‘Adults should have same protection’

Adult protection campaigners have attacked plans for tougher mandatory inspection arrangements for some children’s services than for all adult care services.

Action on Elder Abuse policy development officer Daniel Blake said it was “short-sighted” to apply different criteria to children and adults especially as adult care did not have the “culture of regulation” found in children’s services.

Children’s homes and residential special schools would face a minimum of one inspection a year, under Department for Education and Skills plans designed to focus inspection on the worst-performing services.

Other children’s services would be inspected at least once every three years, as with all adult services.

Blake said the DfES’s rationale -that children in homes or residential schools were particularly vulnerable – also applied to adult service users.

Further information
Modernising the Regulatory Framework
Action on Elder Abuse