Ofsted Children's Home Registration Visit: What to Expect and How to Prepare

The inspector contacts you to arrange the visit and interviews during the suitability assessment. Confirm the dates directly rather than assuming a fixed number of weeks after submitting your application.

Ofsted’s application guidance explains that visits and interviews may take place on different days. The SC1 is the application form, not the name of an interview.

Agree the arrangements

• Confirm the date, location and expected duration of each appointment.
• Ask who needs to attend and which records should be available.
• Discuss any reasonable adjustments with the inspector before the appointment.

Prepare while you wait

Use the time to organise your application records, check the premises and prepare to explain your proposed service. Keep a list of changes or outstanding information to discuss with the inspector. See the registration timeline guide for the wider process.

Confirm attendance with the inspector for each appointment; do not assume the whole team must attend one combined day.

People being assessed

Ofsted interviews the proposed registered manager and usually the responsible individual. It may also interview directors. The registration policy describes the assessment, with arrangements made for each individual.

Practical support for the premises visit

Agree who will provide access to the building, locate records and explain the proposed day-to-day arrangements. A deputy or senior colleague may help you prepare, but this guide does not prescribe an attendance roster.

Share the confirmed arrangements with anyone involved. If you want a consultant or other support person to attend, discuss this with the inspector beforehand, including any reasonable adjustments needed for an interview.

The table below is an illustrative planning example, not an Ofsted timetable. It shows how you might organise access to people and records if interviews are arranged for the same day as the visit. The actual order, duration and dates depend on the agreed appointments; do not reserve interview slots solely from this example.

Have the original identity documents and the application, recruitment and premises records requested by the inspector ready. Ofsted lists the documents required at the visit; confirm any additional requests and how records should be made available.

Original identity and qualification documents

• Your original birth certificate and original certified documents for each name change since birth.
• Proof of address and photographic evidence of identity, such as a driving licence.
• Your qualification documents.
• The original DBS certificates for the manager and responsible individual.

If obtaining an original is difficult, tell Ofsted as soon as possible. Keep these sensitive records under your own control; Launch44 tracks statuses and does not store the certificates or references.

Application and operational records

Organise your Statement of Purpose, Children's Guide, policies, location assessment and consultation records so you can explain how they apply to the home. Also prepare:

• Your staffing list and rota, showing enough suitably qualified staff to open and accept the first child; recruitment records for staff already recruited, including the proposed manager and, where applicable, responsible individual.
• Your induction, training and supervision plans, plus examples of the record-keeping systems you intend to use.
• The health and safety assessment, risk management plan, Fire Risk Assessment, relevant premises safety and maintenance certificates, and insurance evidence.
• Your business development plan, including recruitment contingencies, and the financial information submitted with the application.

Planning evidence

Ofsted’s planning guidance accepts evidence of permission, local-authority confirmation that no planning permission is required, confirmation that the property's current use class is allowed, or a copy of your planning permission application. Ofsted strongly recommends obtaining any required permission before applying; submitting an application copy does not guarantee registration. Check the position for your property with the local planning authority rather than assuming every home needs a new C2 permission.

Ofsted says that during the registration visit it assesses the premises and the services the provider intends to offer, and that you must show the premises are fit for purpose through your health and safety assessment and risk management. What follows is Launch44's checklist of what that tends to cover, not an Ofsted list.

• Bedrooms: space for the child's age and needs (no statutory minimum bedroom size applies to children's homes), appropriate locks (privacy without barricading against welfare checks), heating, lighting, storage; rooms reflecting the age range applied for; no shared occupancy unless justified in the Statement of Purpose.
• Communal areas: kitchen safety (knife and chemical storage, cooker isolation), living spaces, dining arrangements.
• Bathrooms: sufficient provision relative to bed numbers; privacy; safer-bathing protocols for younger children.
• The home office: lockable storage for confidential records, separation of personnel files, secure medication handling, daily log location.
• Outside space: garden risk assessment, fencing, pond or water mitigations, neighbour boundary considerations.
• Fire safety: clear escape routes, intact fire doors, in-date extinguishers, tested smoke alarms, escape signage, a visible evacuation plan.
• Maintenance: decorative damage, obvious wear, or safety hazards will be noted.

Use practical questions to help staff explain the home’s purpose, safeguarding arrangements and chain of command. The examples below are preparation prompts, not a promised interview script or duration; confirm who the inspector wants to speak with.

Common questions

• "What would you do if a child told you a member of staff had hit them?" Looking for: tell the registered manager, document, escalate; not "I would investigate myself".
• "How would you describe the children this home is for?" Looking for: language consistent with the Statement of Purpose.
• "Who is your safeguarding lead, and who escalates to the LADO?" Looking for: named people, named LADO, named local authority.
• "Walk me through what you would do if the fire alarm sounded." Looking for: escape route, assembly point, head count.
• "What training have you had, and what is still outstanding?" Looking for: honest gap acknowledgement, training matrix awareness.

After the visit and interviews, the inspector discusses the evidence, proposed conditions and next steps with you. Further evidence or interviews may be needed before the application can be decided.

Feedback is not registration

The registration policy’s decision process distinguishes the assessment from the formal outcome. Ofsted makes separate registration decisions for the provider and proposed manager. Read the notice you receive: it may be a decision to register, a notice of proposal to change proposed conditions, or a notice of proposal to refuse registration.

If more information is requested, agree what is needed and the response deadline. A request for further evidence is not a promise of eventual approval. Do not treat an encouraging discussion as permission to open.

If refusal is proposed

Ofsted’s refusal guidance provides for written representations within 28 days of the date the notice of proposal is served. Follow the notice and the linked guidance. A proposed refusal and a final refusal are different stages; neither replacing a candidate nor asking to withdraw guarantees that concerns will be resolved.

Use these five preparation workstreams before the confirmed visit date. Briefing and rehearsal durations are optional planning suggestions, not Ofsted requirements; organise interview preparation around the dates actually agreed.

1. Documents. Print the full pack into a tabbed binder, double-checking every cross-reference: does the Statement of Purpose's bed number match the rota? Does the safeguarding policy reference the same named LADO as the location assessment?
2. Premises. Walk the home end to end against the risk assessment, photographing each room; fix anything broken, replace anything expired (fire extinguisher service stickers, first aid kit contents), check every smoke alarm.
3. Team. Run a 30-minute briefing with all staff who may be present; share likely questions; confirm the names of the LADO, local safeguarding partners, and the inspector's expected arrival time.
4. Personal preparation. Registered manager and responsible individual each spend 60–90 minutes on focused interview rehearsal; identify the three weakest areas and run them again.
5. Logistics. Confirm access and parking. If an interview is arranged at the home, agree a suitable quiet space and any reasonable adjustments beforehand.