Register to provide a service

Anyone who wants to provide the following services in Wales must register with us. You can either register as an individual or as an organisation.

• Care homes - including those who provide care home services for children or adults
• Domiciliary support service - a service that can provide care in your own home as well as general support
• Secure accommodation service
• Adult placement service
• Independent fostering agency
• Voluntary adoption agencies
• Residential family centre services
• Adoption services
• Advocacy services
• Child minders
• Children’s day care
  • Full day care
  • Sessional day care
  • Crèche
  • Out of school care
  • Open access play provision

We also inspect boarding schools, residential special schools and further education colleges which accommodate students under 18, but we do not register them.

If you are providing or planning to provide a Child minding service or a day care and play service please review the page listed below for further registration guidance:

• Register a Childcare and play service

If you are providing or planning to provide any of the following:

• Care home services
• Secure accommodation services
• Residential family centre services
• Domiciliary support services
• Adoption services
• Fostering services
• Adult placement services
• Advocacy services

You need to apply to register under the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 which came into force in April 2018. Please review the pages listed below for further registration guidance:

• Register a service

You must:

• Familiarise yourself with relevant legislation, guidance and National Minimum Standards
• Read our registration guidance
• Prepare your statement of purpose
• Ensure that you have relevant policies and procedures
• Ensure that you have relevant qualifications

Timescales for processing completed applications

• Initial applications - 14 weeks (it can take longer if more information is required or additional information required is not returned on time)
• Responsible Person/Individual - 12 weeks
• Application to vary conditions of existing registration - 5 weeks

These timescales will reviewed under the 2016 Act.

Under the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 (External link), applications for registration to provide a service covered by the regulations are deemed to have been granted if they are not processed within a reasonable period. However, the regulations allow different arrangements to be put in place where these are justified by overriding reasons relating to the public interest, including a legitimate interest of third parties such as:

• People who use, or who may use, regulated services and their relatives
• Local authorities and others who may commission, or purchase such services

We have put in place different arrangements for the way applications are dealt with where there is any delay in processing applications beyond the timescale agreed. This means that any application for registration of a provider or manager under the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 or Children’s Family (Wales) Measure 2010, or any application by a registered person to vary or remove the conditions of registration, will NOT be deemed to have been granted when any specified (or extended) time period has expired.

We will only grant such applications when satisfied that all matters within the application meet the relevant parts of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, or Children’s and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 and any associated secondary legislation.

It would not be in the public interest for such applications to be granted simply because a time limit has expired. It is in the public interest that those who provide, or seek to provide services to children and vulnerable adults should be subject to all necessary and appropriate scrutiny, checks and inquiries, including checks on the facilities provided. It is in the legitimate interests of third parties that we should carry out all necessary inquiries and give full consideration to all information arising from such inquiries before any application to register or vary or remove the conditions of registration is determined.

If you want to make changes to your conditions of registration you must apply to vary the conditions of your registration. This can take about 5 weeks. You can only do this once your application to register has been approved.

These timescales will reviewed under the 2016 Act.

If you feel that there has been unreasonable delay in processing your application or that we have not followed our registration process you can raise this with us through our complaints process.