How to Get Ofsted Registered: A Step-by-Step Guide for Children’s Homes

To get Ofsted registered as a children’s home provider, you apply online with an SC1 form for the home and an SC2 form for each person in a role of responsibility, together with the required documents. Ofsted then runs its checks, interviews the proposed Registered Manager and usually the Responsible Individual, visits the home and decides whether to register you. You cannot operate until registration is granted. Ofsted says it will in general decide within six months only where an application meets its priority criteria. Every other application joins a waiting list with no stated timeframe.

This guide covers children’s homes in England. We checked it in October 2026 against Ofsted’s children’s homes registration policy (updated 10 July 2026) and its guidance on prioritising applications (updated 2 July 2026).

Do you need to register with Ofsted?

Yes, if you will provide care and accommodation wholly or mainly for children. Anyone who carries on or manages a children’s home without being registered commits an offence under section 11 of the Care Standards Act 2000. Ofsted’s guidance adds that it stays an offence to provide or manage a children’s home without registration while Ofsted processes your application.

Some accommodation does not register as a children’s home, including supported accommodation, although it may need registering with Ofsted or another body in a different way. A school must register if it accommodates a child for more than 295 days each year, or accommodates children who are not its pupils.

How to get Ofsted registered, step by step

Ofsted describes registration as three stages: the application, information gathering and determining suitability. The nine steps below follow that sequence.

1. Decide who the provider is and who your key people are. A provider can be an organisation (such as a company, LLP or charity), a partnership or an individual. An organisation must appoint a Responsible Individual, who communicates with Ofsted on its behalf and supervises the management of the home. Every home also needs a Registered Manager. If you are a company, the name on your forms must match Companies House exactly.
2. Contact your Ofsted region. Ofsted’s prioritisation guidance says that if you want to submit a new application, you must contact your local Ofsted region and speak to a Senior HMI or Regulatory Inspection Manager. You can do that through enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. Explain your intention to register and show how your application meets the priority criteria. Private and voluntary providers must also ask their host local authority to email Ofsted confirming that the application has been discussed with it, that it fulfils a clear local need, and the authority’s view of a new home in the area.
3. Secure the location, the planning position and your documents. Before you apply, show that you have fully considered the suitability of the location. Consult relevant local bodies, including the police and local authority children’s services, and ask the local authority whether a new home is needed in the area. Secure planning permission, because Ofsted cannot grant registration without it. Then gather the documents listed below and check that your Registered Manager and Responsible Individual meet the requirements covered later.
4. Submit the SC1 form. You complete one SC1 form for each home you want to run. Ofsted says the form can take several hours, but you can save your progress. When you submit, you receive a 14-character submission reference number.
5. Have everyone in a role of responsibility submit an SC2 form. That covers the Registered Manager, the Responsible Individual, any partners or individual providers and, for an organisation, each director involved in carrying on the home. They need your submission reference number, and your application is not complete until every form is in.
6. Pay the fees. Once Ofsted has everything it needs, it asks you to pay the required fees. The registration fee is non-refundable, and registered managers pay their own fee where Ofsted’s fee table lists one. Ofsted then allocates a six-digit unique reference number (URN) for the home and starts processing. A URN does not mean you can operate.
7. Ofsted gathers information. After accepting the application, Ofsted asks the local authority’s children’s services department whether it holds relevant information about the people involved, requests references and may ask for further health checks. It may contact you for more information.
8. Take part in the registration visit and interviews. An inspector usually carries out one registration visit for each application, covering every building in it. They assess the premises and the service, read your documents and interview the people associated with the application. Afterwards they summarise the evidence, the proposed conditions of registration and what happens next.
9. Receive the decision. The inspector discusses the evidence with their regional manager, who decides. Ofsted makes separate decisions for the provider and the manager, usually within 7 working days, and sends a notice of decision to register, a notice of proposal to change the proposed conditions or a notice of proposal to refuse. Once all conditions are agreed, you are registered and receive a registration certificate.

How long does Ofsted registration take?

It depends on whether your application meets Ofsted’s priority criteria. Ofsted says it handles an exceptionally high volume of applications and reviews those that meet its criteria first. It is likely to prioritise applications from local authorities or private providers where:

• the home has received capital funding from the Department for Education to develop new children’s homes
• the home is being opened exclusively to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children transferred under the national transfer scheme
• a child subject to a court deprivation of liberty order is being accommodated in a children’s home that is currently unregistered
• the home is needed in exceptional circumstances in response to an emergency, which the regional Senior HMI determines

If your application meets the criteria, you give Ofsted the right information at the right time and you show that you are fully prepared and ready to open, Ofsted says it will decide as soon as possible and in general within six months. If your application does not meet the criteria, it stays on a waiting list. Ofsted will process it when it has capacity and says it cannot give a timeframe. Nobody can promise you a date for a standard application.

Prioritising does not lighten the assessment: Ofsted says it cannot relax or disapply any element of the Care Standards Act or associated regulations.

Once an application is in progress, Ofsted’s guidance sets out these timings:

• The regional manager usually grants or refuses registration within 7 working days, following the visit and interviews.
• If you do not send missing information within 12 weeks of paying the registration fee, Ofsted may close the application. The fee is not refunded.
• If a new person joins the application, they must submit an SC2 form within 12 weeks of you paying the fee, or Ofsted may close the application.
• If you send only a copy of a planning application and full permission does not arrive within 12 weeks, Ofsted may not be able to decide.

Ofsted may also be unable to determine an application where it lacks information, planning or property issues cause delay, references are late, another agency or regulator is investigating you, or people linked to the application leave or withdraw and are not replaced.

How difficult is Ofsted registration, and why do applications fail?

Registration is an assessment of people, premises and plans. The Care Standards Act 2000 sets the test: if Ofsted is satisfied that the regulatory requirements are being and will continue to be met, it must grant the application, and otherwise it must refuse it. Ofsted’s own guidance points to three areas where applications struggle:

• The volume of evidence. Each applicant needs two referees, a full employment history with gaps explained, DBS certificates where required and, at the visit, original identity and qualification documents.
• Applications that are returned. A company name that differs from Companies House means the application is returned and placed at the back of the queue. Missing documents, or a DBS certificate that does not meet Ofsted’s criteria, mean it cannot accept the application.
• The people. Ofsted may refuse an application if it does not consider the Responsible Individual suitable, and is likely to refuse applicants at an early stage if they are wholly unfit for registration, for example on integrity and good character.

A refusal can hurt future applications by the provider or manager. If Ofsted refuses an individual provider, a partnership or the proposed manager, those people are disqualified and cannot run, manage or work in a children’s home without Ofsted’s written consent. Directors of a refused organisation are not disqualified. After a notice of proposal to refuse, you have 28 days to make written representations, and that period cannot be extended.

Documents Ofsted asks for

With the SC1 form

Ofsted cannot accept your application unless these are included:

• your Statement of Purpose, unique to each home and meeting the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015
• evidence of planning permission, confirmation from the local authority that none is needed or that the current use class is allowed, or a copy of your planning application
• a certificate of insurance, or written confirmation that insurance will be provided before you operate
• your children’s guide
• your missing child, positive behaviour support, safeguarding and prevention of bullying policies, and your complaints procedure
• your location assessment
• evidence of financial viability, including a business plan and cashflow forecast (local authorities and NHS trusts are exempt from this)
• if you are a company, your last two annual reports and accounts, if available

The Statement of Purpose must cover the matters in Schedule 1 of the 2015 Regulations, including the needs of the children, the home’s ethos and approach, the accommodation and the location. The children’s guide tells children what to expect, how to complain and how to access advocacy. Ofsted says your policies must reflect your Statement of Purpose and be tailored to the children who will live in the home.

The location assessment has no set format, but it must show that the home is needed locally and is in the right place, and that you have identified and mitigated known risks in the community. The cashflow forecast projects monthly income and expenditure for the first 12 months.

With each SC2 form

• An enhanced DBS certificate that includes the children’s barred list, from the Responsible Individual, individual provider, manager and each partner. Directors do not need one. A certificate obtained through Ofsted’s DBS service must be dated within three months of submission, unless you subscribe to the DBS Update Service.
• A health declaration form from the Responsible Individual, the manager, partners and sole or joint owners.
• Two referees. The first must be your most recent employer, and neither can be a friend, relative or someone at your address.
• A full employment history since leaving school or full-time education, including the reasons for any gaps.

At the registration visit

• Original identity documents: birth certificate, proof of address, photographic ID, documents for any name change, qualification documents and the original DBS certificates for the manager and Responsible Individual.
• Your staffing list, rota and recruitment records for staff already recruited. Ofsted does not expect a full team, but there must be enough staff to open and accept your first child.
• A training plan covering induction and supervision, your health and safety risk assessment, fire arrangements, premises certificates, business development plan and examples of your record-keeping systems.

The registration interviews and who can manage a home

Ofsted interviews the proposed Registered Manager and usually the Responsible Individual, even if it has interviewed the Responsible Individual before. It may also interview directors, partners or an individual provider.

The Responsible Individual interview covers their understanding of the role, safeguarding, the law on children’s homes, and the business, management and financial skills to supervise the home. The manager interview covers managing care staff, safeguarding, quality assurance, risk, working with other agencies, the Statement of Purpose, and children’s needs, including attachment and trauma.

Under regulation 28 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, a Registered Manager must have:

• worked for at least two years, within the last five, in a position relevant to the residential care of children
• worked for at least one year in a role supervising and managing staff in a care role
• attained the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England), or a qualification the registered provider considers equivalent, within three years of starting to manage a home

Ofsted will consider experience from other roles if you can explain how it transfers.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Applying before planning is settled. Ofsted cannot carry out a registration visit until it has evidence of planning permission or one of the permitted alternatives.
• Getting the basics wrong on the forms. Copy your company name exactly from Companies House, submit every SC2 and check each DBS certificate against Ofsted’s criteria before uploading it.
• Weak leadership evidence. Appoint a Responsible Individual and Registered Manager who clearly meet the requirements, and prepare them for interview with mock questions on the regulations, safeguarding and governance.
• Generic policies. Policies must reflect your Statement of Purpose and the children you will care for. Tailor each one and check them against each other before submission.
• A thin location assessment. Inspectors ask for evidence of your contact with the host local authority and how it shaped your plans. Consult early and record what you were told.
• Leaving recruitment late. You need enough staff to open and recruitment records ready for the visit. Start safer recruitment early and document it.
• Neglecting the premises. Ofsted looks for evidence that the building meets planning, building, fire and health and safety requirements. Have risk assessments and certificates ready, and consider a mock inspection to find gaps first.
• Missing original documents. If you cannot provide originals, such as proof of a name change, tell Ofsted as soon as possible. Originals you have not flagged beforehand can stop an interview continuing.
• Planning around a fixed number of months. Only priority applications have a stated timeframe, and even that is a general aim. Budget for a longer wait.

After you are registered

Registration comes with conditions, including a maximum number of children, and operating outside them is an offence. You must email Ofsted when you first accommodate children and display your registration certificate. Regulation 44 requires an independent person to visit the home at least once each month, and regulation 45 requires a review of the quality of care at least once every six months. Our pages on Ofsted children’s services support and Regulation 44 visits cover what comes next.

How HLTH Compliance can help

Our team includes former Responsible Individuals and Registered Managers of Ofsted-registered homes. Through our Ofsted registration support, we can:

• manage the application, including the forms, the supporting documents and submission through the Ofsted portal
• write your Statement of Purpose and a policy set built around your service
• audit the home against the regulations before you submit, covering property suitability, policies, staff qualifications, DBS checks, recruitment and operational readiness, and support your business plan and financial viability checks
• run mock interviews and a mock inspection of your property, and coach your Responsible Individual and Registered Manager

If you want a second opinion before you submit, talk to us about your Ofsted registration.

Ofsted registration: common questions

Can I look after children while my application is being processed?

No. It remains an offence to provide or manage a children’s home without registration while Ofsted processes your application, and a URN does not give you permission to operate.

How much does Ofsted registration cost?

Ofsted publishes its registration fees on GOV.UK. From 1 April 2026, a children’s home with four or more places pays £3,284 for the provider and £910 for the registered manager. A home with three or fewer places pays £2,006, with no separate manager fee listed. Check the current table before you apply, as the figures change.

Do I need planning permission before I apply?

Ofsted cannot grant registration without it, and strongly recommends you wait until any required permission is granted before applying. You can instead provide confirmation from the local authority that none is needed, or a copy of your planning application. If you send only the application, full permission must arrive within 12 weeks or Ofsted may not be able to decide.

Can you guarantee Ofsted registration?

No. The decision is Ofsted’s, and even its Senior HMI cannot guarantee that an application will succeed. We can help you submit a complete application and prepare your people for interview.