Need to know
Allergies, family time restrictions, missing risk, what upsets them, what helps, routines and diet, at the top of every file.
Precinct Care
Residential children's home software: recording and management
Recording and management software for residential children's homes in England, built around the Children's Homes Regulations 2015 and the Quality Standards, so the evidence Ofsted asks for is kept as you go.
Most of what an inspector reads is written on shift, often late at night, by staff who would rather be with the young people. Precinct Care makes that recording quick, and turns it into the records a registered manager and Responsible Individual need without anyone typing it twice.
The rules are set from the type of service and the country. For a children's home in England, forms, reminders and reports follow the 2015 Regulations: Reg 40 notifications, Reg 44 monthly visits, the Reg 45 review every six months and the regulation 35 steps after restraint.
Where we are: Precinct Care is in final development, shaped with registered managers, Responsible Individuals and Reg 44 independent persons. We are booking demonstrations now and taking a small number of pilot homes. The snippets on this page are from the working system, filled with made-up people and records.
What's in each young person's file
Contacts
Social worker, IRO, family, school, GP and advocate, held once and kept up to date across every file.
Daily logs
Mood, school, meals, family time and what happened, signed with the worker's face.
Keywork
Sessions recorded with what was talked about, and the young person's own words.
Chronology
Built automatically from significant entries across the file. Nobody types it twice.
Health and medication
Health needs, appointments and the medicine record in one place.
Plans
Placement plan, risk assessment, behaviour support and missing-from-care plans, with every version kept.
Education
School, designated teacher, attendance and personal education plan actions.
Photos and memory book
Photos from logs and activities, gathered into a memory book the young person can keep.
The home at a glance
The home page shows young people living here, staff on shift and clocked in, tasks open and home checks due. Each young person shows today's log status, so a manager can see before handover whose log has not been started.
The week's rota sits underneath, and the to-do list keeps daily logs, medication rounds and checks in time order.
Need to know, before anything else
Every young person's file opens with what a bank worker on their first shift must know: allergies, who they must not have contact with, missing risk, what upsets them and what helps, routines and diet. Below that are the latest daily logs, what's coming up and today's medication.
A chronology nobody types
Significant entries from across the file, such as a restraint, a missing episode, a social worker's visit or a move, build the chronology automatically. Nobody types anything twice, and each line opens the record behind it.
Plans and risk assessments that prompt their own review
Every plan and risk assessment keeps every version, shows when it's next due and who last reviewed it. When a restraint, a missing episode or a new referral changes things, Precinct Care suggests an early review and says why. The manager decides.
Family and the people who matter
Family, social workers, the IRO, health and school contacts are kept together, with family time arrangements and any restrictions shown in red where everyone will see them.
A keywork library for every keyworker
Ready-made keywork sessions, worksheets and activities on staying safe, online harm, relationships, feelings, identity and getting ready for adult life. Precinct Care suggests sessions for each young person from their risk assessments, and a session run is recorded in their file. Homes can add their own.
Rota, who's on shift and the first aiders
The home's dashboard shows who is on shift now, when they clocked in and who the first aiders are, with the rota for the week alongside.
Records that stand up at inspection
Every entry is signed, dated and kept. Changing an entry creates a new version and keeps the first one, with the reason. Every sign-in, record opened and change is in the audit trail, and nothing can be deleted, including by managers.
When Ofsted arrive, you can give the inspector read-only access to the records since the last inspection, with nothing to download.
Running the home, not just the records
Residential childcare is more than recording. The same system holds the week's rota, clocking in checked by Face ID and the home's Wi-Fi, and timesheets that go to payroll without being typed again. The training matrix assigns a course when one is missing or due within 30 days, and supervision comes with a suggested agenda.
Managers give tasks with deadlines and check them before they close. Fire drills, water temperatures and room checks come back on their own. Policies are read and signed on the same tablet, and the shift handover is built from the day's records.
Regulations Precinct Care follows for children's homes in England
- Reg 40: notifications to Ofsted without delay, tracked on the home page.
- Reg 44: the independent person's monthly visit, report and the manager's responses. See Reg 44 visits.
- Reg 45: the quality of care review every six months, with a reminder to send the report to Ofsted within 28 days.
- Reg 35: restraint recorded within 24 hours, signed by the manager within 48 hours, and the young person spoken to within 5 days. See restraint and incidents.
- Missing from care: a profile ready in advance, and the return home interview tracked. See missing from care.
For one home or a group, in England, Scotland and Wales
Precinct Care is priced per home, so it works for a single children's home and for a group. Area managers see their homes side by side, and the Responsible Individual and designated safeguarding lead see every home.
The rules come from each home's country and type of service. Homes in Scotland and Wales follow the Care Inspectorate and CIW, and supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds runs alongside with its own forms.
Security and data protection
Precinct Care opens only on devices the provider owns and has registered, so a young person's file can't be opened on a personal phone or a home computer. Staff sign in and sign entries with their face or fingerprint, and a colleague can't sign for them. A care worker sees the young people in their own home, not the whole company.
Records are hosted in the UK only, and every provider gets a data processing agreement and a ready-made DPIA. See security and data protection.
Getting started
Talk to us about what you use now, and we'll explain how your records can be brought across and what your current supplier lets you export. Training is included, with a practice area filled with example data and short how-to videos inside the app. Support runs into the evenings and weekends, with a named contact for each provider.
Comparing systems? Our buyer's guide to children's home software lists the questions to ask every supplier, and why Precinct Care sets out the 26 problems we built it to fix.
Questions we're asked
Does Precinct Care replace paper logs and shared drives?
Yes. Daily logs, keywork, incidents, plans, home checks and staff records all live in one system, with photos and documents attached to the right file.
Can young people see what is written about them?
Yes, with help. A young person can ask to read their file with their keyworker, and anything they want to say goes in their file in their own words.
Can a worker see every young person in the company?
No. A care worker sees the young people in the homes they work at. Managers see their homes, and an area manager sees their area. Staff HR records and the audit trail are hidden from care workers.
What is residential childcare software?
Software that keeps a residential children's home's records and helps run the home: young people's files, daily logs, incidents, safeguarding, plans and medication, with the rota, training and staff hours alongside. Precinct Care does all of these in one system.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Entries save on the device as staff type, and sync as soon as the internet is back. A locked screen or a flat battery doesn't lose the draft.
How much does it cost?
Precinct Care is priced per home, per month. We'll give you a fixed price in writing before anything starts. Ask us for a quote.
See Precinct Care for yourself
Book a 30-minute demonstration. We'll show you the screens your staff, managers and inspectors would use.
Precinct Care
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