Guidance

Apply to be associated with a voluntary adoption agency

Updated 28 November 2025

Applies to England

If you are applying to work as a responsible individual in a voluntary adoption agency, we consider you to be ‘associated’ with the voluntary adoption agency.

If you want to work in a role that means you are associated with a voluntary adoption agency, you must complete an Apply to be associated with a children’s social care service (SC2) form. This form is the same form for all types of children’s social care. 

This guide explains how to complete the form as someone who wants to be associated with a voluntary adoption agency.

Due to the exceptionally high number of applications, it is taking us longer than usual to process new submissions. If you are applying to register, it is likely to be several months before you receive a decision.

To help avoid further delays, please ensure that you provide all required information both at the time of application and throughout the process.

Who needs to fill in the form 

The following people need to submit an SC2 form:

• as part of a new application to register, everyone within the service with a ‘role of responsibility’
• new partners in a partnership

Information you need to provide 

We will ask for information about the voluntary adoption agency you want to be associated with, and for personal and professional information about you.

The registration form consists of the following sections:

• your social care service

• your role

• your eligibility to work with children

• your suitability to work with children

• the previous applications for voluntary adoption agencies and any other type of agency or establishment that you or your organisation have made (including refused and withdrawn applications)

• your previous registrations with Ofsted for voluntary adoption agencies or any establishment or agency (including cancelled registrations)

• your personal details

• your financial history (if you are applying to be a partner or owner of your service)

• your financial interests

• your business interests

• your skills and experience

• your employment history

• your referees

The form will ask you for a lot of information. If you do not have all the information to hand, you can save the form and return to it later.

Reference numbers you will need

Ofsted uses reference numbers to track applications and registrations, which helps to ensure that each one is correctly linked to the relevant individuals.

Submission reference number

The submission reference number is generated when an application to Register a children’s social care service (SC1) form is submitted.

You will need this number if you are applying to be associated with a new application to register a voluntary adoption agency. The number is 14 characters long and includes numbers, hyphens and upper-case letters, for example ABCD-1234-1234.

The individual who submitted the application form to register the new voluntary adoption agency (SC1) will have this reference number.

Unique reference number

If the voluntary adoption agency you want to be associated with is already registered with Ofsted, we will need its unique reference number (URN). For registrations before 2015, the number starts with SC and has 6 digits, for example SC123456. For registrations from 2015, it is 7 digits long and only consists of numbers, for example 1234567.

It is important that you use the correct URN for the voluntary adoption agency you are joining.

We also need the URN of:  

• the last service you applied to be associated with

• any service for which we refused an application from you

• any service for which you withdrew an application

• any service for which we, or another public authority, cancelled your registration

This is so we can check our records for information we may already hold about you and any services you have previously been associated with.

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.

Your employment history

You must provide details of all your employment history since leaving school or full-time education, including any gaps between the employment dates provided. This helps us check that you are suitable to be associated with an adoption support agency, and ensures the well-being and safety of children.

You need to include:

• the names of all your employers since leaving school or full-time education

• the dates of your employment, and why each employment ended

• the reasons and dates for any gaps in your employment history, including dates when you were unemployed or completing voluntary work or any education since leaving school (for example a Master’s degree)

Your referees 

You must provide the details of 2 referees who can give professional references for you.

Your first referee must be your most recent employer. This referee must be a senior person of an organisation, for example the owner, director or a human resources (HR) manager.

We will need their work email address to request your reference. If you have been employed by their organisation for less than 3 months, your second reference must be another employer who has employed you for more than 3 months.

If you have only had one employer, your second referee must be someone who knows you in a professional capacity, for example a previous manager or a senior colleague. They must have experience of working with you and should be someone from a different organisation from your first referee. 

Both referees must be able to comment on your:

• honesty and integrity

• ability to safeguard and protect children and, where applicable, vulnerable adults

• leadership and management skills

• knowledge and understanding of independent fostering agencies

Your most recent employer referee must also be able to comment on: 

• any disciplinary processes you have been subject to

• your financial management skills

Referees cannot be a friend, a relative, somebody who lives at the same address as you or someone you have previously supervised.

If you are unsure who to provide as a referee, email sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk and include your application number or URN.

Documents you need for your application

In the application form, you will need to upload the following documents: 

• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate

• health declaration form

Disclosure and Barring Service certificate 

The following people must upload a valid DBS certificate: 

• a responsible individual

• an individual provider

• a member of a business partnership

We consider individuals in the above roles to be engaged in ‘regulated activity’, which means they will need an ‘enhanced with barred lists DBS check’.

You can read more about the eligibility guidance for enhanced DBS checks.

If you have lived abroad in the past 5 years and you are unable to provide a DBS certificate, you must email sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk before you apply. We will discuss alternative evidence to demonstrate your fitness. Your application will not proceed without this discussion.

Before uploading your DBS certificate, you must ensure that it meets one of the following criteria: 

• you applied for a DBS check through the Ofsted DBS Application service and received your certificate, dated within the last 3 months at time of application submission
• you applied for a DBS check through the Ofsted DBS Application service and received your certificate, and a subscription to the DBS update service
• it is an enhanced DBS check through another organisation, and a subscription to the DBS update service

Your DBS certificate must:

• be an enhanced check

• include all current and previous legal names you have been known by

• match the name provided on your application

• state ‘child workforce’ as part of the position applied for

• include the checking of the children’s barred list

• match the DBS number you have provided on your application

• be high resolution, legible and uploaded in full

If your certificate does not meet the above criteria, your application will not be accepted, and you will need to complete a new DBS application before applying to Ofsted again.

DBS update service

You are required to allow Ofsted to check your DBS status as part of your application. This is an important part of our safeguarding role.

We will only accept a DBS certificate applied for through through the Ofsted DBS Application service within 3 months of the issue date. Because of this, we strongly recommend that you sign up for the DBS update service to keep your certificate up to date.

If you do not join the DBS update service, and there are issues or mistakes that delay your application, you might have to get a new DBS check.

If you join the update service, you can use your DBS for any new jobs or roles with children. You will not have to apply for a new certificate each time. You have to subscribe to the DBS update service within 30 days of your certificate being issued.

Health declaration form 

You must complete and upload a children’s social care health declaration form if you are in any of the following roles: 

• the responsible individual

• a partner in a partnership

• a sole or joint owner of an individual provider

This form contains questions about your current and past health so that we can determine your mental and physical suitability to provide or manage a voluntary adoption agency.

If you are unable to provide any of the above, advise Ofsted as soon as possible so that an inspector can help you provide the best audit trail for your identity and qualifications.

Recommended document file size and formats

Only the following file formats are acceptable to upload:

• PDF

• Microsoft Word (.docx)

• Excel (.xlsx)

• PowerPoint (.pptx)

• image file (.jpeg or .png)

• OpenDocument formats for a word processing document (.odt), a spreadsheet (.ods) or a presentation (.odp)

These documents cannot be more than 2 MB in size.

If you need to reduce the size of your documents, try to:

• reduce the size of images before putting them in a document

• remove any unnecessary images

• save a Word document to the latest version of Word or as a PDF document

• save a PDF document to the smallest file option

If necessary, upload a blank Word page to your application, with a comment ‘document emailed to sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk’ including the date you emailed the documents to us.

Documents required at interview

You will be required to show the following documents at interview:

• your original birth certificate or certified copy of your identity when you were born

• any original certified documents relating to each name change you have had since birth

• proof of your address

• proof of your identity (ID) that must include photographic evidence, for example an original driving licence or a passport

• your original qualification documents

• original DBS certificate for the responsible individual

• a clear audit trail of any name changes and your original birth certificate

If you are unable to provide any original documents that you have not told us about before your interview, this may prevent the interview from continuing.

Before you apply, read our interview guidance first. It outlines how we will explore your experience and skills at interview. It will provide an insight that will support you in completing your application form.