Care property · For developers and investors
Will it fill, and will it register?
Two separate questions that developers routinely collapse into one. A scheme can have real demand behind it and still be unregisterable as drawn. It can also be a textbook building in a borough that has not placed anyone in that client group for two years.
Demand is a commissioning question, not a demographic one
Population projections tell you that England needs more care. They do not tell you that Lancashire is commissioning learning disability supported living this year, or that the local authority forty minutes away has an embargo on new residential placements.
We establish demand from the people who actually pay for it:
- Freedom of information requests to the local authority and the integrated care board — placement numbers, out-of-area spend, waiting lists, and what they are paying.
- The market position statement and the commissioning intentions, read properly rather than skimmed.
- Framework and dynamic purchasing system position — whether an operator can even be paid in that area without a tender round.
- Fee rate benchmarking, so the rent you need is tested against the income the operator can actually earn.
Out-of-area spend is the number to ask for. An authority placing people forty miles away at premium rates has demand it cannot meet locally. That is a stronger buy signal than any waiting list, and it is obtainable under the Freedom of Information Act for the cost of a letter.
Registerability is decided on the drawings
The regulator does not assess your intentions. It assesses the building and the model. Getting this wrong is not a delay, it is a dead asset — and the point at which it becomes visible is usually after the money is spent.
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Which use class does this scheme fall into?
C2, C3(b) or sui generis, and what that means for your planning application. Four questions about how the accommodation and the care actually relate to each other, which is what the use class turns on.
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Would the regulator accept this building as drawn?
Whether the building as drawn is likely to satisfy the regulator on premises, before you commit to the layout. Regulation 15 for adult services, the children's home standards for Ofsted.
The six-person line
For supported housing, C3(b) covers no more than six residents living together as a single household where care is provided. Seven is not a slightly bigger version of six. It is a different use class, a different planning application, a different building and often a different funding model.
We see schemes designed at seven or eight because the site took it, with the planning consequence discovered afterwards. If the numbers only work above six, that is worth knowing at feasibility stage rather than at appeal.
These tools are general information about registration and use classes in England. They are not advice about your scheme and they do not bind the regulator or the planning authority. Two buildings described identically can fall on opposite sides of a line. Before you commit to a layout, have the actual drawings checked.
Tell us about the site
Thirty minutes, no charge, and nothing to buy at the end of it. If the scheme will not let, we would rather tell you now than take a fee to find out slowly.