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You must report changes to your service. You can use the Report changes to a childrens social care service (SC3) form to tell us about some of these changes. However, you must tell us about other types of changes in different ways.

The SC3 form is the form used for all childrens social care services that Ofsted regulates. This guidance explains how to complete the form as a supported accommodation service.

When to use the form

You must only use the SC3 form to notify us of certain changes.

Changes to people

You must use the form to tell us about new joiners or leavers in the following roles:

• nominated individual
• directors
• partners in a partnership
• an owner of an individual provider, if there is more than one owner

You must also tell us if your registered service manager is going to be absent for 28 days or more.

Changes to your premises

You must use form SC3 to tell us if:

• you are opening a new premises you must tell us within 72 hours of opening it
• you are registered to run accommodation provided in a private residence and you want to tell us about new hosts
• you decide to close a premises, either temporarily or permanently you must tell us within 10 working days of closing the premises

You cannot use form SC3 if you want to change the category of a premises to a category that you are not registered to run already. If you want to offer a category of supported accommodation that you are not registered for, you must apply for a variation to your registration conditions.

When not to use the form

Registered service manager is leaving

You cannot use the form to tell us that your registered service manager is leaving. Find out what you need to do if your registered service manager leaves

Other changes

There are other changes that you must tell us about but cannot do so using the form. Find out what other changes you need to tell us about, and how to tell us.

Who can fill in the form

Who can fill in an SC3 form depends on the type of provider you are.

Organisations and limited liability partnerships

This could be:

• the nominated individual that we currently have on record
• a director
• a director of childrens services where the organisation is a local authority
• a senior manager or the registered service manager

If you are notifying us about a new nominated individual, we cannot accept the form if it is filled out by the new person themselves.

Partnerships

This could be:

• the partner acting as your point of contact
• one of the partners we have on record

Individual provider

This could be the person we have on record who acts as a point of contact or the individual provider.

Information you will need to provide

The form will ask you a series of questions about the changes you want to make. You will be asked about:

• your role and your service
• if your nominated individual is leaving, and details about them if they are
• about your new nominated individual, if applicable
• other people who are leaving
• if you have a new director, and details about them if you do
• other people joining
• if your registered service manager is going to be away for more than 28 days and, if so, details about your interim manager, referred to as temporary on the form
• opening new premises (including adding new accommodation hosted in private residences, such as supported lodgings)
• closing existing premises (including removing accommodation hosted in private residences, such as supported lodgings)

Nominated individual

You must tell us as soon as you know that your nominated individual is leaving. If you do not know who is replacing them, use the form to let us know they are leaving. Then fill in a new form to let us know who the new nominated individual is as soon as possible. There should be no delay in appointing a new nominated individual. You should have one at all times.

Changes to your premises

If you are opening or closing premises, you may need to update the description of accommodation and services offered in your statement of purpose. This depends on what you have written. Your statement must be accurate. As you do not need to list every premises, you may not need to update the statement every time you open or close a premises.

If you do need to update your statement, you must send us the new version. The form will ask you to confirm that you will do this.

Report changes now

You will need a Government Gateway account to use the form.

You cannot report until we have registered your service.

Next steps

Read our guidance on reporting changes to a supported accommodation to find out what else you need to do in your circumstances, and what will happen next.

Help

If you need help with a query that is not covered in this guide or you do not understand what you need to do in your circumstances, please contact us.

If you need help with your application, please email SC.suppacc@ofsted.gov.uk

If you need a paper version of the SC1 or SC2 form please email sc.admin@ofsted.gov.uk

Complaints

The great majority of our work is carried out smoothly and without incident.

If concerns arise during registration, these should be raised with the inspector, their manager or the applications team as soon as possible. This provides an opportunity to resolve the matter before the registration is completed.

If it has not been possible to resolve concerns in this way, you can raise a formal complaint through our complaints procedure.

Regulations

Legislation

• Children and Families Act 2014
• Adoption and Children Act 2002
• Education and Inspections Act 2006
• Care Standards Act 2000
• Children Act 1989
• Children Act 2004

Regulations for all providers

• Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Education, Childrens Services and Skills (Fees and Frequency of Inspections) (Childrens Homes etc.) Regulations 2015
• Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010
• Care Standards Act 2000 (Registration)(England) Regulations 2010
• Care Standards Act 2000 (Extension of Part 2 to Supported Accommodation) (England) Regulations 2022
• Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023