The Responsible Individual (Ri) Is Legally Accountable For Ensuring The Children’s Home Meets All Registration Conditions And Regulatory Compliance. They Must Have A Solid Understanding Of Relevant Laws, Safeguarding Practices, And Business Management.
Ofsted has recently clarified its guidance on responsible individuals. The republished Registration guide for children’s social care services now includes an expanded section on assessing the suitability of responsible individuals who are part of new registration applications.
It should be noted that the RI is not responsible for the day-to-day management of the service.
For those of you who are starting from the beginning as a new provider, DO NOT TRY TO FILL THE SHOES OF AN RI ROLE YOUSELF (unless you have been a children’s home manager for a number of years previously).
This will depend on your Registered Manager and their expectation in the setup of the home. If you are able to recruit a good Manager, there is no doubt that they will be able to set up the home and undertake to write all the paperwork, including your SOP, Children’s guide, locality risk assessment and many of the policies and procedures.
If it is a single home and you have an experienced manager, the RI tends to visit the home either once a week a fortnightly or once a month (manager supervision is undertaken during this time). You also need to allocate additional hours for oversight, advice and guidance to the manager.
