The care farming Code of Practice

*Note: these webpages are under development - so please bear with us whilst they are completed!*

Quality Assurance via the care farming Code of Practice

At Social Farms & Gardens we are not only passionate about care farming and green care but are committed to maintaining high quality service provision across the sector. One of the key elements of the Growing Care Farming work is therefore to highlight the importance of delivering quality services and to support all care farms to meet the care farming Code of Practice.

The care farming Code is essentially a minimum standard - a clear set of guidelines, intended to meet the requirements of commissioners, other referral agencies and service users. It was developed by a team of care farmers and other specialists and we encourage all those providing care farming services to adopt the Code (including farm and garden sites delivering other green care services such as Social &Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) and Animal Assisted Therapies (AAT)).The Code of Practice is managed by Social Farms & Gardens and is a site-specific application. The Code is regularly updated (every 6 months) to reflect any changes in commissioning, legislation and good practice and to ensure that it remains current. 

The Code is achieved through a process of self-assessment of care farming elements organised into three sections: 

• We run a responsible care farm 
• We care about the people we work with 
• Our site is a safe place to be 

A care farm's Code application is assessed by a panel of Code assessors and when passed, the care farm is awarded Code care farm status. The Code operates on a three-year cycle, where for the first two years the care farm completes an annual and assessed 'Continued compliance' form to maintain their Code status and in the third year, the care farm re-applies for the Code using the current Code application form.

For more information about the Care farming Code of Practice please see links below:

Introduction to the Code – *COMING SOON* a webpage that contains: an outline of what is in the Code, the Code process, a short film about why care farmers value the Code and lots of other information – we recommend that care farmers and prospective care farmers access this page before signing up for the Code process. This page is also useful for referral agencies to find out more about the Code.

How to apply for the Code – for details of how to apply for the Code and what to do next

If you would like to find a care farm near you that has the Code, or is working towards the Code then please follow the link to our searchable map here

If you still have further queries then please feel free to get in touch by emailing codeadmin@farmgarden.org.uk