What happens if fostering regulations are not followed during an assessment?

If fostering regulations are not followed during an assessment, the effect depends on how serious the breach is and whether it could have affected the assessment’s fairness, accuracy or safeguarding decisions. A minor administrative error may be corrected through the existing process, while a significant failure can require parts of the assessment to be reconsidered, prevent the agency from making a lawful recommendation or lead to regulatory scrutiny.

In England, fostering services must work within the Fostering Services Regulations 2011 , together with the National Minimum Standards for fostering services. These rules cover matters such as the applicant’s suitability, household circumstances, health, identity and background checks, references, preparation training, the assessment report and the role of the fostering panel. The agency must be able to show that its recommendation is based on sufficient, relevant and properly recorded information.

The main possible consequences are:

• The assessment may need additional evidence. If a required check, interview, reference or household enquiry was missed or inadequately completed, the agency may need to obtain the information before reaching a sound conclusion.
• The panel may not be able to make a recommendation. The fostering panel needs enough reliable information to consider the application. It may ask for clarification or further work rather than considering an incomplete report.
• The agency decision-maker may be unable to approve the application. Approval should be based on a properly conducted assessment and the panel’s recommendation. A serious procedural defect can mean that the decision cannot safely stand until the relevant issue has been addressed.
• The assessment may be reconsidered. Where the failure could have affected the outcome, the agency may need to review conclusions, correct factual errors or repeat a particular part of the assessment. This does not automatically mean that the applicant will be approved or refused.
• Safeguarding action may take priority. If the breach relates to information about a child’s safety or a household risk, the fostering service must deal with that risk appropriately rather than treating the issue as paperwork alone.

Not every departure from an internal policy is automatically a breach of a fostering regulation. Agencies often have procedures that are more detailed than the legislation. The important questions are whether a legal or mandatory requirement was missed, whether the agency still obtained the information needed to assess suitability, and whether the applicant had a fair opportunity to provide relevant information and respond to concerns.

An applicant should look for practical signs that the problem may be significant. These include a conclusion that relies on information they have never been asked about, an unexplained gap in the chronology, a check or reference being treated as complete when it is not, important household members being left out, or a report containing material factual errors. A difference of professional opinion is not, by itself, proof that regulations were breached; the concern is stronger where the process cannot be evidenced or a required safeguard was omitted.

The agency’s records should show what enquiries were made, who provided information, how relevant concerns were considered and why the recommendation was reached. Ask for the concern to be identified precisely and for the agency to explain which requirement or procedure applies. Keep copies of correspondence and make a dated note of conversations. This can help distinguish a genuine regulatory issue from a disagreement about the assessor’s judgement.

If the issue remains unresolved, use the fostering service’s formal complaints procedure. Set out the facts, the requirement you believe may not have been followed, the effect on your assessment and the outcome you are seeking. You can also obtain independent advice about the process. Ofsted regulates fostering services in England, but it does not act as an appeal body to approve an individual applicant; concerns about an agency’s wider compliance may be relevant to its regulatory oversight.

A regulatory error does not automatically give an applicant a right to approval, compensation or a particular assessment outcome. Its significance is whether the agency can still demonstrate a lawful, evidence-based and fair assessment. If it cannot, the appropriate remedy may be to revisit the affected part of the process before any final decision is relied upon.

At Become A Foster Family, we help prospective foster carers understand what should happen during assessment, what information they may reasonably be asked to provide and how to raise a concern if the process appears unclear. Our teams support applicants across the West Midlands, including Birmingham, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Dudley, Sandwell, Herefordshire, Telford, Wolverhampton, Shropshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Stoke, Solihull, Coventry and Gloucestershire.