the form yourself.

If you are a group of individuals (not operating as a partnership or company), one of those individuals must fill out the form.

Question 2

Information you will need to provide

Accepted Answer

We will ask for information about the residential holiday scheme for disabled children that you want to register with Ofsted, and those who will be associated with your service.

You will be asked for:

your company’s registration details (which must match the details recorded by Companies House)
your unique reference number (URN) if you have applied to register, or been registered, with Ofsted previously for any type of service
previous applications and registration details for children’s social care services
previous applications and registration details for any early years provision
previous applications and registration details for adult social services
information about the residential holiday scheme you want to register
details of your premises if you have identified a holiday site
the range of fees that you will charge
individuals you want to link to the registration, such as managers
an original Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificatefor everyone who needs one

Unique reference number

Your URN will be on correspondence regarding the relevant registration, and will follow a certain format:

for social care registrations before 2015, the URN starts with SC and has 6 digits, for example SC123456
for social care and early years registrations from 2015, the URN is 7 digits, for example 1234567
for early years registration before 2015, the URN starts with EY and has 6 digits, for example EY123456

We also need the URN of:

any holding companies you have registered with Ofsted
any registered services in which you have a financial interest

Holding company and subsidiary details

If you are a holding company with subsidiaries registered with Ofsted, you will need to tell us the name, trading start date, URN, address and contact details for each subsidiary.

If your organisation is a subsidiary of a holding company, you must tell us the holding company’s name, trading start date, registered company number (or charity number, if applicable), address, and contact details. You must tell us about all the other subsidiaries of your holding company.

You must also give us the accounts for the last 2 years for your holding company and all its subsidiaries.

Previous applications and registrations

If you’ve applied to register any social care or early years provision with Ofsted before, we will need its unique reference number (URN).

Ofsted must know about all of your previous applications and registrations for early years or social care children’s services, adult social care services and early years provision.

We will ask whether you have:

had a previous application refused
been registered or licensed to run a service
had a registration cancelled

The information we need about previous applications includes the URN. If you do not have a URN for that service (for example, adult social care services), then you will need to tell us about the type of service, date of application, reason for the refusal (if relevant) and which public authority dealt with the application.

We also need to know who you registered with, how long the registration was for and the type of service. If you have had a registration cancelled, you need to provide either the URN or details about the service, including dates of registration and why the registration was cancelled.

Question 3

Documents required for your application

Accepted Answer

We cannot accept your application unless you have provided all the documents that we require, and all the people who need to provide an [Apply to be connected with children’s social care service SC2 form have done so.

With the offline SC1 form, you will need to provide:

When you are completing the SC1 form or SC2 form, you are required to disclose other information that the Care Standards Act 2000 identifies as relevant to your application. We will also ask to see other policies at different stages of the process, for example during a site visit.

Statement of purpose

You must have a unique statement of purpose for each residential holiday scheme for disabled children that you are applying to register. Its contents will vary according to the type of scheme that you intend to operate.

The statement of purpose should meet the requirements of the residential holiday scheme for disabled children regulations 2013.

We will take the quality of the statement of purpose into account when making our decision about your fitness to practise.

Children’s guide

All applications must include a children’s guide. When creating this, it is important that you have in mind the level of understanding of those who are going to read it. The type of words you use, the pictures you include, and the level of detail you go into should help every child who reads it to understand the important things about your holiday offer and what they can do to tell you if they think that something is not right.

Planning permission

If the scheme does not operate from a permanent office or holiday site, it does not need to provide evidence of planning permission.

If you have a permanent office or set premises for your holiday scheme, you must provide evidence of planning permission in your application. You must tell us whether any planning permission is required for every building that will make up your set premises that will be used for holidays. We strongly recommend that you wait until any required planning permission is granted before you apply for registration. This is because there may be significant delays in getting planning permission. This may result in your application being returned to you, and your fee will not be refunded.

You must provide us with a copy of one of the following:

evidence that planning permission is in place
local authority confirmation that no planning permission is required
local authority confirmation that the proposed property’s current use class is allowed
a copy of your planning permission application

We will be unable to carry out a registration visit until you have provided us with one of the documents listed. If we do not receive a copy of your planning permission within 12 weeks, we may be unable to decide on your application. If you are appealing a planning decision, you should notify us of this, and we will consider extending this timescale.

Certificate of insurance

You must get a certificate of insurance for death, injury, public liability, damage or other loss before your scheme starts to operate.

We appreciate that some insurers will not provide this until registration is granted. In this case, you must give us written confirmation that you will have a certificate of insurance before you start to operate. If the name and the address of the scheme are not included on the certificate, you must prove that it is covered before you start to operate.

Policies

It is important that the policies you have reflect your statement of purpose and match the needs of the children you intend to care for.

Policies must follow relevant government guidance, but should also be tailored to the children who will be attending your holiday setting. Your policies should include:

Missing child policy

This policy should tell staff what to do when children are missing from the residential holiday scheme. There should be different responses according to children’s needs and vulnerabilities. Procedures for reporting missing children should reflect local area protocols for where the holiday is situated. They should include procedures for keeping parents and carers informed about incidents.

Safeguarding policy

Your policy should reflect local authority protocols for safeguarding and child protection in the local area in which the holiday scheme is situated. It should include procedures for liaising with a child’s family if there are safeguarding concerns.

It must also explain:

who is responsible for safeguarding in your organisation
who manages any concerns raised about the nominated safeguarding lead
what happens if someone makes an allegation against a member of staff
what action you will take if a child needs protection

Behaviour support policy

This policy explains how staff support children’s behaviour and the scheme’s approach to the use of restraint. It should detail the positive and proactive measures that staff should take to prevent, deflect or avoid restrictive practice. It may include how staff and leaders include children in decision-making, and how staff help children to understand and manage their emotions and behaviour.

Prevention of bullying policy

This policy should explain how staff will prevent and respond to incidents of bullying. The policy should also identify how staff will support any victim of bullying, and any alleged perpetrator.

Complaints policy

This policy should explain how:

staff respond to complaints from children and adults
complaints are investigated and how long this takes
children may make complaints once they have returned home
people can escalate a complaint if they are not happy with the outcome
children and parents are involved in the complaints process
children and parents can contact a person or organisation outside the scheme, such as the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Ofsted, if they want to raise a concern

Question 4

Evidence of financial viability

Accepted Answer

Unless you are applying from a local authority or an NHS trust, you must include with your application:

your business plan
your cashflow forecast
if you are a corporate body, a copy of each of your last 2 annual reports and annual accounts related to the holiday scheme. This only applies if you have been operating for more than a year

If you are a type of trust, other than an NHS trust, we need your latest set of annual accounts, but you do not have to provide all the above. Instead, you can provide in writing from the local authority:

assurance that it is content that the trust is financially viable
details of how the local authority will review the trust’s performance, including its finances

Business plan

As a minimum, the business plan should cover:

background information
a marketing plan
a financial plan
an operational plan that includes:
- evidence that you have a manager and enough staff to support the number of children you initially intend to accommodate
- a recruitment plan to support an increase in the number of children you accommodate
- information about how you will deal with staff turnover
- information about how you will recruit and train staff to meet children’s changing needs

Cashflow forecast

Your cashflow forecast should estimate the projected monthly income and expenditure for the first 12 months of operation. This is simply a summary of the money that is expected to be paid into and out of the residential holiday scheme, in cash terms, over the period. This is usually broken down into a month-by-month forecast.

Annual reports and accounts

You should provide up to the last 2 annual reports and accounts if you have been operating for over a year. Where applicable, you should also include the annual reports for the holding company and any subsidiaries of that holding company.

New companies do not need to submit annual reports or accounts. Reports and accounts should be related to the holiday scheme only.

If relevant, you should provide a copy of any partnership agreement and any charitable objects as set out by the Charities Commission.

Fees

You must pay a children’s social care registration fee as part of your application. Once you have submitted your application and we have all the documents to process it, we will send you an invoice for the fee. This fee is non-refundable.

You must also pay a registration fee for each application for a registered manager, including if there is a new manager during the application process. This applies to registered managers for both a new and an existing residential holiday scheme for disabled children.

Once your residential holiday scheme for disabled children is registered, you must pay a children’s social care annual fee. Fees are set by the Department for Education (DfE) and are reviewed and updated every year.

When you apply for a new registration, we always check whether you owe us fees from any previous registrations. We will consider any outstanding fees when assessing your fitness, your integrity and your financial viability to provide a new residential holiday scheme for disabled children.

Question 5

Registration visit and interviews

Accepted Answer

If you have identified set premises that you intend to permanently run the holiday scheme from, we may visit them as part of the application. We will always interview people who are associated with the application.

Documents required during the inspector’s visit

Before or during the visit, the inspector will ask for specific documents that were not part of your original application. We ask for these to check whether you are ready to operate. You will only have this information, such as staff member details or your approach to recruiting volunteers, after we accept your application. We are unlikely to make a decision about your registration without this information. It helps Ofsted judge how well you can care for children and keep them safe.

We will always ask for the following information during the visit. Inspectors will tell you before they visit if they expect anything else:

your original birth certificate for your identity when you were born
original certified documents relating to each name change you have had since birth
proof of your address and photographic evidence of your identity, such as a driving licence
your qualification documents
your original DBS certificate for the manager and responsible individual

If you have changed your name, Ofsted will want to see a clear audit trail of those changes and your original birth certificate.

This is an important part of our safeguarding role. If it will be difficult for you to provide original documents, you must tell us as soon as possible so that we can help you to resolve the problem.

Staffing and recruitment

We will look at your staffing and volunteer arrangements to check that you will have enough staff or volunteers who are trained and competent to work with the children using the holiday scheme. We do not expect a full staff or volunteer team to be in place, as we will check this before any holiday begins.

We will also ask to see some personnel files so we can check your recruitment practice. You must have available all recruitment records for the staff you have recruited before the registration visit, including those of the proposed manager and, where applicable, the responsible individual. If you normally hold these records elsewhere, you must arrange for them to be available at the registration visit.

Training and development

You should have a training and development plan ready that outlines:

staff induction – how new staff are introduced to your holiday scheme, its policies, and their roles
supervision arrangements – how staff will be supported, monitored, and guided in their work

Health and safety

You will need to show the inspector your health and safety risk assessment, management plan and arrangements for protection from fire and other emergencies for the site you intend to use; these must be completed by a suitable person.

You should have available at the visit all the necessary certificates relating to the premises, if you have identified set premises that you intend to run the holiday scheme from, for example utility safety certificates, maintenance certificates for equipment (such as lifts and hoists), and insurance certificates.

Business development plan

We will look at and discuss your business development plan, including your contingencies for recruitment and managing staff vacancies.

Record-keeping systems and surveillance

You will need to provide examples of any paper-based or electronic systems that you intend to use to record children’s information and experiences. You can use these to show inspectors that you understand the regulatory requirements for record-keeping.

You will be asked to provide a copy of your surveillance and use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) policy where relevant.

Registration process

The inspector will:

ask whether any reasonable adjustments are required before each interview
visit all the premises that make up the residential holiday scheme if applicable
read and discuss, as necessary, documentation you have provided
interview people in certain roles of responsibility
assess and evaluate all the information we have gathered

After the interviews, the inspector will go over with you:

a summary of the evidence that they have collected
the proposed conditions of registration
what happens next
whether you need to submit any more information or further interviews are required

Registration interviews

Interviews may take place on different days. We will arrange them with each individual concerned. Inspectors will usually interview both the proposed manager and the appointed responsible individual, even if the responsible individual has been interviewed by us before.

Interviews are an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills, expertise and knowledge for your role. The interview will draw out your experience and values to see how you will use these to offer children a safe holiday experience.

Responsible individuals’ interviews

The interview will cover whether the appointed responsible individual has:

a good understanding of the role of a responsible individual
a good understanding of safeguarding and child protection that considers the needs of disabled children
a good understanding of the law and guidance in relation to residential holiday schemes
the skills, knowledge and ability to carry on the residential holiday scheme in a way that promotes good practice and continuous improvement
the business and management skills required to supervise the scheme
the capacity to carry out regular evaluation of the quality of care provided

We will explore and assess how the responsible individual will exercise their responsibilities. For example, how they will:

maintain regular and effective oversight of the scheme
support and challenge the manager and provider to promote best outcomes for children
consult with children and families and represent their views about the residential holiday scheme to the manager and provider
work together with the manager to promote the safety and high standard of the physical environment
organise prompt repair of the physical environment
organise a visit to a holiday in operation and prepare a written report on the conduct of the scheme (Regulation 29)
maintain a system for monitoring the operation of a scheme (Regulation 30)
oversee safeguarding notifications
be available for feedback about an inspection
inform Ofsted if the manager leaves

Managers’ interviews

Managers must be able to demonstrate that they have the business and organisational skills to manage the work efficiently and effectively.

When enquiring about management skills, we explore and assess the manager’s experience and skills in:

supervising others who are carrying out a care role
safeguarding disabled children and taking appropriate action to protect them
building relationships with children and their families
taking into account the views of children and their families
setting out and using quality assurance systems to deliver a safe and positive holiday experience
understanding and managing risk
understanding the statement of purpose for the scheme
understanding how to meet the regulations and national minimum standards
arranging the delivery of what is required for residential staff and volunteers to carry out their roles effectively

When enquiring about skills in caring for children, we explore and assess the manager’s experience and skills in:

understanding the needs of the children who attend holiday schemes for disabled children and who are identified in the statement of purpose
understanding the range of services that the holiday scheme will provide
understanding the skills and knowledge required to support children using the service
understanding the importance of caring and safe relationships for children
understanding the support required for children whose development has not progressed in line with their age
understanding attachment and how children are affected by trauma
understanding positive and relationships-based approaches to behaviour support for children
ensuring that there are adequate systems in place to oversee staff
ensuring that staff are suitably trained and experienced to undertake these roles
identifying and minimising risk

Manager experience

Managers must have:

at least 2 years’ experience relevant to working with children with complex needs
at least one year’s experience supervising and managing professional staff

We will consider experience in roles other than residential childcare. For example, we may consider experience gained as a volunteer leader for families’ charities or a leadership role for disabled children’s services, and we would accept experience in registered settings that we do not regulate, such as health services for children who have a learning disability or residential special schools.

We will ask applicants to demonstrate how their experience is transferable to the role of manager for a residential holiday scheme for disabled children and how it will enable them to provide and develop a high-quality scheme that provides children with a safe and positive holiday experience.

Question 6

Changes to your application

Accepted Answer

During the registration process, you must tell us straight away if there are changes to any of the details in your application.

If you want to make changes to your application before we have granted registration, you must write to tell us about changes to:

the name or address of the proposed provider, responsible individual or manager
the person who is applying to be the provider, responsible individual or manager
the members of a partnership

If these changes involve a new person in one of the above roles, they will need to fill in an SC2 form. If your application has already progressed to stage 3, it will go back to stage 2 until we have received the new forms. In these cases, we will hold the application at stage 2 for 12 weeks from the point when the initial applicant withdrew, to give you time to find a replacement.

After this, we may return your application to you because we are unable to make a decision if there are no suitable applicants to consider. This will not affect any future applications that you may make. You will need to begin the application process again, including paying the relevant fee.

Ofsted cannot process online applications for residential holiday schemes for disabled children. You must request an offline version of this form by contacting sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk

Questions about your application

We know that your application is very important to you, and sometimes you want to speak to us to ask us for an update. Once we have sent your application to our regional team, an inspector will be allocated to your application. They will contact you and let you know how to contact them.

If you have questions and are unable to find the answers in our Residential holiday scheme guidance for applicants at the start of your application, contact sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk. Use ‘Social care application’ as the subject line of your email and include your full name and reference number so we can contact you.

You are responsible for supplying us with full, correct and suitable information to support your application.

It is an offence to provide a false or misleading statement in an application.