About NCA

NCA supports its children’s home sector members through the provision of a range of member benefits and resources, through its active engagement in lobbying government and ensuring that children’s home members are given a voice on all important public bodies in England and Wales whose work affects the day to day operation of children’s homes. 

2007 to 2008  is a crucial time for our sector. Not only will the legislative and regulatory changes resulting from the recent White Paper “CARE MATTERS: Time for Change” mean the biggest step change in children’s care service in a generation, there are also revisions to the National Minimum Standards, the new National Contract for Children’s Residential Homes, and a number of crucial workforce development issues that will impact on every single children’s home provider.

Why join the National Care Association?

• Information
• Representation
• Resources
• Networking
• Support

Make sure you are kept up to date with all the important developments affecting your work and your business;

Ensure that  your voice is heard in the important debates that will be taking place, and feel confident that NCA’s twenty years of experience and success lobbying government on important sector issues will support you to continue providing the services you are passionate about;

Access resources and services that will benefit your business at specially discounted rates negotiated by NCA;

Benefit from regional meetings and an annual national conference providing opportunities for networking, peer support and top class presentations on the most up to date changes affecting your sector.

NCA aims to support its members to provide children and young people with the best possible quality of service, by strengthening the voice of the children’s residential sector, providing members with access to key information and resources, and campaigning to ensure that regulatory mechanisms operate effectively and transparently for the improvement of services and the protection and safeguarding of vulnerable clients. We will work with Government and associated bodies to ensure that the bureaucracy associated with the provision of residential children’s service is proportionate, appropriate and equitable.

“Time for Change”

The unique value of residential care for some children and young people is recognised in the Government’s White Paper published . in June 2007.

 “…residential care has an important role to play as part of a range of placement options. For a significant number of children – particularly older children – a residential placement will be the right choice.…… It will not necessarily be the case that a child must be placed solely in a foster placement or solely in residential care – it may be that a combination of the two is the right choice for some.” 3.57 

“[Residential Care]….is a valued and dynamic setting, able to support children in their development and enable them to move on where that is appropriate’. 3.58 

Time for Change is available on the DCSF website: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/timeforchange/index.shtml