How Voop helps children’s homes meet Regulation 24
Regulation 24 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 sets the rules for monitoring children in a children’s home in England. Most of Voop is everyday parental controls, and those are your team’s call. Voop never reads messages, records calls or screens, and a child’s location is theirs to share.
A few settings are worth agreeing with the placing authority (the council responsible for the child) when the child is placed: switching off the internet, blocking the apps a child uses to message people, and blocking numbers. Location sharing stays the child’s choice, and the missing-child override is only for a real emergency, under your missing-from-care procedure. Here’s what the rules say, how Voop helps, and a form you can adapt.
Looking for Regulation 24 for family and friends carers? That’s a different rule, about temporary approval as a foster carer. Regulation 24 kinship placements →
In this guide
What Regulation 24 says
Regulation 24 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 is headed “Monitoring and surveillance”. It says:
“24.—(1) The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if— (a) the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children; (b) the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance; (c) so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and (d) the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (2) This regulation is subject to any monitoring or surveillance requirements imposed by a court.”
The “registered person” is the home. The duty sits with the home, not with Voop. On a Voop phone, location sharing and the alerts carers receive count as monitoring. Blocking contacts is covered by a different rule, Regulation 22 (below).
The four conditions, and how Voop helps
Each condition below is in the regulation’s own words, with what Voop does to make it straightforward to meet.
Voop helps with all four
Protections are agreed with each child and set for them alone. The child can see what’s on, every change is recorded with a reason, and Voop never reads messages or records calls.
1. It must be for safeguarding
“For the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children.”
Voop’s settings are set for each child, so they can follow that child’s care plan and risk assessment rather than a rule for the whole home.
Every change made in the Voop dashboard needs a written reason. The child’s change history records who made the change, when, and why, so you can show the purpose behind each protection.
2. The placing authority agrees in writing
“The child’s placing authority consents in writing.”
Voop’s placing authority form lists the settings that need their agreement, so they can be agreed in one go.
The government’s guide to the regulations says to get this consent at the time of placement.
Voop’s own consent form is a separate agreement with the child and the person with parental responsibility, so the form covers the placing authority’s side.
3. The child is told in advance
“So far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance.”
Before their phone is set up, the child enters a consent-based agreement, using Voop’s consent form, which explains what Voop does in plain words.
On their own phone, the child can see what’s switched on at any time: calls and texts, apps, internet, camera, Bluetooth, Bedtime, and whether they’re sharing their location.
If they’re reported missing, their phone tells them that location sharing is on and that they aren’t in any trouble.
4. No more intrusive than necessary
“No more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy.”
Voop never reads messages, records calls or screens, or sees photos.
A child’s location is only shared if they choose to share it. Safe-place alerts only work while they share.
Location can only be switched on without the child’s say if they’re reported missing, and then only temporarily, until they’re reported found. Then it goes back to the child’s own setting.
Protections are set for each child, not for the whole home, so you can loosen them as the child shows they can manage, and review them at each care plan review.
Blocking contacts and Regulation 22
Regulation 22 (“Contact and access to communications”) gives children the right to a phone they can use in private “at all reasonable times”. A home can restrict this where it’s necessary to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare, with the placing authority’s agreement. In an emergency, the home sends the placing authority full details within 24 hours. The government’s guide to the regulations says texts and social media count as contact too.
With Voop you can:
block a number, so it can’t call or text the child
switch on stricter contact controls, so only approved contacts can get through
set calls and texts to emergency only
Emergency numbers always work. Every change needs a written reason, and carers get an alert when a blocked number tries to call or text.
Before you block a family member’s number, check the child’s care plan and any contact arrangements, including any set by a court. If you block a number in an emergency, the child’s change history shows who blocked it, when and why, so you have the details to send to the placing authority within 24 hours.
In foster care
Regulation 24 only applies to children’s homes. Neither the fostering regulations nor the national minimum standards for fostering have an equivalent. Instead:
Delegated authority. A foster carer never has parental responsibility. The child’s placement plan lists the decisions delegated to the carer, and the regulations name use of social media as one of them. Agree who decides about the child’s phone at the same time.
Restrictions on contact. Under the fostering national minimum standards, an ongoing restriction on a child’s communication is agreed by the child’s responsible authority. An emergency restriction is reported to it within 24 hours.
In practice: agree Voop’s settings with the child’s social worker and record them in the placement plan. You can adapt the consent form for this.
Your checklist
Voop helps with each step. Your checklist:
A written policy on how you use monitoring, including Voop, as the government’s guide to the regulations asks.
The placing authority’s agreement at placement, using the form below.
Telling the child in advance, and recording how you did it.
Voop’s consent form, signed by the child and the person with parental responsibility before the phone is set up.
Reviewing the settings as the child’s needs change, and recording each change with a reason (Voop asks for one every time).
Telling the placing authority within 24 hours about any emergency restriction on contact.
A form for the placing authority
A short form for the home to complete with the child’s social worker. It lists each Voop feature that counts as monitoring (Regulation 24) or a contact restriction (Regulation 22). Each one can be agreed or left off, and there’s space to record how the child was told.
Download the template (Word) · Download the PDF
It isn’t legal advice. Adapt it to your home’s policies.
Sources
This page explains Regulations 22 and 24 as they stood on 6 November 2026. It’s general information, not legal advice. For decisions about a particular child, talk to their social worker or your own legal adviser.
Show all 8 sources
Questions about Regulation 24
Does Voop meet Regulation 24?
Regulation 24 applies to the children’s home, not to Voop, so it’s the home that meets it. Voop is designed to make each part straightforward. Settings are set for each child, with a written reason for every change. The child agrees to Voop before their phone is set up and can see what’s switched on. Voop never reads messages or records calls. And location is the child’s choice unless they’re reported missing. The placing authority agrees the few settings that need it once, at placement. Day to day, it’s your team’s call.
Can we use Qustodio or Family Link in a children’s home?
They’re built for parents managing their own family, not for care. Qustodio, for example, lets an adult read a child’s texts, flag their chats, log their activity and track their location. In a children’s home, that’s monitoring under Regulation 24: the home has to show it’s needed for safeguarding and no more intrusive than necessary, get the placing authority’s written agreement, and tell the child first. Reading a child’s messages as a matter of routine is very hard to justify, and Ofsted inspects homes against these rules. Family Link can be got round with a factory reset or a new account. Voop never reads messages, location is the child’s choice, and every change has a written reason the team can see, so it’s straightforward to meet Regulations 22 and 24.
How does the placing authority sign off Voop?
With one form, at placement. It lists the settings that need their agreement: switching off the internet, and blocking messaging apps or numbers (Regulation 22). Everything else is your team’s call. The missing-child override is only for a real emergency, under your missing-from-care procedure.
Can we block a family member’s number?
Check the child’s care plan and any contact arrangements first, including any set by a court. Regulation 22 lets a children’s home restrict a child’s calls and messages where it’s necessary to safeguard them, with the placing authority’s agreement, which Voop’s consent form covers. In an emergency, you send them the details within 24 hours. In Voop, every block needs a written reason, recorded in the child’s change history.
What does the child see on their Voop phone?
Their own phone shows what’s switched on: calls and texts, apps, internet, camera, Bluetooth, Bedtime, and whether they’re sharing their location. If they’re reported missing, their phone tells them location sharing is on and that they aren’t in any trouble. Voop never reads their messages or records their calls.
Who can switch on location sharing without the child’s say?
Only a carer in the child’s home, and only by reporting the child missing. Location sharing then stays on until the child is reported found, and goes back to the child’s own setting. It’s only for a real emergency, under your missing-from-care procedure. The child can see when it’s on, and the incident is recorded from start to finish.
Who can sign Voop’s consent form for a child in care?
The child, if they understand what they’re agreeing to, and someone with parental responsibility for them. For a child in care, that’s usually the council if the child is under a care order, or the child’s parents if they’re in care by agreement (section 20). Children’s home staff and foster carers don’t have parental responsibility, so they can’t sign for the child, but they can go through the form with them.
Does Regulation 24 apply to foster care?
No. This Regulation 24 is part of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. A different Regulation 24, in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010, lets a council approve a relative or friend as a temporary foster carer. In foster care, decisions about a child’s phone and social media follow delegated authority, and the child’s placement plan should say who can make them. Agree Voop’s settings with the child’s social worker and record them in the placement plan.
How Voop helps
Voop is therapeutic digital safeguarding for children in care. Protections are agreed with each child, every change is recorded with a reason, and Voop never reads messages or records calls.
