The Role of the Responsible Individual

Children’s homes have an equivalent oversight role to CQC’s Nominated Individual: where the registered provider is an organisation, it appoints a Responsible Individual with responsibility for supervising the management of the home on the provider’s behalf.

The Responsible Individual is expected to maintain independent oversight of how the home is actually run – commonly through regular monitoring visits – rather than relying solely on reports from the Registered Manager, precisely because that independent check is what makes the oversight meaningful rather than a formality.

Ofsted looks for clear evidence that this oversight genuinely happens – dated visit reports with substantive findings and follow-up, not a box ticked once a year.

Last updated: 19 August 2026