Free download · Children's homes in England

Free Regulation 45 Review Checklist & Action Plan

Prepare your next six-month review with 52 evidence checks, consultation prompts, worked examples and an action plan. Free PDF for children’s homes in England, delivered by email.

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52 checks across five sections Blank action plan template Written against the 2015 Regulations No sales call required
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From the team behind OVcare
Used by 100+ UK care facilities
Cyber Essentials Plus certified
Written against the 2015 Regulations
Inside the free pack

See the review structure before you download

A practical working pack—not a blank document. It helps you gather the right evidence, analyse what changed and turn findings into accountable actions.

✓Five clearly organised review sections
✓52 evidence and consultation checks
✓A ready-to-complete improvement action plan
Get the free review pack
OVcare working template
Regulation 45
Quality of Care Review
Six-month review period

1. Evidence and outcomes

2. Children, parents, staff and placing authorities

3. Improvement action

Named action and ownerDue date
Illustrative preview of the pack layout
The requirement

What Regulation 45 actually asks of you

Six duties sit inside one short regulation. The two most often missed are the consultation duty and the submission deadline.

1

A quality of care review completed at least once every six months.

2

A system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children.

3

That system must also cover children's feedback and opinions about the home, its facilities and the care they receive in it.

4

It must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.Most often missed

5

A written report covering the review and any action the registered person intends to take as a result.

6

A copy sent to HMCI within 28 days of the date the review is completed.Most often missed

What's inside

Five sections, one six-month cycle

The pack follows the order you'll actually work in — gather, consult, analyse, act, submit — with evidence prompts on every check.

12 checks
Evidence across the full six months

Incidents, missing episodes, physical interventions, complaints, medication, staffing and training — what to pull, and the period it must actually cover.

9 checks
The four groups you must consult

Children, parents, placing authorities and staff. Practical methods for each, how to record non-responses, and how to evidence that opinions were considered.

11 checks
A report that analyses, not describes

The structure inspectors respond to: patterns and trends over the period, impact on children, and honest judgement — rather than a list of what happened.

9 checks
Actions and follow-through

Turning findings into a plan with named owners and dates — plus how to close out the last review's actions so the cycle demonstrably improves the home.

11 checks
Submission and Reg 44 alignment

The 28-day deadline, who signs, what goes to HMCI — and how the review should read against your independent visitor's monthly reports.

Why this one

Most Reg 45 templates give you headings. This one shows you what analysis looks like.

Quality of care reviews usually fall down in the same places:

The report describes the six months rather than analysing it — events listed, patterns never named
Only children and staff get consulted; parents and placing authorities are missed entirely
Actions from the previous review are never closed out, so nothing shows the cycle is working
The report is written well but submitted late, or there's no record of when it went to HMCI

What makes this pack different

Built from the regulation itself, not recycled from an old template

Written against the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the current Quality Standards
Every check comes with an evidence prompt — what you'd actually put in front of an inspector
Worked examples showing the same finding written descriptively and written analytically
Consultation prompts written for each group, including age-appropriate ones for children
Ends with a blank action plan template designed to be carried into the next review
Common questions

Before you download

Is this an official Regulation 45 report template?

No. This PDF checklist and action plan is a practical working aid, not an official Ofsted form or an editable Word report template. Ofsted does not prescribe a report format or length. Adapt your review and report to your home.

Is it really free?

Yes. Enter your details and the PDF arrives by email straight away. No sales call, no obligation. Most registered managers print it and work through it as the review period closes.

Is this the same as a Regulation 44 report?

No. Regulation 44 is the independent visitor's monthly report. Regulation 45 is your own six-monthly review of the quality of care. The pack covers how the two should line up.

Does it cover supported accommodation?

Regulation 45 applies to children's homes. Supported accommodation sits under a separate framework, so this pack is written for children's homes specifically.

Who has to sign it off?

The registered person. The pack sets out the sign-off and submission steps, including the 28-day deadline for getting a copy to HMCI and how to evidence when it was sent.

Can I share it with my team?

Please do. It's built for that: work through it as a leadership team, split the consultation across the group, and turn the findings into one action plan with named owners.

Who wrote it?

The team behind OVcare, care management software used by 100+ UK care facilities — built from the current statutory framework for children's homes in England.

Guidance for your Regulation 45 quality of care review

Read what a Regulation 45 report must cover, check Regulation 45, and see Ofsted’s guidance on reviews and reports.

After the pack

Want the evidence gathered before the review period ends?

Every section of the review is easier when incidents, missing episodes, medication, complaints and consultation records already sit in one platform. Book a demo and we'll walk the pack through against your current setup.

Book a free demo

Six months of evidence, one honest report.

Download the pack, gather as you go, and write the review from analysis rather than memory.

Get the free review pack