311.Community homes provided by local authorities are called maintained community homes. Community homes provided by voluntary organisations are divided into two further categories (section 53). Where the local authority manages a home provided by a voluntary organisation, the home is designated a controlled community home. Where the voluntary organisation manages the home, it is designated an assisted community home.
312.No type of community home is registered, but controlled and assisted community homes are managed in accordance with an instrument of management, which is made by the Secretary of State. In addition to providing the constitution for the body of managers for the home, the instrument may specify the nature and purpose of the home, require a specified proportion of the places to be made available to the local authority or any other named body, and any provision for fees that to be charged. It may also contain any other provisions the Secretary of State considers appropriate. Parts II and III of schedule 4 deal with the management and regulation, of, respectively controlled and assisted community homes.
313.Local authorities make arrangements for inspecting their own community homes. In addition, the Social Services Inspectorate inspect local authority children’s services as part of their wider remit to inspect Social Services. Children’s residential care is part of those services. When inspecting a local authority’s provision they would inspect the community homes maintained by that authority, and an inspection of assisted and controlled community homes might also form part of that wider inspection. As an example, in 1997/8 SSI carried out inspections of 17 local authorities on the theme ‘Safety of Children Looked After’.
314.Sections 54-58 contain provisions relating to the closure of controlled and assisted community homes. There are very few of these homes still in existence, and these provisions are very rarely used.
ANNEX 1: Existing Legislation The Children Act 1989 Children’s Homes Part VI – Community Homes