Leadership and Management

The Leadership and Management Standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts young people first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

In particular, the Standard requires the registered person to:

1. Lead and manage the supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking’s Statement of Purpose;
2. Ensure that staff work effectively as a team, where appropriate, to meet the needs of young people;
3. Ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;
4. Ensure that the supported accommodation undertaking has sufficient staff to support and accommodate young people safely and effectively;
5.  Implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with young people and to keep them safe from harm;
6. Ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of young people to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of young people to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions;
7. Ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff;
8. Ensure that each young person is fully aware of their entitlements throughout the duration of their placement in supported accommodation, including:
   1. What they can expect from the provision of supported accommodation;
   2. Their entitlement to education;
   3. Where relevant, their entitlements as a looked after young person;
   4. Where relevant, their entitlements as a care leaver, and
   5. where necessary, support each young person to access those entitlements;
9. Ensure that staff have the skills necessary to support young people to identify, access and receive their entitlements in a way that helps them to learn to identify, access and receive their entitlements independently in the future;
10. Ensure that a Workforce Plan for the supported accommodation undertaking is in place;
11. Ensure that a business continuity plan is in place, outlining the actions the registered provider will take during unplanned disruption, covering all areas of the undertaking’s operation, including staffing, premises and emergency scenarios.

The responsibilities and accountabilities for the Leadership and Management Standard fall to the registered person. It is expected that the registered service manager and those involved in the day-to-day running of settings, including the staff and any leadership team for the Service, will play a key role in enabling the registered person to fulfil the requirements of this standard.

The registered person has a key role in seeking to develop the Service’s effective working relationships with each young person’s accommodating authority and with other relevant persons which may include individuals (including parents), agencies, bodies offering floating support, organisations and establishments that work with young people in the local community. These could include, but are not limited to, schools, colleges, health, police and youth offending teams.

In addition to strategic multi-agency working, the registered person should ensure staff work effectively together to support young people to stay safe and receive the right support when they need it—for example, with regard to health, wellbeing and education—and feel empowered to reach their full potential.

The registered person is responsible for ensuring that staff clearly communicate to young people their rights, what they are entitled to from the Service as well as, for example, their entitlement to education, and entitlements through their status as a looked after young person or care leaver, such as any financial help. This information should be recorded in the Young Person’s Guide. Staff should have the skills to support young people to identify, access and receive their entitlements in a manner that helps them learn to do this independently in the future. 

Young people should be informed of how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for advice and assistance about their rights and entitlements. See also Complaints and Representations and Advocacy, Independent Visitors and Independent Reviewing Officers.

The registered person is responsible for ensuring the Service delivers high-quality support for all young people. They must lead and manage the Service in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the Service’s Statement of Purpose as well as ensure that any management and staff operate settings in accordance with this. They should also play a key role in shaping the ethos of the settings they oversee through developing a culture of high aspiration for young people which is demonstrated through the support resources and opportunities offered to the young people.

The managers should support staff to be ambitious for every young person in the Service and to gain skills and experience that enable them to actively support each young person to achieve their potential. To ensure that staff understand and can meet each young person’s needs, in line with their responsibilities, the managers themselves will need to have a high level of understanding of the needs of the young people in their Service.

The registered provider must carry on the supported accommodation undertaking in a manner which is likely to ensure that it will be financially viable for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives set out in its Statement of Purpose.

The registered person must:

• Ensure that adequate financial records are maintained and kept up to date in respect of the Service:
• The annual accounts of the Service, certified by an accountant;
• Information as to the financing and financial resources of the Service;
• Where the registered provider is a company, information as to any of its associated companies; and
• A certificate of insurance in respect of liability in relation to death, injury, public liability, damage or other loss;

• Provide a copy of the financial records and most recent accounts to Ofsted upon request.

If the Service appoints a liquidator or a provisional liquidator, a manager or a receiver (companies/partnerships), or, for individual providers, if a trustee in bankruptcy is appointed, or a composition or arrangement made with any creditors, the person so appointed must:

1. Have regard to young people’s welfare when acting in relation to the operation of the Service and its future;
2. Without delay, notify Ofsted of their appointment and the reasons for it;
3. If there is no registered service manager, appoint a person to be registered as the registered service manager, and
4. Not more than 28 days after their appointment, notify Ofsted of their intentions regarding the future operation of the Service.

When the registered service manager proposes to be absent from the supported accommodation provision for a continuous period of 28 days or more, the registered provider must notify Ofsted of the proposed absence in writing. The registered provider must also make sure that appropriate arrangements are made to ensure that there is no/limited disruption to the Service provided to young people during the registered service manager’s absence.

Other than in an emergency situation, or due to unforeseen absence, the registered provider must give at least one month’s notice of the registered service manager’s absence to Ofsted or agree a shorter notice period with Ofsted. The registered provider must give information on the expected length of the absence, the reason for the absence and the arrangements that have been made for the management of the Service in the absence of the registered service manager. The registered service manager must provide Ofsted with the name, address, qualifications and experience of the person who will be responsible for the supported accommodation Service during the registered service manager’s absence. The registered provider must also specify the arrangements that have been made, or are proposed to be made, for appointing another person to manage the supported accommodation service during the registered service manager’s absence, including the proposed date by which the appointment is to be made.

If the registered service manager’s absence is as a result of an emergency, or otherwise unforeseen, then the registered provider must give Ofsted notice of the absence with one week of the start of the absence. The registered provider must give information on the expected length of the registered service manager’s absence, the reason for the absence and the arrangements that have been made for the management of the Service in the absence of the registered service manager. The registered service manager must provide Ofsted with the name, address, qualifications and experience of the person who will be responsible for the supported accommodation service during the registered service manager’s absence. The registered provider must also specify the arrangements that have been made, or are proposed to be made, for appointing another person to manage the supported accommodation service during the registered service manager’s absence, including the proposed date by which the appointment is to be made. The registered provider must also make sure that appropriate arrangements are made to ensure that there is no/limited disruption to the service provided to young people during the registered service manager’s absence.

If the notification to Ofsted has not been made within the specified timescales, it must be given without delay.

The registered provider must notify Ofsted when the registered service manager returns to work, and this must be done no later than 7 days after the registered service manager’s return to work.

Anyone who is appointed by the registered provider to manage the Service in the absence of the registered service manager must be registered with Ofsted if they are not already registered.

If more than one person is registered in respect of a supported accommodation service, and a registered person dies, the other registered person must notify Ofsted of the death in writing without delay.

If only one person is registered in respect of a supported accommodation service, and that person dies, that person's personal representatives must notify Ofsted in writing, without delay, of the death, and within 28 days, of their intentions regarding the future running of the supported accommodation service.

The personal representatives of a deceased registered provider may carry on the supported accommodation undertaking without being registered in respect of it for a period not exceeding 28 days. Ofsted may extend the period further, provided that it does not exceed one year, but the deceased’s person’s personal representatives must have been notified of this in writing by Ofsted.

The personal representatives of the deceased registered provider must appoint a person to be registered as the registered service manager, and must have regard to young people's welfare when acting in relation to the operation of the supported accommodation service and its future.

The registered person must also notify Ofsted of a range of other changes to the running of the supported accommodation provision as soon as is reasonably practical (Regulation 34).

This includes:

When a person other than the registered person carries on or manages the supported accommodation service;

When a person ceases to carry on or manage the supported accommodation service;

When the registered provider is an individual, the registered person must also notify Ofsted if the registered provider’s name changes. If the registered provider is a partnership, any changes in the membership of the partnership must be notified to Ofsted. If the registered provider is an organisation Ofsted must be notified if the organisation’s name or address changes, or if there are changes of director, manager, secretary or similar position within the organisation. Changes to the identity of the nominated individual must also be notified to Ofsted. Any changes to the ownership of a company that is the registered provider must also be notified to Ofsted. 

If the premises cease to be used, or are intended to be ceased for use, as supported accommodation then the registered person must give notice to Ofsted in writing not more than 10 working days from when the registered person becomes aware of that decision.

Where additional supported accommodation premises are acquired, or where there is an intention to acquire additional supported accommodation premises, the registered person must give Ofsted written notice, as soon as is practicable, of the category of accommodation for the premises, address of the premises, the characteristics of the young people for whom it is intended (age range, number of young people and whether it is mixed or single-sex provision).

The registered person must give notice in writing to Ofsted within 72 hours if accommodating a young person for the first time in any supported accommodation premises which did not form part of the registered person’s initial registration, or where accommodating a young person and doing so brings previously unused premises back into use.

Where any of the following are convicted of any criminal offence

• The registered provider;
• The registered service manager;
• If the registered provider is an organisation, the nominated individual;
• If the registered provider is an organisation, any director of that organisation;
• If the registered provider is a partnership, any partner in that partnership, that person must without delay give notice in writing to Ofsted of:
  1. The date and place of the conviction;
  2. The offence of which they were convicted; and
  3. The penalty imposed on them in respect of the offence.