Introduction
The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 came into force in October 2023 and legislated that all services that accommodate looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17 must be registered with Ofsted. Inspections commenced in September 2024 and you can find Ofsted published data on inspections here.
Ofsted defines four categories of supported accommodation: self-contained; shared – only for looked after children and care leavers; shared - not limited to accommodating looked after children and care leavers; and supported accommodation provided in a private residence.
Providers must meet the Supported Accommodation Key Principles and the four quality standards, as set out in the guide to the supported accommodation regulations including quality standards:
- the leadership and management standard
- the protection standard
- the accommodation standard
- the support standard
Organisations must have a Nominated Individual, who is a director of the organisation, or the equivalent and represents the organisation and act as a point of contact for Ofsted, and a Registered Service Manager who is accountable for overseeing the management of all the provider’s supported accommodation settings.
Ofsted will inspect services, against the Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) and give one of the following outcomes:
Outcome 1: Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children (next inspection within 3 years).
Outcome 2: Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress (next inspection: within 18 months).
Outcome 3: Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children (next inspection within 6 months).
Note the Social Care Common Inspection Framework was updated in April 2026 with changes around placement stability, equality duties, and complaints handling.
If a provider disagrees with an inspection outcome, Ofsted has a formal complaints process that should be followed in the first instance. Where Ofsted takes enforcement action and issues a Notice of Decision, providers can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards) within 28 days.
Implications for Providers
The main implications for providers are:
- Ensuring the Ofsted standards and principles are met and are understood across services by all staff and young people using services.
- Registering each building that accommodates 16- and 17-year-olds and keeping this list up to date.
- Increased incident reporting requirements, ensuring that Ofsted are notified of serious events.
- Ofsted may become involved if there are serious or multiple incidents, or if a child has ‘complex needs’ and can direct services to take action if the service is deemed not to be suitable for a child, and will hold the service responsible if it accepts an unsuitable referral. This blog explains more, but there is a continuing lack of clarity alongside a lack of provision for higher needs young people.
- There may be some factors which are in the standards that are out of the providers control, for example: “Children have access to specialist help, as required, including support for their mental health”. Providers will need to work closely with local authority colleagues on issues such as this and may have to produce evidence of that work at the point of inspection.
- Regulation 32 requires the nominated individual to carry out a review of the quality and purpose of the service at least every six months and produce a written report. This is a key area of focus during inspections, and providers should ensure reviews are thorough, evidence-based and clearly documented, with actions followed up between reviews.
Further Support
Homeless Link runs a Community of Practice for members who are regulated by Ofsted. Homeless Link also represents these members at Ofsted's National Consultative Forum sub-group on supported accommodation. To find out more contact alex.smith@homelesslink.org.uk
Links
Guide to the supported accommodation regulations including quality standards
The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023
Registering a supported accommodation service - GOV.UK
You can read all Ofsted inspection reports by clicking here: Find an Ofsted inspection report and then filtering by category ‘Children’s Social Care’ and selecting ‘Supported Accommodation’ in the dropdown menu, then sorting by ‘latest report’.
Ofsted also has a blog specifically for supported accommodation services, which updates on specific issues that arise.
The National Association of Supported Accommodation Partners was established to support and represent supported accommodation providers regulated under this legislation. Find out more here.
