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Change is coming!!! This blog was co-authored with fellow Social Worker Sharon Deacon, to raise awareness of the upcoming regulation of supported accommodation providers. It is estimated that there are approximately 7000 looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17 currently residing in supported accommodation, and both Sharon and I have been staunch supporters of introducing regulation into this sector for many years. The imperative need to establish and maintain high quality care to this vulnerable cohort has been overwhelming, and so it has come as a welcome relief to see this recognised and reflected in Ofsted’s upcoming regulation framework. Whilst Ofsted have been preparing their framework for the last year, registration for providers will not commence until April 2023, with inspections then starting from 2024. This is an exciting and much-anticipated development, but we understand the feelings of uncertainty and apprehension these changes may invoke in both new and well established providers. Whilst we are determined in ensuring that the new regulations will lead to better quality care and outcomes for young people, we are keen to offer our passion and experience to support providers through this significant transitional period. Who are we? We both started our careers within the supported accommodation and residential sectors, before qualifying as Social Workers and working in organisations across the voluntary, public and private sector fields. We both have significant experience in supporting care experienced young people, advocating for them, and ensuring that they have everything they need to secure the best possible outcomes. I am widely recognised as an expert in the area of child exploitation, having coordinated local authority Child Sexual Exploitation services and acting as a consultant to local government services specialising in exploitation. I have delivered training and quality assurance work to many residential and supported accommodation providers in the pursuit of raising standards of care. Sharon also has many accolades to her name, having established an innovative quality assurance local authority framework after identifying significant failings within the supported accommodation sector. Sharon worked tirelessly alongside the Police and local MP to campaign for a change in legislation, highlighting the clear need for regulation to be introduced. This then led to direct discussions at the Department of Education with the Director of Ofsted, where the legislative changes were finally agreed. Sharon was publicly commended by the Howard League for her achievements in this area, which were even referenced in a Commons debate. Why do we care about supported accommodation providers? Our passion has been driven from our own experiences working within the sector, and when we crossed paths working at the same local authority many years ago - we quickly related. We both recognised the significant work needed to improve practice within supported accommodation and within the understanding of exploitation, and we thrived on achieving this. In our roles we would arrange quality assurance visits, where we would review the quality of practice, policies and deliver training to the staff teams. We also created forums for supported accommodation providers, which thankfully grew to regional forums and improved multi-agency networking across the region. It was clear that everyone who attended felt the immediate benefits of joining this group. As part of the ongoing work, we also developed a location risk assessment protocol to ensure that agencies were working together and were consistent in their practice and safeguarding responses. We are also very proud of the direct work we undertook with young people to ensure that they had their voices heard throughout all that we did. With the help of four care experienced individuals, the Young Quality Assurance Assistants journey began. We have never lived in supported accommodation with support staff, but they have, and they know what makes a good provider! They offered unique perspectives that were vital to understanding and achieving high quality care and support. What are we hoping to achieve? We want to support providers to have high standards for the young people that they are supporting. We want to see well managed supported accommodation, that puts the young person at the centre of all that they do. We want to support the sector to create a workforce where the staff are highly skilled to meet the needs of the young people, work collaboratively with partner agencies and feel well supported. We want providers to deliver. How are we going to achieve it? We have created a bespoke offer of consultancy and training for supported accommodation providers. We will be offering our expertise in the area, whilst also working alongside care experienced individuals. This will ensure a holistic, child-centred approach to achieving truly high quality provision. We will also be holding monthly Coffee Morning Forums for the supported accommodation sector. The events will focus on themes and allow attendees to suggest topics for reflective discussion and support from the forum. If you would like to be added to the Coffee Morning mailing list please email info@newmoonsafeguardingservices.com or sdeaconqaconsultants@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!