Costs of regulating care homes for adults

A key component of current social care policy is the effective regulation of services provided for vulnerable people (Department of Health, 1998). If regulation is to be effective it must be properly funded. In order to achieve this we need an understanding of the costs of the regulatory process. This report describes the results of a Department of Health funded study of health and local authority inspection units in England. The principle aim of the study was to establish the costs of regulating care homes for adults in a way that could be used to identify cost-based fees to homes. This chapter describes the context of the study, its aims and objectives, costing principles used and the method used to establish the data required.