Service
Children’s care home setup
From the first serious idea to a home that is ready to be explained to Ofsted.
Setting up a children’s home is a sequence, and the sequence matters. The children you intend to care for determine the building, the staff, the policies and the statement of purpose. Starting with a building you happen to own, and inventing the children afterwards, is how projects become expensive and stuck.
Fiveways walks through that sequence with you: the model, the property and planning position, the manager, the documents, and the application. We are beside you for the parts you ask us to carry. We do not become the registered provider.
Who it is for
- First-time providers who want the steps in the right order.
- Existing providers opening a further home.
- Owners who have a building and need an honest view of whether it can be a children’s home.
What it addresses
- The project starts with a property and never quite decides which children it is for.
- Costs begin before anyone has checked planning or manager fitness.
- Documents are bought as a bundle and describe a different service.
- The responsible individual is named on paper and is not available in practice.
How the work runs
- Purpose Who the home is for, what the care looks like, and what you will not try to be.
- Place Whether a property can support that purpose, including location and the planning position.
- People Registered manager, responsible individual, and the shape of the staff team.
- Papers Statement of purpose, children’s guide, policies and the records you will actually keep.
- Application An Ofsted application that matches the home you are ready to run.
What you need in place
- Enough time to do the steps in order. Rushing the application is more expensive than waiting.
- Capital for premises, works, salaries and the period before fees arrive. We will not invent a stock setup cost, because buildings and staffing differ.
- A commitment to the children who will live there, including the unglamorous parts: nights, records, supervision and missing-from-care practice.
What you leave with
- A setup plan with the decisions still to make.
- Coordination across property, planning, policies, recruitment support and the Ofsted application, where you want all of them.
- A written view of what is ready and what is not, before money is committed to the wrong step.
Time and fees
There is no standard duration. The regulator, the planning authority and the condition of the service all change the timetable. We will describe what we can see, and we will not promise a date.
The fee is agreed once we understand the work. A short review and a full registration are different assignments, so we do not publish one price for every enquiry.
Questions
Do I need a background in care?
You need a credible registered manager and a responsible individual who can meet the fitness expectations. Owners come from many backgrounds. Ofsted will look at whether the people running the home understand children’s residential care.
Can you open the home for us?
We prepare and advise. You are the provider. The home is registered to you, and the duty to the children sits with you.
Which other pages matter?
Most setups draw on Ofsted registration, property sourcing, planning consultancy, policies, and recruitment support. Use only the parts you need.
Next step
Book a conversation and bring whatever you already have: a building, a manager, or only an idea. We will tell you the next real step.
Talk to FivewaysRelated
Fiveways Advisory is an independent consultancy. We are not Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission or a local planning authority, and this website is not legal, planning or regulatory advice. We cannot guarantee registration, an inspection judgement or planning permission.