Your Partner in Care Compliance, Quality and Growth.
When care and compliance fall out of step, we help put things right.
Practical regulatory guidance, experienced consultancy and tailored support to help care providers strengthen services, resolve challenges and build for the future.
Nigel Swainbank, founder and consultant, has more than 35 years in children’s social care, and Emily Almas, executive operations manager, has more than 15 years in care operations — Together, Nigel and Emily lead a team of pre‑Ofsted inspectors, giving providers access to genuine regulatory insight, practical operational guidance and the assurance of working with professionals who understand inspection frameworks from the inside.
- 01ListenWhat has happened, in your words.
- 02ExamineRecords, leadership and the rules that apply.
- 03Name itThe cause, separated from the symptoms.
- 04SequenceA short order of work a team can keep.
- 05EvidenceWhat would show the change is real.
Five ways of working
The name is the method.
- 01The child, then the fileRecords exist so a child is held in mind.
- 02The cause, not the symptomA repeated requirement is a clue, not the job.
- 03England, named plainlyOfsted and CQC mean the English frameworks.
- 04A sequence people can keepThe order of work has to survive a busy week.
- 05No promise we cannot keepRegistration, grades and planning stay with the authority.
One diagnosis. Then the right piece of work.
The homepage stays short on purpose. Each service has its own page for the process, the requirements and the limits of what we can promise.
Regulatory support
Compliance troubleshooting/ PLI investigations A clear diagnosis when the service, the records and the regulations have stopped lining up. Ofsted registration support Help to prepare a children’s home for an application Ofsted can actually assess. Children’s care home setup From the first serious idea to a home that is ready to be explained to Ofsted. CQC and supported living Clear foundations for supported living, including whether personal care means CQC registration. Policies and procedures Documents that describe the service you run, written so a member of staff can follow them. Inspection preparation A rehearsal that looks at practice, records and leadership the way an inspector will. Improvement planning Findings turned into actions a named person can finish and evidence.Running the service
Management support An experienced colleague for managers who are carrying the home and the paperwork at once. Staff training and development Training that helps a team do the shift in front of them, and record it properly. Recruitment and selection Help to find and select a team that fits the children, with safer recruitment treated as part of the job.Share of full inspections of children’s homes in 2024–25 judged good or outstanding, by judgement area.
Why leadership is where we look
National results, not our claims.
Ofsted’s 2024–25 full inspections of children’s homes were good or outstanding more often for help and protection than for leaders and managers. Troubleshooting starts there: supervision, oversight and the records that show them. These figures are Ofsted’s, and they do not predict any one home.
Who we are
The company and the peopleNigel Swainbank has spent more than 35 years in children’s social care, and Emily Almas more than 15 years in care operations. They help providers in England strengthen a service, resolve a regulatory problem, and plan the next step. We do not publish testimonials, and we do not guarantee a regulator’s decision.
Notes from the work
All insights
The person behind the paperwork
Records exist so that a child is held safely in mind. They fail when they become the work itself.
What a difficult inspection is telling you
A hard report is information. The useful question is which habit produced the sentence you are staring at.
Planning and location, before you apply
Ofsted and the planning authority ask different questions about the same house. Both need an answer you can show.Start with the situation
Tell us what has happened.
A paragraph is enough. If a notice has a deadline, put the date in the first line.