The Special School Residential Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2024

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Regulated Services (Special School Residential Services) (Wales) Regulations 2023 prescribe a special school residential service as a type of regulated service which is regulated under Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (“the Act”) so that persons providing this type of service are required to register under the Act.

In accordance with powers in section 27 of the Act, these Regulations impose requirements on providers of a special school residential service, including requirements as to the standard of care and support to be provided.

In accordance with powers in section 28 of the Act, these Regulations impose requirements on responsible individuals in relation to a place in respect of which the individual is designated.

These Regulations also provide for offences in the event of failure by a service provider or a responsible individual to comply with specified requirements.

Guidance has been published about how service providers and responsible individuals may comply with the requirements imposed by these Regulations (including how providers may meet any standards for the provision of a special school residential service) and section 29 of the Act requires service providers and responsible individuals to have regard to this guidance.

As well as placing requirements on service providers, these Regulations also place requirements on other persons: on the “appointed person” in the event of the insolvency of the service provider and on the personal representatives of the deceased in the event of the death of a service provider who is an individual.

Part 1 of the Regulations contains definitions of certain terms used in the Regulations.

Part 2 covers general requirements on the service provider as to the way the service is provided, including requirements in relation to the statement of purpose, the arrangements for monitoring and improvement, the support to be provided to the responsible individual, the steps to be taken to ensure the financial sustainability of the service and the policies and procedures which must be in place.

Part 3 covers the requirements as to the steps to be taken before the service provider agrees to provide care and support to an individual. A service provider must not agree to provide care and support unless they have first determined that the service is suitable to meet the individual’s needs. Regulation 10 sets out the steps that must be taken and the matters which must be taken into account when making this determination. Where there is no local authority care and support plan in place, the steps to be taken include carrying out an assessment of the individual’s needs.

Part 4 covers the requirements as to the steps to be taken once the service provider has agreed to provide care and support to an individual. Before the commencement of such provision, the provider must prepare an initial personal plan which, among other things, sets out how on a day-to-day basis the individual’s needs will be met. Within 7 days of the commencement of the provision, the service provider must carry out a detailed assessment of how the individual’s care and support needs can best be met and this assessment then prompts a review of the initial personal plan.

Part 4 also makes provision for the review of personal plans and the keeping and sharing of records of the personal plan.

Part 5 deals with the requirements as to the information to be provided to individuals on the commencement of the provision of care and support. Regulation 15 requires that this information must be in the form of a written guide and sets out detailed requirements about the guide, including its contents and format. More detail of the information it is expected the guide would usually contain is in the guidance issued under section 29 of the Act.

Part 6 contains requirements as to the standard of care and support to be provided. These include overarching requirements as well as more detailed requirements relating to continuity of care, the provision of information, meeting individual’s language and communication needs and treating individuals with respect and sensitivity.

Part 7 contains specific requirements in relation to ensuring individuals are safe and protected from abuse, neglect and improper treatment. As well as requiring policies and procedures to be in place in relation to safeguarding and the appropriate use of control and restraint, the regulations in this Part place specific requirements as to the action to be taken in the event of an allegation or evidence of abuse.

Part 8 contains requirements as to staffing, which include general requirements as to the deployment of sufficient numbers of staff.

Part 8 also contains specific requirements as to the fitness of individuals working at the service. The fitness requirements include a requirement for specific information and documents to be available, as set out in Schedule 1. Persons employed to manage the regulated service must be registered with Social Care Wales, the workforce regulator. Persons employed to work in roles where they provide care and support to individuals must also be registered with Social Care Wales within six months of commencing their employment.

Other requirements contained in Part 8 include requirements relating to supporting and developing staff, providing information to staff and the operation of a disciplinary procedure. To ensure that employees report incidents of abuse to an appropriate person, the regulations in this Part require the provider’s disciplinary procedure to provide that a failure to report would be grounds for disciplinary proceedings.

Part 9 covers requirements as to premises, facilities and equipment.

Part 10 sets out additional requirements which apply to service providers if the premises which are to be used for the provision of the service fall into one of three categories: a new or converted building; an extension to a building which is used for the purpose of providing an existing special school residential service; a building which was used for the purpose of providing a special school residential service registered by another service provider but is unoccupied at the time of the service provider’s registration.

The additional requirements in Part 10 set out more specific environmental standards, including standards as to en-suite bathrooms, room sizes and the amount of communal space.

Part 11 sets out requirements as to supplies, hygiene, health and safety and medicines.

Part 12 contains miscellaneous requirements on service providers, including requirements as to the keeping of records and the making of notifications to the service regulator and other bodies. Schedule 2 sets out the records which are required to be kept and Schedule 3 sets out the specific notifications which are required to be made.

Part 12 also contains requirements on the service provider to have a complaints policy and a whistleblowing policy in place.

Parts 13 to 17 contain the requirements imposed on responsible individuals. The regulations in these Parts are made under section 28 of the Act.

Part 13 sets out requirements on responsible individuals which relate to the effective management of the service. The responsible individual has a general duty to supervise the management of the service (regulation 57) and specific duties to appoint a fit person to manage the service (regulations 58 and 59), to put arrangements in place for the management of the service when the manager is absent (regulation 63) and to visit the places where the service is being provided (regulation 64).

Part 14 contains requirements on responsible individuals for ensuring the effective oversight of the service. By placing these requirements on the responsible individual, the regulations in this Part ensure that a person of an appropriately senior level in the organisation is accountable for service quality and compliance. The responsible individual is required to make reports to the service provider on the adequacy of resources (regulation 65) and on other matters (regulation 66). The responsible individual is required to make arrangements for engagement with individuals and others so that their views on the quality of care and support provided can be taken into account by the service provider (regulation 67).

Part 15 sets out the requirements on the responsible individual for ensuring the compliance of the service with other requirements, including requirements as to the recording of incidents and complaints (regulation 68) and the keeping of records (regulation 69). The responsible individual must also put arrangements in place for ensuring that the provider’s policies and procedures are kept up to date (regulation 70).

Part 16 sets out the requirements on the responsible individual in relation to monitoring, reviewing and improving the quality of care and support provided, including making a report to the service provider.

Part 17 sets out other requirements on the responsible individual, including requirements to make certain notifications to the service regulator, contained in Schedule 4.

Part 18 deals with offences. Regulation 76 is made under the powers in section 45 of the Act and provides that failure of a service provider to comply with the requirements of specified provisions in these Regulations is an offence. There is a further qualification which applies in the case of a service provider’s failure to comply with certain requirements. In these cases, the regulation provides that this is only an offence if the failure to comply results in individuals being exposed to avoidable harm or significant risk of such harm or suffering a loss of money or property as a result of theft, misuse or misappropriation.

Regulation 77 provides that it is an offence for the responsible individual to fail to comply with the requirements of specified provisions in these Regulations. This regulation is made under section 46 of the Act.

Part 19 sets out specific requirements which apply when the service provider is insolvent or when a service provider who is an individual has died. In these circumstances, the regulations in this Part place specific notification duties on the appointed person (in the case of insolvency) or the personal representatives (in the case of the death of a service provider who is an individual). Regulation 79 enables the personal representatives to act in the capacity of the service provider and the Act is modified so that in these circumstances the personal representatives are not required to register and one of the personal representatives can be designated as the responsible individual in respect of a place where the service is provided.

Part 20 (regulation 80) specifies the circumstances in which the Welsh Ministers (instead of a service provider) may designate an individual to be a responsible individual, despite the eligibility requirements of section 21(2) of the Act not being met in respect of the individual. This regulation is made under section 21(5) of the Act.

Part 21 makes amendments to two existing sets of Regulations to incorporate amendments relating to special school residential services. The amendment to the Regulated Services (Annual Returns) (Wales) Regulations 2017 amends regulation 5 to include reference to special school residential services. The amendments to the Regulated Services (Penalty Notices) (Wales) Regulations 2019 set out which offences for breaches of requirements imposed by these Regulations can be the subject of a penalty notice issued by Welsh Ministers under section 52 of the Act.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Department of Health and Social Services, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales.