Specialist support for children and adult social care providers.
Social Care Skills provides specialist consultancy for organisations supporting children, young people and adults in residential and community-based settings. Our work combines frontline experience, regulatory knowledge and strategic insight to help you strengthen practice, improve outcomes and feel confident when inspectors arrive.
How we Work
Collaborative, Practical and Rooted in Real Practice
We don’t offer generic advice.
Every piece of support is shaped around your service, your people and your operational context.
We work alongside you to understand what’s working well, identify pressure points and help you plan realistic improvements that can be sustained over time.
Our consultancy can include on-site visits, remote sessions, audits and workforce development support, along with document reviews and follow-up coaching.
This blended approach ensures that changes are embedded effectively and that your service continues to grow in confidence, consistency and quality.
Supported Accommodation (16–17) Development & Quality Frameworks
We work with supported accommodation providers to ensure full alignment with the Supported Accommodation Regulations and Quality Standards. Our support covers service setup, operational frameworks, workforce planning, policies and preparation for Ofsted Assurance Visits. We help you build relational, safe and compliant services that demonstrate clear impact and progression for young people.
Children’s Homes Consultancy & Compliance
We support children’s homes to build safe, stable and inspection-ready services. This includes guidance on registration, compliance with the Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards, leadership development, workforce structures and strengthening day-to-day practice. We help you drive consistency, evidence progress and prepare confidently for Ofsted inspections.
Quality Assurance, Audits & Service Improvement
We offer comprehensive quality assurance support for both children’s and adult social care services, including audits, compliance reviews and ongoing improvement planning. Our approach identifies strengths, risks and priority actions, supported by clear, achievable recommendations. We help you embed robust QA systems, maintain year-round inspection readiness and create a culture of continuous improvement across your services.
Workforce Planning, Leadership Development & Training Analysis
A strong workforce underpins high-quality care. We support leaders to design effective staffing structures, clarify roles, strengthen supervision and build reflective, resilient teams. We also review your training programme to assess impact, identify gaps and align workforce development with regulatory expectations and the needs of the people you support. Our approach helps you build a strategic, evidence-based workforce culture recognised by inspectors.
Strategic Planning, Growth & Service Development
We work with children’s and adult social care providers to design sustainable, scalable and compliant service models. Whether you’re opening new services, restructuring or planning organisational growth, we help you develop a clear strategy supported by strong governance and operational systems. Our support ensures services evolve in a way that is financially viable, outcomes-focused and aligned with sector expectations.
Policies, Documentation & Inspection-Ready Systems
We develop clear, compliant and high-quality documents tailored to your service type, including Statements of Purpose, Location Assessments, workforce plans, policies and operational frameworks. We ensure documentation reflects your practice, supports consistent delivery and provides the evidence inspectors look for. Our work helps you build systems that are both inspection-ready and useful in day-to-day operations.
Why Work With Social Care Skills?
We understand the realities of running services in a highly regulated, high-pressure sector. Our consultancy is grounded in experience across children’s homes, supported accommodation and adult social care, with a focus on practical solutions you can implement immediately.
We bring:
- Deep understanding of regulatory frameworks and inspection expectations
- A relational, strengths-based approach to improvement
- Clear, jargon-free guidance and realistic action plans
- Ongoing support to embed lasting change
Whether you need a one-off review, an in-depth audit or long-term strategic input, we tailor our approach to your goals, capacity and timelines.