Child Care Act 1980

Registration etc. of voluntary homes

57 Registration of voluntary homes

(1) No voluntary home shall be carried on unless it is for the time being registered in a register to be kept for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State.

(2) Application for registration under this section shall be made by the persons intending to carry on the home to which the application relates, and shall be made in such manner, and accompanied by such particulars, as the Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe.

(3) On an application duly made under subsection (2) above the Secretary of State may either grant or refuse the application, as he thinks fit, but where he refuses the application he shall give the applicant notice in writing of the refusal.

(4) Where at any time it appears to the Secretary of State that the conduct of any voluntary home is not in accordance with regulations made or directions given under section 60 of this Act or is otherwise unsatisfactory, he may, after giving to the persons carrying on the home not less than twenty-eight days' notice in writing of his proposal to do so, remove the home from the register.

(5) Any person who carries on a voluntary home in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500.

(6) Where—

(a) a voluntary home is carried on in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) above, or

(b) notice of a proposal to remove a voluntary home from the register is given under subsection (4) above,

the Secretary of State may, notwithstanding that the time for any appeal under section 58 of this Act has not expired or that such an appeal is pending, notify the local authority in whose area the home is situated and require them forthwith to remove from the home and receive into their care under section 2 of this Act all or any of the children for whom accommodation is being provided in the home; and the local authority shall comply with the requirement whether or not the circumstances of the children are such that they fall within paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1) of that section and notwithstanding that any of the children may appear to the local authority to be over the age of seventeen.

For the purposes of carrying out the duty of the local authority under this subsection, any person authorised in that behalf by the local authority may enter any premises in which the home in question is being carried on.

(7) Where the Secretary of State registers a home under this section or removes a home from the register he shall notify the local authority in whose area the home is situated.

(8) Any notice under this section required to be given by the Secretary of State to the persons carrying on, or intending to carry on, a voluntary home may be given to those persons by being delivered personally to any one of them, or being sent by post in a registered letter to them or any one of them.

For the purposes of section 7 of the [1978 c. 30.] Interpretation Act 1978 (which defines " service by post") a letter enclosing a notice under this section to the persons carrying on a voluntary home or anyone of them shall be deemed to be properly addressed if it is addressed to them or him at the home.

58 Appeals

(1) Where under section 57 of this Act application for the registration of a voluntary home is refused, or it is proposed to remove a voluntary home from the register, the persons intending to carry on or carrying on the home, as the case may be, may within fourteen days from the giving of the notice under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of that section appeal against the refusal or proposal; and where the appeal is brought against a proposal to remove a home from the register, the home shall not be removed therefrom before the determination of the appeal.

(2) An appeal under this section shall be brought by notice in writing addressed to the Secretary of State requiring him to refer the refusal or proposal to an appeal tribunal constituted in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act.

(3) On an appeal under this section the appeal tribunal may confirm the refusal or proposal of the Secretary of State or may direct that the home shall be registered or, as the case may be, shall not be removed from the register, and the Secretary of State shall comply with the direction.

(4) The Lord Chancellor may with the concurrence of the Lord President of the Council make rules as to the practice and procedure to be followed with respect to the constitution of appeal tribunals for the purposes of this section, as to the manner of making appeals to such tribunals, and as to proceedings before such tribunals and matters incidental or consequential on such proceedings; and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this subsection such rules may make provision as to the particulars to be supplied by or to the Secretary of State of matters relevant to the determination of the appeal and as to representation before such tribunals, whether by counsel or solicitor or otherwise.

(5) The Secretary of State may out of moneys provided by Parliament—

(a) pay to members of tribunals constituted for the purposes of this section such fees and allowances as he may with the consent of the Minister for the Civil Service determine;

(b) defray the expenses of such tribunals up to such amount as he may with the like consent determine.

(6) The provisions of the [1950 c. 27.] Arbitration Act 1950 shall not apply to any proceedings before a tribunal constituted for the purposes of this section except so far as any provisions thereof may be applied thereto with or without modifications by rules made under this section.

59 Notification of particulars with respect to voluntary homes

(1) It shall be the duty of the person in charge of any voluntary home established after the commencement of this Act to send to the Secretary of State within three months from the establishment of the home such particulars with respect to the home as the Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe.

(2) It shall be the duty of the person in charge of any voluntary home (whether established before or after the commencement of this Act) to send to the Secretary of State—

(a) in the case of a home established before the commencement of this Act, in every year, or

(b) in the case of a home established after the commencement of this Act, in every year subsequent to the year in which particulars are sent under subsection (1) above,

by such date as the Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe, such particulars with respect to the home as may be so prescribed.

(3) Where the Secretary of State by regulations varies the particulars which are to be sent to him under subsection (1) or (2) above by the person in charge of a voluntary home—

(a) the person in charge of such a home shall send to the Secretary of State the prescribed particulars within three months from the date of the making of the regulations;

(b) where any such home was established before, but not more than three months before, the making of the regulations, compliance with paragraph (a) above shall be sufficient compliance with the requirement of subsection (1) above to send the prescribed particulars within three months from the establishment of the home;

(c) in the year in which the particulars are varied, compliance with paragraph (a) above by the person in charge of any voluntary home shall be sufficient compliance with the requirement of subsection (2) above to send the prescribed particulars before the prescribed date in that year.

(4) If default is made in sending the prescribed particulars with respect to any voluntary home in accordance with the requirements of this section, the person in charge of the home shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £25 and to a further fine not exceeding £1 in respect of each day during which the default continues after conviction.