EHP Consultancy
Portfolio for legislative and regulatory compliance, commercial knowledge, operational and strategic governance & management in children & social care UK
Recent update from Ofsted
On 24 May 2024 Ofsted announced a change to what documents are required in the application for registration as a new children’s home: from that date, a financial reference from your bank is no longer required.
A business plan and (separate) forecasting is of course still required, but the latter regarding start-up costs are more difficult to accurately produce due to the unpredictable waiting time between
application and registration, i.e. 4 months plus.
The expenses therefore from Registered Manager’s and Responsible Individual’s salary costs, plus
mortgage and associated costs that extend beyond 4 months are significant. There is of course a
further delay in income generation, i.e. to ensure appropriate placements for children/young people and the fact that many local authorities pay one-month in arrears.
This is significantly increasing the finances required for opening a new home.
This should be acknowledged within the context of profit margins and reasonable returns on
investment.
Is your consultant continually ‘horizon scanning’ to keep your potential business up to date?