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General Introduction	Size:
How the regulations and standards work together

The NCSC will assess whether or not a children’s home should be registered on the basis of the regulations and national minimum standards. The relationship between the regulations and standards and how they operate in practice is very important. Regulations are mandatory and children’s homes providers must comply with them. The Children’s Homes Regulations are Statutory Instrument, SI 2001(3967).

When the Commission makes a decision about a breach of regulations (or any decision to do with registration, cancellation, variation or imposition of conditions), it must take the national minimum standards into account. It may also take into account any other factors it considers reasonable or relevant to do so.

The Commission could decide there has been a breach of regulation even though standards have been largely complied with. But it must still decide what action, if any, to take. In practice, if the standards were not being met in a few respects, it is likely that the NCSC would note this in its inspection report and send a written warning to the provider. If the standards were persistently being flouted and/or they were substantially or seriously being disregarded, the NCSC may decide to take enforcement action, either in terms of cancelling registration or in terms of a criminal prosecution.

If a regulation, the breach of which is an offence, is breached, the NCSC may give providers a notice setting out:

• The regulation breached
• How the service is considered deficient
• What must be done to remedy the deficiency
• A time scale (up to 3 months) within which the deficiency must be remedied

If the deficiency is not remedied, a prosecution may follow.