About the programme

Supported accommodation is a form of accommodation outside of regulated children’s homes, kinship care and foster care, which provides supported, semi-independent living for 16- & 17-year-olds who are ready to start living with more independence. 

Since 28 October 2023, all providers of supported accommodation have been required to adhere to mandatory national Quality Standards, overseen by Ofsted-led registration and inspection. The sector has been on a long-overdue improvement journey and NCB has supported and worked with more than 1,000 providers as they’ve progressed to become registered as a supported accommodation provider with Ofsted.

Our programme of activity

We delivered a varied programme of activity for providers of supported accommodation and local authorities to enable them to prepare for the system of oversight, including: 

• National conferences early in the registration period and at the end of the programme, featuring keynote speeches from Ofsted and DfE officials.
• In-person and virtual community of practice and knowledge sharing events for local authorities and providers across all nine regions in England. 
• Policy development training sessions for providers. 
• Quality assurance officer training sessions for local authorities. 
• Co-production and young people’s voice workshops. 
• Webinar series on trauma-informed practice for supported accommodation.
• Roundtables on key themes including supported lodgings.
• Sessions on working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people.
• Online community of practice forums for local authorities and providers. 
• A variety of tools and resources to support registration with Ofsted for both providers and local authorities, including eLearning modules, FAQ resources, registration process map, a provider readiness tool, and learning examples.  

Improvement journey

NCB’s vision is for all children to thrive. For young people living in supported accommodation, this means being safe, secure and supported by adults who care about their lives and their futures. Throughout our programme, we considered the individual experiences of young people, how trauma might be affecting them and the ways in which providers can support them.

NCB sees peer support and sector collaboration as central to the continued growth and improvement of the sector. There are several membership organisations taking on leadership roles in the sector and promoting collaboration alongside peer support.

Our learning

Whilst the regulations, quality standards and inspection framework have established the infrastructure and accountability for the supported accommodation sector to deliver the high-quality support these young people deserve, there is still work to be done to ensure that all young people experience the caring support that the best providers in this sector are already delivering.

For this to happen consistently, NCB want to see urgent action on:

• Sufficiency of appropriate placements for all young people in care, including foster care, children’s homes and supported accommodation, with the skills and knowledge to meet the diverse needs of young people who have experienced trauma.
• Needs-led assessment, placement planning and decision-making ensuring that supported accommodation is not the default for 16- and 17-year-olds and similarly that it is not the default for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people who have been separated from their families and may have experienced complex trauma.
• Improve the situation of young people aged 16 and 17 who are homeless or unable to stay safely with their family and are being placed via Section 17 of the Children’s Act 1989 or housing legislation, outside the safeguards that having looked-after status brings.
• A workforce development strategy to ensure all staff in supported accommodation are confident in their roles and responsibilities in meeting the quality standards and improving outcomes for young people.
• Local authorities prioritise parallel planning, quality assurance and risk management in partnership with providers awaiting registration visits and formal registration with Ofsted where young people continue to be placed unlawfully.

Significant potential

The supported accommodation sector has begun a transformative journey. It is beginning to demonstrate the significant potential of these settings to have a positive impact on the lives and futures of young people, when delivered well by skilled and knowledgeable staff.

However, as the initial investment from government reduces and the provider preparation programme ends, there is a risk that providers struggle to maintain the level of quality training for staff. This could lead to a deterioration in quality or increase in prices to councils as providers meet the new burdens that high-quality services demand.

Supporting the ongoing improvement of this sector will require continued government focus and investment. There is also an important quality assurance role for local authorities and multi-agency safeguarding partnerships to ensure the rights of young people living in supported accommodation are met and that they are supported to thrive.