Location and Design of Properties/Accommodation

The Accommodation Standard is that young people should experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

In particular, the Accommodation Standard requires the registered person to:

1. Ensure that the location of the premises used as supported accommodation is suitable for the category or categories of supported accommodation provided, by:
   1. Reviewing the appropriateness and suitability of the location of each of the premises used as supported accommodation (‘a location assessment’), and in doing so, consult and take into account the views of each relevant person;
   2. Carrying out a location assessment of each of the premises used as supported accommodation at least once in each calendar year;
2. Ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation:
   1. Provide stability and consistency of accommodation for young people;
   2. Enable young people to have consistent and continuous access to local services, including education and healthcare;
   3. Promote young people’s positive self-esteem and sense of belonging within the local community, and discourage stigmatisation of young people;
   4. Are located so as to enable young people to actively participate and form relationships in the local community;
   5. Are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each young person individually and all young people collectively;
   6. Are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained;
   7. Offer a comfortable, positive and nurturing environment, while respecting young people’s need for privacy;
   8. Are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces;
   9. Are designed, furnished and maintained to remove avoidable hazards which could pose a health and safety risk to young people;
   10. Comply with all relevant statutory provisions dealing with health and safety or fire safety matters;
3. Only use devices for monitoring or surveillance in communal areas and then only if:
   1. The monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people;
   2. Each young person’s accommodating authority consents to the monitoring or surveillance;
   3. Young people are informed in advance of the intention to carry out monitoring or surveillance;
   4. The monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to each young person’s need for privacy;
4. Ensure that each young person is provided with a private bedroom:
   1. With sufficient space to accommodate a reasonable number of personal possessions;
   2. Which is equipped to meet the young person’s individual needs;
   3. Which has sufficient telephone or internet connectivity in order to enable the young person to maintain relationships and feel connected;
   4. Which is physically secure;
5. Ensure that each young person is provided with basic items such as bedding, towels, personal hygiene products and kitchen equipment, where a young person does not have access to such items;
6. Provide young people with a written agreement, in an accessible format, which outlines their rights, the terms and conditions of the supported accommodation, and how they can raise concerns about the provision of supported accommodation;
7. Ensure that the supported accommodation undertaking has adequate levels of insurance to cover all aspects of the provision of supported accommodation.

When establishing the Service or setting up a new property for use by the Service, the registered person must ensure that it is suitably located so that young people are effectively safeguarded and can access services to meet needs identified in their relevant plans.

The location assessment should inform decisions to accommodate a young person based on the extent to which it can meet their individual needs. Settings should be located in an area that supports young people’s safety, wellbeing and personal development, which takes into consideration young people’s social, educational, employment and training needs. The location of a setting should offer stability and consistency and should support the Service’s aims, objectives and ethos, as described in the Statement of Purpose.

The location assessment should focus on any potential safeguarding concerns, and the accessibility of local services and should take into account publicly available local data, such as local crime rates and the availability of amenities and services. The location assessment must involve consultation with appropriate local services which may include the police, the local authority’s children’s services, clinical commissioning groups and other persons the registered person deems relevant. This information should be used to identify and mitigate against a range of risks such as extra-familial risks and exploitation and should include opportunities such as mental health support services and suitable education providers. 

At the point of registration, the provider must declare they have carried out a location assessment for each setting which provides reassurance that the accommodation is appropriately located, risks are mitigated, and that positive opportunities for young people are available. 

Providers should be prepared to share location assessments with Ofsted at registration and, at Ofsted’s request, at any other time. When a registered provider notifies Ofsted of a new setting, the registered provider may be asked to share the assessment with Ofsted.

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the supported accommodation setting at least once in each calendar year. This review should include a full risk assessment, taking into account risks and opportunities presented by the setting’s location, and including any relevant risk mitigation strategies and actions taken to reduce potential risks as well as the views and experiences of young people.

The accommodation must offer stability, be safe and must effectively protect young people from harm. Young people should not feel isolated as a result of their accommodation or support. The accommodation should enable a sense of belonging for young people, who should be supported by staff to participate in positive relationships in the local community. 

The locking of external doors, or doors to hazardous materials, may be acceptable as a security precaution if applied within the normal routine of the setting. The design of the accommodation as well as the use of hazard-avoidance practices should reflect the characteristics of the young people accommodated in the specific setting.

Please also see Health and Safety Procedure and Visitors to the Service/Property Policy. 

The registered person should be prepared, within reason, to make adaptions to a setting’s design or layout to meet the needs of disabled young people or young people with specific health issues. The suitability of a setting for a young person according to their specific needs should be discussed and agreed between the registered person and the accommodating authority. The design of the setting should enable young people to develop skills for independent living within a supportive environment, such as a kitchen with cooking utensils and appliances, washing machine, and so on. Depending on the level of staffing and staff oversight set out in the Statement of Purpose according to the needs of the young people accommodated in the setting, the design of the setting may provide appropriate accommodation and facilities for staff that sleep in the setting overnight.

Young people in supported accommodation may be used to living with a high level of independence and autonomy. It is important that staff respect young people’s privacy as well as promote an environment where all young people living in the setting are respectful of the privacy of others.

Each young person should have reasonable privacy and must have their own private bedroom which is physically secure. In some categories of setting this will mean that young people should have a bedroom door that is lockable. For example, in shared group accommodation a lockable bedroom is appropriate, whereas lockable bedroom doors may not be practical in, nor would they be in keeping with the ethos of, most family-based settings/supported lodgings.

Young people must have access to the internet or sufficient telephone reception from their bedroom, to enable them to maintain relationships and feel connected.

In most cases, staff should, working with the accommodating authority where relevant, ensure that young people have access to a telephone for private use if a young person does not have a personal mobile phone, or their personal mobile phone is lost, out of credit or broken.

Young people should be provided with appropriate furniture, such as a lockable cabinet or drawers to securely store personal items, including any personal information. Young people should have a separate, spacious bedroom and should not share a bedroom with an adult or another young person, unless they are their partner, sibling or child/children. However, siblings who are both accommodated in supported accommodation would not be expected to share a bedroom unless that was their choice. Young people’s views, wishes and feelings should be considered with regard to their personal space and they should be given a choice about how their personal space is decorated.

The registered person should ensure there is a policy on staff entering young people’s bedrooms and that this is communicated from the outset to all young people, such as in the young person’s guide. A young person’s bedroom should not generally be entered without their permission or advance notice, such as for a facilities inspection where relevant. In most instances, staff should inform the young person in advance of a check or inspection and agree a time for the staff member to gain access to the bedroom. Immediate searching without permission may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a safety risk to the young person or another person. If staff need to enter the young person’s bedroom without permission or advance notice, they should inform the young person that they are entering the room and explain the purposes for entering immediately.

Any transition to a new setting is a significant event for a young person and each young person will have a unique history that may make certain aspects of their relevant plans challenging or significant. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to the manner of conduct expected of young people in supported accommodation, having due regard to the impact of an emergency placement on a young person, if relevant. Accommodation should offer stability and consistency for the young person and offer sustained access to local services as well as protect the young person from harm and isolation.

The registered person must work with the accommodating authority to ensure young people have access to basic day-to-day essentials and physical necessities, such as clean facilities, continuous access to drinking water, hot water, bedding and towels, and so on. Staff should support young people to meet the young person’s basic needs, recognising that many young people in supported accommodation have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met. This recognition is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff are there to support the young person and value them as an individual.

For supported accommodation settings to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of young people, they will always be homely and welcoming environments. Supported accommodation settings must comply with relevant health and safety legislation (alarms, fire, food storage and hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, settings should seek as much as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. Providers should take the young person’s needs into consideration to ensure they are providing the right facilities, for example, providing a desk in a young person’s bedroom to promote their education.

To foster a homely environment, young people should be able to access all shared areas of the setting unless there are specific reasons why this would not be the case. Given the high level of independence of the young people who live in supported accommodation, it is not expected that staff would impose limits on privacy and access, unless confronted with an exceptional circumstance that means these limits are needed temporarily to safeguard the young person or other young people in the setting. Any decisions to limit a young person’s access to any area of the setting and any modifications to the environment of the setting, should be short term and made only where this is intended to safeguard the welfare of a young person or any other person. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual young person’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. 

The design of the property should enable the young person to develop independence skills, including independent use of kitchen with cooking utensils and appliances, laundry areas and so on.

Any Service using CCTV or other monitoring equipment in a setting must only do so in communal areas and this must only be to support the safeguarding, protection and wellbeing of young people. Any use of CCTV must be no more intrusive than is needed and should respect the privacy of young people. The registered person must ensure the Service is compliant with data protection law, protects young people’s privacy and personal data and inform young people of the use of any surveillance or monitoring equipment and the purpose of its use. The Service must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the accommodating authority in writing at the time of placement. The use of CCTV is regulated by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the Surveillance Camera Code of Conduct (Home Office 2013). 

It is the responsibility of the registered person to ensure they adhere to all legal requirements to run all aspects of their service. As such, they must consider, for example, their role as an employer, their responsibilities regarding the buildings they use and associated health and safety considerations including fire safety requirements, and so on.