Web Filtering for Children's Homes

Web filtering and monitoring for children's homes: set for each young person, covering every device on the home's internet, with the logs and alerts an Ofsted inspector expects to see.

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Filtering controls what can be reached on the internet. Monitoring tells you what young people are trying to reach. A children's home needs both, set for each young person rather than for the house as a whole, and it needs to be able to prove they work.

QLine IT is a listed filtering and monitoring integrator with the UK Safer Internet Centre, self-certified against its Appropriate Filtering and Monitoring criteria. Our published responses are on the UKSIC website for inspectors, managers and safeguarding leads to read.

Preparing for an inspection? Our article What Ofsted inspectors ask about filtering and monitoring sets out the six questions and the evidence to have ready.

What our web filtering does

Settings for each young person

Age-appropriate filtering, time limits or a temporary restriction for one young person, without affecting anyone else in the home.

Illegal content blocked at source

Blocking that follows the Internet Watch Foundation list and the Home Office Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit list.

Alerts for concerning searches

Searches about self-harm or suicide on the home's computers raise an alert in real time, and we tell the relevant managers straight away.

Every device covered

Phones, tablets, consoles, laptops and smart TVs on the home's internet all go through the same filter.

Block by subject or by site

Block whole categories, single websites, or a news topic that is unsuitable for a young person at a particular time.

Reports for inspection

Reports on searched and blocked content give you evidence to show an inspector, rather than an assurance.

A young person using a tablet in a children's home

What Ofsted inspectors ask about filtering

Inspectors are trained to ask practical questions about online safety. The ones registered managers tell us they hear most often are:

Who is responsible for filtering and monitoring in this home?
How do you know your filtering works?
When were your arrangements last reviewed?
What happens when a concerning search is flagged?
How do you manage each young person individually?
What about phones, consoles and smart TVs?

Our filtering is built so each of those has a clear answer with a record behind it. We go through each question, with a model answer, in What Ofsted inspectors ask about internet filtering and monitoring.

How it works

The home's internet traffic is routed through our filtering servers, using a setting on the home's router. Each home has its own profile, and each young person can have their own settings within it. Nothing needs installing on the young people's devices, and a new home can be set up quickly.

Staff and young people can be filtered differently. A member of staff may need to reach material that is not suitable for a young person, for example when preparing relationships and sex education, and the filtering allows for that.

When filtering is combined with our secure Wi-Fi, each young person has their own network, and staff can restrict or switch off one young person's access without touching anyone else's.

Monitoring that leads to action

An alert nobody reads is worse than no alert, because it leaves a record of a concern that was missed. Our monitoring alerts us in real time to concerning searches on the home's computers, such as references to suicide, and we inform the relevant managers immediately, so the senior on shift can record it, speak to the young person and update the placement plan where needed.

Our own experience is that this can be lifesaving.

Cost

Web filtering is £50 per home per month plus VAT, reduced to £15 per home per month plus VAT for homes on a full QLine IT support contract. It can be provided alongside another IT provider.

Download our brochure

Four pages: how it works, what we provide for children's homes and care homes, and our prices. PDF, 1.3 MB.

Download the brochure (PDF)

Is your home ready for the online safety questions?

Our free Digital Safeguarding Checklist puts every requirement on two pages, mapped to what inspectors ask, including filtering, monitoring and the evidence to have ready.

Get the free checklist

Questions we're asked

Is web filtering a legal requirement for children's homes?

Under the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Quality Standards, the protection of children standard expects homes to help children stay safe from harm, and Ofsted looks for effective safeguarding arrangements at inspection. Appropriate filtering and monitoring of internet access is a practical part of meeting that responsibility.

What is the UK Safer Internet Centre listing?

The UK Safer Internet Centre publishes the responses of filtering and monitoring providers against its Appropriate Filtering and Monitoring criteria. QLine IT has self-certified against those criteria and our responses are published for filtering and monitoring.

Can one young person have different filtering from another?

Yes. Settings are applied per young person, so a restriction from a court order or risk assessment only affects the person it is meant for.

Does it work with our current IT provider?

Yes. Web filtering can be provided on its own, alongside whoever looks after the rest of your IT.

Does it cover mobile data?

Filtering applies to devices using the home's internet. Phones that use mobile data away from the home can be protected with mobile device management.

Talk to the team other children's homes use

Tell us how many homes and devices you have, and we will come back with a fixed monthly price.

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