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

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).

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.

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.