Supported accommodation location assessment: what regulation 6 asks for each premises

The free location risk assessment templates include supported accommodation versions of the letters, the tracker, the risk matrix and the review record. The location assessment evidence pack adds the public data for each premises.

What regulation 6 says

Regulation 6(2)(a) asks the registered person to “ensure that the location of the premises used as supported accommodation is suitable for the category or categories of supported accommodation provided”

• “reviewing the appropriateness and suitability of the location of each of the premises used as supported accommodation (“a location assessment”), and in doing so, consulting and taking into account the views of each relevant person”
• “carrying out a location assessment of each of the premises used as supported accommodation at least once in each calendar year”

The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, regulation 6(2)(a)

Regulation 6(2)(b) adds that the premises must “enable children to have consistent and continuous access to local services, including education and healthcare”. "At least once in each calendar year" means between 1 January and 31 December, for every premises the provider uses.

Each premises, not each provider

“Ofsted will register at provider level (not individual settings).” (Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations including the Quality Standards, page 13). The duty, though, is per premises: a provider with thirty flats in four authorities needs thirty assessments, each dated in the calendar year.

Inspectors check them on the ground: “Inspectors will always visit an appropriate range of premises to assess the quality of children's accommodation, including the suitability of their locations.” (Ofsted, social care common inspection framework: supported accommodation).

At registration: the declaration for each setting

The guide says: “At the point of registration, the provider must declare they have carried out a location assessment for each setting”, and “Providers should be prepared to share location assessments with Ofsted at registration and, at Ofsted’s request, at any other time.” (Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations including the Quality Standards, page 28). So each premises needs its assessment before it is declared, and the file should be ready to send when Ofsted asks.

Clusters of premises in one area

The regulation's own words govern. A suitable location is ensured partly by “carrying out a location assessment of each of the premises used as supported accommodation at least once in each calendar year” (The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, regulation 6(2)(a)(ii)). Each premises therefore has its own location assessment, reviewed in the calendar year.

Where several premises stand close together in one area, the work behind them can be shared. The public data about the area and the consultation with the same police force and host authority can serve each of them, so one letter can ask about several addresses. Each premises' own assessment then records that shared evidence beside what is particular to it: its street and its surroundings, its access to college, work, health and transport, and the views of the young people who live there. Nothing in the regulations or the guide quoted here lets one assessment stand for several premises.

Who is a relevant person

The regulations define a relevant person as “any person that the registered person considers to be relevant in relation to the support, protection or safeguarding of a particular child in all the circumstances” (The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, regulation 2, the meaning of relevant person). In practice that starts with the police and the host authority's children's services, then each young person's placing authority, social worker or personal adviser, and health and youth justice where they apply.

What the guide asks the assessment to cover

The Department for Education's guide says the assessment “should take into account publicly available local data, such as local crime rates and the availability of amenities and services.” It “must involve consultation with appropriate local services which may include the police, the local authority’s children’s services, clinical commissioning groups”, which since 2022 means integrated care boards, and should “identify and mitigate against a range of risks such as extra-familial risks and exploitation”.

It is also a tool for placements, not only for inspection: “The location assessment should inform decisions to accommodate a young person based on the extent to which it can meet their individual needs.” (Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations including the Quality Standards, page 27).

The four steps, premises by premises

1. Gather the public data. Recorded crime around the premises and its trend, deprivation for the small area, what the authority's children's services record about exploitation and young people going missing, the roads, and the college, training, work, health and transport within reach.
2. Consult. Write to the police force's public protection lead and the host authority's children's services, chase what does not come back, and record each outcome, including no reply after a reminder.
3. Assess the risks. The full risk assessment the guide asks for: each hazard scored for severity and likelihood, its controls and what is left. Ask the young people what living there is like; they know the area better than any figure.
4. Plan, act and review. Owner roles and dates for each control, a summary for each placing authority, and a fresh review when something changes, not only at the end of the year.

The guide's emphasis on access is echoed by Ofsted, which looks for this: “The location provides good access to services, including employment, training and education.” (Ofsted, social care common inspection framework: supported accommodation).

Keep the premises private

Ofsted's own framework says: “Reports should be anonymised so that premises where children live are not identified.” Treat your assessments the same way. A location assessment records where young people live, so it should be marked confidential, and what you share with a placing authority should describe the area without the address.

Templates, and the evidence half done for you

The free templates include supported accommodation versions of the consultation letters, tracker, risk matrix, young people's views prompt sheet and review record, in Word, with no email asked. The location assessment evidence pack does the public data for each premises, and a provider can upload its premises from a spreadsheet. Read the Sample Home pack, which shows the same chapters for a children's home.

Quotations from the Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, the Department for Education's guide and Ofsted guidance, Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This guide is not legal advice.