Sue Solutions

Sue Solutions Smart software for care, built by people who’ve done the job. Supporting over 1,000 UK care homes to deliver safer, smarter care.

Part of The Client Bridge Group.

Today we are breaking down Regulation 25, fire safety, and it is the last regulation in Part 2.📌 The home takes adequate...
11/10/2026

Today we are breaking down Regulation 25, fire safety, and it is the last regulation in Part 2.

📌 The home takes adequate steps against the risk of fire, with equipment and escape routes.
📌 Everyone working at the home is trained in fire prevention.
📌 Regular drills mean staff, and children where possible, know what to do.

Fire safety in a children’s home starts with consulting the fire and rescue authority. One thing to check. If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to your home, you work to that Order instead of the duties above. Plenty of homes fall under it, so it is worth knowing which set you are actually working to.

Drill records sit in Schedule 4, so they are part of the records Ofsted can ask to see.

Come back next week for the full Part 2 document. Regulations 16 to 25 in one place, free to download and print.

Want to see how Sue keeps fire drill records and staff training dates in one place? Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

Today we are breaking down Regulation 24, monitoring and surveillance.📌 It must be for safeguarding the child or other c...
07/10/2026

Today we are breaking down Regulation 24, monitoring and surveillance.

📌 It must be for safeguarding the child or other children.
📌 The child's placing authority must consent in writing.
📌 The child is told in advance where practicable, and it must be no more intrusive than necessary.

Written consent is the bit that gets missed. Sensors and cameras usually get fitted once and then stay there, whoever moves in. Regulation 24 asks for a decision about this child, agreed in writing by their placing authority, before the device is used on them.

Regulation 21 on privacy is worth reading next to it. Same proportionality test.

Want to see how Sue records a surveillance decision, the placing authority's written consent and the review date in one place? Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The next regulation is 23, medicines.📌 Medicines are stored securely so no child has unsupervised access.📌 Prescribed me...
03/10/2026

The next regulation is 23, medicines.

📌 Medicines are stored securely so no child has unsupervised access.
📌 Prescribed medicine goes only to the child it is prescribed for.
📌 Every dose given is recorded, and safe self-administration is allowed.

Regulation 23 asks for arrangements covering the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of every medicine that comes into the home.

Want to see how Sue records administration, refusals, errors and disposal in one medication record per child? Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The next regulation is 22, contact and access to communications.📌 Children get private access to a telephone and to post...
30/09/2026

The next regulation is 22, contact and access to communications.

📌 Children get private access to a telephone and to post.
📌 Suitable facilities must be provided so children can meet privately at the home with parents, relatives, or professionals.
📌 A restriction needs the placing authority's consent, or, in an emergency, full details to the placing authority within 24 hours.

This is the regulation that Regulation 19 points to. Contact cannot be taken away as a punishment, and the only lawful route to a restriction runs through here, with the placing authority involved.

That 24 hour window matters. If something happens on a Friday evening and the restriction goes in, the clock is already running, and the record needs to show the reason, the decision and the call to the placing authority.

Want to see how Sue logs a contact restriction, the reason for it and the placing authority notification in one record?

Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The Sue Crew is at the Children’s Homes Leaders’ Conference today! 💜We’re looking forward to a day of conversations, con...
25/09/2026

The Sue Crew is at the Children’s Homes Leaders’ Conference today! 💜

We’re looking forward to a day of conversations, connections and sharing ideas with people working across children’s residential care.

If you’re at the conference too, come and say hello to the Sue Crew, we’d love to hear about your work and have a chat about how Sue Solutions can support your homes.

www.suesolutions.co.uk

We are at the Children's Homes Leaders' Conference 2026 tomorrow!If you are going, come and say hello.
24/09/2026

We are at the Children's Homes Leaders' Conference 2026 tomorrow!

If you are going, come and say hello.

The next regulation is 21, privacy and access.📌 Children's privacy must be appropriately protected.📌 Children can access...
24/09/2026

The next regulation is 21, privacy and access.

📌 Children's privacy must be appropriately protected.
📌 Children can access all appropriate areas of the home.
📌 Any limit must safeguard children, be proportionate and leave them as much freedom as possible.

The word doing the work here is "any". Locking a kitchen, restricting a bedroom, limiting where a child can go in the evening, all of it has to be justified for that child rather than applied as a house rule, and kept under review rather than left in place because it has always been that way.

Door sensors and cameras sit under Regulation 24 instead, and that one needs written consent from the placing authority.

Want to see how Sue records privacy restrictions, the reason for each one and the date it was last reviewed? Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The next regulation is 20, restraint and deprivation of liberty.📌 Restraint may only be used to prevent injury, serious ...
22/09/2026

The next regulation is 20, restraint and deprivation of liberty.

📌 Restraint may only be used to prevent injury, serious damage to property or, in a secure children's home, a child absconding.
📌 Every use must be necessary and proportionate.
📌 Depriving a child of their liberty needs a court order.

The recording side sits in Regulation 35. Every restraint is recorded within 24 hours, the registered person speaks to the staff member and signs the record within 48 hours, and within five days the record confirms someone has spoken to the child about it.

Want to see how Sue tracks every restraint record against the 24 hour, 48 hour and five day deadlines?

Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The next regulation is 19, behaviour management and discipline.📌 No measure of control or discipline that is excessive o...
17/09/2026

The next regulation is 19, behaviour management and discipline.

📌 No measure of control or discipline that is excessive or unreasonable may be used.
📌 Corporal punishment, withholding food or drink and sleep deprivation are all banned.
📌 Punishing a group of children for one child's behaviour is banned too.

Regulation 19(2) runs to ten items, and here are some: contact with family is off limits as a punishment, so is access to a counselling helpline, and medication or medical treatment cannot be withheld.

Regulation 35 is tied to Regulation 19, and that is where the duty to have a behaviour management policy and record every use of control, discipline or restraint comes from.

Come back and check the next one.

Want to see how Sue records control, discipline and restraint and links it back to your behaviour management policy?

Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

The next regulation is 18, the placement plan for a child who is not looked after by a local authority. 📌 The home prepa...
15/09/2026

The next regulation is 18, the placement plan for a child who is not looked after by a local authority.

📌 The home prepares the plan before the child arrives, or as soon as possible after.
📌 It sets out day to day care, education, health and family contact.
📌 The child's views are sought and taken into account.

Most placements arrive with a plan already written, so it is easy to assume one is coming. For placements that fall under Regulation 18, nobody else is preparing it. You write it, and the deadline is the child's arrival.

Want to see how Sue builds a placement plan from admission and keeps it live as the child's needs change?

Book a demo at https://www.suesolutions.co.uk/contact-us

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