Free tools · England

Three free tools for
opening a children's home.

One works out the money you need before your first child arrives. One gathers the published evidence about a location. One checks whether your application and service are ready. All are free, none needs an account, and you read the full report before anyone asks for an email address.

COST CALCULATOR About 10 minutes

What will it cost?

How much money you need before your first child arrives, and the occupancy and weekly fee the home needs to break even. Every figure shows where it came from.

THE REPORT SHOWS
Cash needed before the home covers its costs
Monthly running cost, broken down
Staffing worked out from your rota
Local rents, house prices and mortgage rates
Break-even occupancy and weekly fee
A month-by-month cash position
LOCATION TOOL Under a minute

Assess a location

A preliminary evidence report for a location risk assessment, built from a postcode. Every figure is dated and cited, with a plain list of what it could not establish.

THE REPORT COVERS
Recorded crime, by category and by month
Essential services, schools and health provision
Transport links and accessibility
Deprivation indicators in plain language
Other children's homes in the area
A checklist of the consultation only you can do
READINESS CHECKER About 15 minutes

Are you ready to apply?

A guided self-assessment across ten areas, returning a written report that separates what is missing from what contradicts itself, and an action plan ordered by what blocks what.

Foundational decisions that other work depends on
Required SC1 documents and SC2 applications not yet in place
Contradictions between your own answers
Registration-visit evidence to prepare
Check your readiness
HOW THEY FIT TOGETHER

The order matters more than the effort.

The three tools answer different questions, and each feeds the next. Once you know who the home is for, the cost calculator tells you whether the money works before you commit to a property or a team. The readiness check then tells you where you are across the whole application; if it finds that your location assessment has not been done, the location tool assembles the published evidence you need to write it.

Used in the wrong order they still work, but you will redo things. Staffing and occupancy depend on the children you plan to care for, and a location can only be tested against a cohort once the cohort exists.

Decide who the home is for

Age range, capacity, the needs the home will meet and the needs it will not support. Nothing else can be finished before this is settled.

YOUR DECISION
Work out what it will cost

Staffing, property, Ofsted fees and running costs, month by month, to find the cash you need before the first child arrives and the fee and occupancy that break even.

COST CALCULATOR
Run the readiness check

It maps the whole application and service against current Ofsted guidance, and tells you what is outstanding and in what order to fix it.

READINESS CHECKER
Assess the location against that cohort

If the check flags the location assessment as outstanding, the location tool gathers the published evidence for the postcode so you can write it.

LOCATION TOOL
Consult, then submit

Talk to the host local authority and the police, record their views, and submit the SC1 with every required document and SC2 in place.

YOUR DECISION
Open, and record from day one

Once registered, inspection is about how the home runs. ARC turns what staff log on each shift into daily journals, handovers and the Regulation 44 and 45 evidence Ofsted asks for.

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None of the tools submits anything to Ofsted. The SC1, the SC2 forms and every supporting document are submitted by you, through Ofsted's own service.

Which one do I need?

I am thinking about opening a home and do not know where to start
Readiness Checker
I need to know how much money to have before the first child arrives
Cost Calculator
I want to know what weekly fee and occupancy the home needs to break even
Cost Calculator
I am deciding whether to rent or buy a property
Cost Calculator
I have found a property and want to know what the area looks like on paper
Location Assessment Tool
I need to write the location assessment required with the SC1
Location Assessment Tool
I am not sure who needs to submit an SC2
Readiness Checker
My Statement of Purpose is drafted and I want to check it agrees with everything else
Readiness Checker
I want to compare two possible postcodes before making an offer
Location Assessment Tool
I have an application in and want to know what the registration visit will ask for
Readiness Checker
WHAT NONE OF THE TOOLS DOES

The decisions stay with people.

All three gather, calculate and organise. None of them assesses you, predicts what Ofsted will decide, or tells you what a home will earn.

Decide whether you are suitable to run a children's home
Confirm that a person meets Ofsted's fitness requirements
Decide whether a property or location is suitable
Predict whether an application will be accepted or a home registered
Replace consultation with the local authority, the police or the safeguarding partnership
Give financial, legal or regulatory advice
Promise what a home will cost or what it will earn
AFTER REGISTRATION

The evidence does not stop at the registration visit.

ARC turns the events staff log on shift into daily journals, handovers, care plans and Regulation 44 and 45 evidence, so the records an inspector asks for already exist.

See how ARC works Book a demonstration