regulation 44 support
dialogue runs the national Regulation 44 Independent Person Network, provides regulation 44 training and helps children’s homes and residential special schools find independent people to visit and quality assure their provision. We also run a small Regulation 44 visiting service.
Our network and training explain how organisations can meet the requirements of the regulations, but our focus is always on improving the experience of children and young people living away from home.
Please select from the options below.
Do you want to work for dialogue?
dialogue has been central to ensuring Independent People get the support and training they need, but now we are looking for your help.
We are recruiting for experienced associate Independent People and consultants for work with our highly qualified team. Successful applicants will be asked to evidence a strong track record in residential child care or inspection, with a strong passion and focus on the experience of young people.
If you’d like to apply, you can download the job description and application form below. Please send your completed application form to liz.cooper@dialogueltd.co.uk where they’ll be reviewed. If your application is shortlisted for interview, Liz will be in touch to arrange an interview time with our expert panel.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
independent person network
Being a Regulation 44 or Standard 3 Independent Person is a skilled and important job. Working alongside children and young people, listening to staff and managers, making judgements about the safety and welfare of young people and being honest & open about the progress of a home is crucial to safe care. It can also be an isolating role and there is limited support on offer.
The Independent Person Network was set up in response to requests from Regulation 44 and Standard 3 visitors to meet this need. You’ll find details of the network, benefits and opportunities for Regulation 44 training opportunities below.
The meetings for the Regulation 44 network for 2023 are Thursday 16th March, Wednesday 14th June, Wednesday 20th September, and Wednesday 13th December 2023 all at 1pm-4pm
To attend the meeting visit the members area – you’ll need to have joined the network (below) to have been sent the password.
joining the independent person network
In 2020 we developed and shared some ideas about how Regulation 44 visitors can support one another. There was consensus on a low-cost membership model which gives us the capacity to keep you up to date and provide lots of support to help you in your role. Membership is £99+vat and includes:
- Four 3-hour online sessions a year
- Regulatory, guidance and research updates
- Small group peer support around semi-structured questions
- Speakers on areas of interest to Reg44 visitors
- One regional or national forum event, dependent on local demand and the impact of the pandemic
- An online forum for on-going discussion of issues and notification of new guidance and similar (coming soon)
- Free initial safeguarding or regulatory advice
- A register of Regulation 44 visitors who consent for their contact details to be shared with registered managers and RIs of children’s homes seeking a visitor
- Discounted training places with dialogue
- Discounted advertising arrangements at the ICHA conference
- Other benefits achieved through the year, such as sector representation with the regulator or DfE
To join the Regulation 44 Independent Person Network simply complete the form below. You can also register for the training we have coming up in 2023.
regulation 44 training
There is growing emphasis on homes ensuring a high standard of quality without the drive of a regulatory inspector. Registered Managers are required to ensure they have an independent person who can undertake a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home, but there is little to set out what this looks like in practice.
Our specialist training for regulation 44 visitors is popular and challenging. We support new visitors to understand the role, the application of regulations, the process of planning and undertaking visits and the emphasis on seeing the home from the young person’s point of view. The courses also deal with the challenges of being an independent visitor, the value of being a critical friend to leaders and managers and the craft of creating a clear, developmental and challenging report for the home.
The course is adaptable to Standard 3 visits to residential special schools.
We deliver training online and face-to-face. At present our face-to-face courses are suspended due to the pandemic.
Click below to see dates, book or express interest.
The course comprises six 2-hour Zoom sessions with an experienced Regulation 44 visitor and trainer.
Participants will
- Understand the role of the Visitor within the Regulatory Framework
- Explore their role in planning for, completing and reporting on a visit to the home
- Undertake key areas to be reviewed at each visit
- Recognise the value of young people’s, family and other professionals’ input to their visits
- Recognise and understand the key roles of the Visitor in terms of safeguarding and driving forward the development of the home
- Understand the limitations and sometimes the frustrations in the role.
Each session is in 4 half hour parts. The last part in each session is always a discussion forum where questions can be raised online and either linked into the material of the day (or future days) or discussed at the time.
The course is £112+VAT for members (£149 non-members). One or two sessions can be missed and caught up with our ‘watch again’ option.
Click below to see dates, book or express interest.
Developing the role of the Regulation 44 visitor
We run a one-day face to face course regionally, bringing together visitors from a range of homes for more developmental discussions, building on the learning from the online course.
The training will allow attendees to :
- Explore and understand the role of the Regulation 44 Visitor in the context of the regulations, the regulator and children’s homes
- Undertake an independent inspection of a service ensuring that the regulatory requirements of the role are met
- Practically apply their skills of interview, observation and evidence collection to support the judgement made in each report
- Offer advice to homes in relation to the potential development of the service to improve outcomes for children and young people and structure this in an effective way
- Act upon the unique opportunities this process offers to assess whether the home is meeting the needs of the young people who live there
- Explore the dynamic of professional curiosity within the role.
This course is £120+vat (£160+vat non-members) and includes lunch.
Click below to see dates, book or express interest.
Chris Freestone is one of our independent people. Chris has been a nurse and nurse lecturer, lecturer at Exeter College and head teacher at the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust, the director of an independent fostering agency and a lead inspector for CSCI and Ofsted. She brings a compassionate but calmly analytic presence and has the ability to get alongside both vulnerable people and senior managers to explore their experience, compare these to the requirements of the regulatory and inspection framework and to help managers reach decisions that further improve their service. Chris has a wealth of experience and has a facilitative rather than directive style which ensures participants leave the day feeling clearer, more skilled and more confident in their approach.
John Woodhouse has a background in managing children’s homes, senior social work management and children’s rights and advocacy at a national level. He is now managing director of dialogue and safeguarding network (a service providing support and in-house training packs to school Designated Safeguarding Leads). John has an energy and enthusiasm for enjoying children and young people’s perspective on things, working to align the system to the needs of children and learning from open, reflective conversations with practitioners and managers about their settings.
Liz Cooper has a background (selected highlights!) in paediatric nursing, as an inspector, as an RI for an outstanding group of homes and is currently chair of the Children’s Homes Association, so a wealth of experience to draw on, including health and children’s homes experience.
can’t make those dates?
If the dates are no good, you can complete the booking form and select ‘express interest only for now’ on the details and we’ll send you the next set of dates when these get booked in.
The Regulation 44 Independent Person Network offers a free service to link children’s homes and residential special schools with our members. Simply complete the form below including details of your requirements, a little about your setting and arrangements for getting in touch.
“We have had lots of responses which has given us a chance to select a best fit. It has made finding someone very easy”
The Network does not verify or endorse the skills or experience of our members – it is simply a collective way for people to share experience and receive really useful CPD. There is no charge for helping you find a visitor, but you are responsible for your own checks on anyone who applies and should follow a safer recruitment process.