The 9 Quality Standards for children's homes

What are the nine Quality Standards?

They are the nine standards in regulations 6 to 14 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Each opens with an outcome for children, then lists what the registered person (the registered provider or registered manager, depending on how the home is run) must do or must make sure staff do. The DfE Guide calls those lists non-exhaustive, so meeting every point is the floor rather than the whole job.

Two things sit around the nine. Regulation 5 applies across all of them: the registered person and staff must seek to involve each child's placing authority, seek to secure the services each child needs, challenge inadequate responses and seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships. And the DfE Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations explains and supplements the standards. Under regulation 15 the registered person must have regard to it, and Ofsted's framework says that not taking account of it may itself indicate a breach. The management and administrative regulations on staffing, records and notifications apply alongside the nine.

In each section below, the regulation requires is the legal duty, the Guide adds is DfE guidance (mostly "should", with paragraph numbers you can cite) and what good evidence looks like is our own view, offered as prompts rather than rules.

1. The quality and purpose of care standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 6, children receive care from staff who understand the home's aims and use that understanding to meet their needs and help them fulfil their potential. The registered person must understand and apply the Statement of Purpose and ensure staff do too. Staff must protect each child's welfare, treat them with dignity and respect, give personalised care in line with their plans, help them manage the impact of abuse or neglect, build skills for moving on, and allow appropriate freedom and choice. The premises must meet each child's needs. Care arranged outside the NHS must meet the conditions in regulation 6(3).

The Guide adds. The Statement of Purpose should be child-focused (paragraph 3.5). Homes should feel domestic rather than institutional (3.9). Children should be able to use all shared areas unless there is a safeguarding reason, with any limit assessed for that child, recorded and reviewed (3.10). Each child should have their own bedroom, somewhere lockable and a say in how it is decorated (3.18 to 3.19).

What good evidence looks like:

• The Statement of Purpose, one child's plan and a week of daily records read together: the promised approach shows in ordinary decisions.
• Any restriction on access, privacy or choice has a reason tied to that child, a review date and a note of what the child was told.
• Changes in a child's confidence or comfort sit alongside the child's own account of living in the home.

2. The children's views, wishes and feelings standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 7, children receive care from staff who build positive relationships with them, engage with them and take their views, wishes and feelings into account. Staff must find out and weigh each child's views, explain decisions and the reasons for them, consult children regularly about the quality of care and help them prepare for reviews. Each child must have access to the children's guide and complaints procedure from the point the placement is agreed, appropriate advocacy support, and an explanation of all three soon after arrival.

The Guide adds. Staff should notice what a child communicates through behaviour; it isn't solely the child's job to "tell" (4.10). Children should be able to see the results of being consulted (4.11). Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate and should be reminded of it regularly (4.16 to 4.17). A parent's view must not automatically stand in for the child's (4.25).

What good evidence looks like:

• One request or complaint followed from the child's words through the decision, the explanation given and what changed.
• Meeting notes show actions with owners, and a later record shows the child was told the outcome, including when the answer was no.
• Children can name their advocate and a route to raise a concern outside a house meeting.

3. The education standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 8, children make measurable progress towards their educational potential and are helped to do so. Staff must help each child meet the education targets in their plans, act on barriers to learning, keep in regular contact with the education provider and placing authority, raise any need for specialist provision, help an excluded or non-attending child get support and return to school as soon as possible, and help older children into further education, training or employment.

The Guide adds. Progress includes readiness for the next stage, better attendance and fewer incidents, judged against the child's starting point without capping ambition (5.2). Staff need to know which education decisions are delegated to them (5.9). If progress slips, seek advice from the Virtual School Head, SENCO or teacher, and challenge a provider that is not giving enough support (5.11). With no school place, challenge the placing authority under regulation 5 (5.15).

What good evidence looks like:

• A line from the personal education plan targets, through the home's support and contact with school, to progress in the child's own terms.
• For a child out of school: what structured learning happened each day, who was chased for a place and when the home escalated.
• Small shifts count: a child who now asks for help with homework, or sits a test they used to refuse, if someone wrote it down.

4. The enjoyment and achievement standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 9, children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills. Staff must help each child develop interests and hobbies, take part in activities they enjoy, and make a positive contribution to the home and wider community. Each child must have access to a range of activities.

The Guide adds. The placement plan should record which permissions are delegated to the home, so staff can say yes to a trip, a sleepover or a club as a parent would (6.2). Children should choose from their own preferences and be supported to try new things (6.4). Staff should help children use what is on offer locally (6.6) and celebrate achievements (6.7).

What good evidence looks like:

• Activity records show individual choice, including the support that made it possible for a child who finds groups hard.
• The child's response sits next to the activity: what they enjoyed, what got in the way. Counting outings alone says little.
• One interest followed over months, from first try to something the child now identifies with.

5. The health and well-being standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 10, children's health and well-being needs are met, they receive advice, services and support, and they are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. Staff must help each child achieve the health outcomes in their plans, understand their needs and options in an age-appropriate way, attend appointments, and develop skills to promote their own well-being. Each child must be registered with a GP and a dentist and have access to the medical, dental, nursing, psychiatric and psychological services they require.

The Guide adds. Well-being means the quality of a child's life, emotional and social as well as physical (7.2). The home's health responsibilities should be agreed with the placing authority and recorded in the placement plan (7.7). If specialist support doesn't arrive, challenge under regulation 5 (7.10). Staff should be able to give first aid, support long-term conditions and advise on diet, exercise, mental health, sexual health and substances (7.12, 7.18). Medicines are covered by regulation 23 (7.15).

What good evidence looks like:

• A health need traced through referral, appointment, advice received and the changes staff then made to daily support.
• Where a service is delayed, the request, follow-up and interim support are all visible and the escalation is dated.
• The child can describe their own health plan, and staff on shift can describe the child's current needs without looking them up.

6. The positive relationships standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 11, children are helped to develop and benefit from relationships based on mutual respect and trust, an understanding of acceptable behaviour and positive responses to others. Staff must meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, make expectations clear, teach skills to resolve conflict without harm, help children recognise harmful relationships, understand how past experiences show in behaviour, de-escalate confrontation and deal with bullying. Staff must receive supervision and support to manage their own feelings and responses.

The Guide adds. Expectations should be high and unambiguous, with positive behaviour praised and poor behaviour challenged and discussed (8.11). A child's good relationship with a staff member should weigh in any staffing change (8.12). Supervision must let staff reflect on how children's behaviour affects their own feelings (8.15). Sanctions should be restorative (9.38), and the home should agree with local police how to avoid criminalising behaviour that wouldn't involve the police in a family home (9.40). Restraint sits under regulations 19, 20 and 35.

What good evidence looks like:

• An incident record read alongside the child's account, the staff member's reflection in supervision and any change to support.
• Examples of repair: a relationship rebuilt after a difficult day, a conflict resolved without a hold, a child who now seeks out a trusted adult.
• Fewer sanctions and restraints only count as progress if the child's own experience improved with them.

7. The protection of children standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 12, children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. Staff must assess each child's risk of harm using their plans and act to reduce it, help children understand how to keep safe, spot and act on signs of harm, manage relationships between children, take effective action on any serious welfare concern, and know and follow the home's child protection policies. Day-to-day care and the premises must keep children safe, and the effectiveness of the child protection policies must be monitored regularly.

The Guide adds. Where there are safeguarding concerns, the placement plan must set out the day-to-day steps the home will take (9.5), and assessed risks should be shared, where appropriate, with the school or service the child attends (9.6). Children should know they can speak to an advocate, their IRO or an Ofsted inspector if they feel unsafe (9.11). Policies should cover whistleblowing (9.15). If a child may go missing, the placement plan should include a strategy to reduce that risk (9.24), and missing incidents should be evaluated and fed into the quality of care review (9.31).

What good evidence looks like:

• A concern traced from the first sign through action, who was told and when, follow-up and the revised risk assessment.
• The written risk assessment, what staff on shift say the risks are and what the child says about feeling safe all agree, or the gap has been acted on.
• Missing episodes reviewed for pattern, with return conversations and the independent return home interview feeding the plan.

8. The leadership and management standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 13, the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare. They must lead the home in line with the Statement of Purpose; ensure staff work as a team, have the experience, qualifications and skills the children need, and are sufficient in number with continuity of care; understand the impact the home's care is having on each child; act on research and on feedback, including complaints; and use monitoring and review systems to keep improving. Regulation 44 adds a monthly visit and report by an independent person, and regulation 45 a quality of care review at least every six months, with the report sent to Ofsted within 28 days.

The Guide adds. Sufficient staff means enough suitably trained people on duty, including someone in a management role, to meet the children's assessed needs (10.1). The registered person should keep a workforce plan covering structure, qualifications, induction, supervision and poor performance (10.8), monitor turnover (10.19), and keep agency staff to no more than half of those on duty (10.17). They should oversee children's welfare through direct observation (10.23), seek independent scrutiny and learn from incidents and placement breakdowns (10.24). See our guides to Ofsted training requirements and the workforce development plan.

What good evidence looks like:

• A staffing or training decision explained by the needs of the children living in the home now, not by a generic rota.
• An improvement followed from the regulation 44 report, complaint or incident that prompted it, through the action and its owner, to the result for children.
• The regulation 45 review reads as an honest account, with children's and staff views in it and last time's actions checked off or explained.

9. The care planning standard

The regulation requires. Under regulation 14, children receive effectively planned care and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. Children may be admitted only if their needs fall within the range in the Statement of Purpose. There must be arrangements for induction, for managing and reviewing each placement, and for planning each child's move on with the placing authority. Relevant plans must be followed, contact with family and friends promoted in line with them, and staff must help children access and contribute to their records. The registered person must contact the placing authority and request a review if they consider the child at risk of harm or the care inadequate for their needs, if the child is or has been persistently absent without permission, or if the child asks for one.

The Guide adds. Before accepting a placement, the registered person should be satisfied the home can meet the child's needs and consider the impact on the children already there (11.4). Other than in an emergency, the registered person must challenge, under regulation 5(c), a placing authority that asks the home to accept a child without a complete and current relevant plan (11.5). A warm welcome is an entitlement whether the admission is planned or not (11.7). If a requested review doesn't happen, escalate under regulation 5 (11.12). Children should see their records as living documents (11.19).

What good evidence looks like:

• One admission traced from the impact assessment and decision, through the child's first days, to how the placement was reviewed and who attended.
• Actions agreed at a review appear in the plan the next shift reads, and the child's views stay visible as the plan changes.
• Where a regulation 14(2)(e) trigger arose, the request to the placing authority is dated, and so is the escalation if nothing happened.

How Ofsted looks at the nine standards

Ofsted inspects children's homes under its social care common inspection framework (SCCIF), updated 1 April 2026. The framework says inspectors "spend less time looking at policies and procedures and more time looking at the impact of services on children's lives". They make three judgements: the overall experiences and progress of children, how well children are helped and protected, and the effectiveness of leaders and managers. There is no grade per standard. Help and protection is a limiting judgement: if it is inadequate, the overall judgement is inadequate too.

The judgement is "not derived from a checklist". Inspectors use the evaluation criteria as the benchmark for good and reach a best-fit professional judgement. A breach of a regulation doesn't automatically lower the grade, and a requirement can be set at a home judged good. Requirements cite the regulation breached. A recommendation based on the Guide cites its page and paragraph, and inspectors can also make recommendations against other relevant statutory guidance. Ignoring one can turn it into a requirement next time.

What inspectors read before they arrive. Previous reports, responses to Ofsted's annual questionnaires, the Statement of Purpose and children's guide, concerns and complaints, regulation 40 notifications and what the home did about them, the regulation 44 and 45 reports, any change of manager or Responsible Individual, and any enforcement activity. Inspectors are asked to consider "both the content and the quality" of the regulation 44 and 45 reports.

Whose experiences inspectors track. A sample of children that reflects the home, usually including children who recently arrived or left, any child who has gone missing or is at risk of sexual or criminal exploitation, children placed far from their placing authority, and decisions not to accommodate a child. Inspectors always look at unplanned endings since the last inspection or in the last six months, whichever is more recent. Evidence comes from talking with children and staff, observing practice and reading records, weighed against each child's starting point.

Evidence that shows the impact of care

Start with the child, then follow the care. The same evidence can answer several standards: helping a child return to a club after being bullied may show listening, protection, relationships and enjoyment working together, and there is no need to file it nine times.

1. Identify the need and the starting point. What did the child need, want or find difficult? Use their own words and the agreed plans.
2. Show the response. What did staff do, who else was involved, and how did the team adapt when the first approach didn't work?
3. Check the effect. What changed for the child? Include setbacks and the child's own account rather than assuming an action succeeded.
4. Use the learning. What will you continue or change? Give follow-up actions an owner and a date, and check the result.

For managers and Responsible Individuals, these four questions can structure a monthly conversation using the records the home already keeps. Where evidence is thin, work out whether it is a recording gap or a care gap. A fuller write-up can't fix support that was never given, and inspectors will hear the difference from the children.

Training is one part of the picture. A Training Matrix shows who has completed what; the evidence that matters for the standards is whether that learning shows up on shift, so keep notes of staff understanding and application alongside the certificates.

Questions about the 9 Quality Standards