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Rising inspection costs for children's homes could undermine quality of care
18 February 2010
From April 2010, providers of residential children's homes will be required to pay more towards the cost of their own inspections.
Under a new inspection regime, Ofsted is expected to charge children's homes up to ten per cent more on their regulatory charges.
Janet Rich of the National Care Association said: 'This will disproportionately impact particularly on smaller homes as the system of paying per number of children is replaced by a system of paying for the actual calculated cost of inspection.
'While in different times there would be no problem because the additional cost would be quite correctly passed on to purchasers through annual increases in fees, the current climate is such that local authorities are also pressurising providers at the time of placement to drop fees.'
She added that it would be ironic that if the cost of regulation, which is aimed at improving standards, forced some providers to cut corners in service and quality.