There are over 100 Portage Services in England and Wales registered with the NPA.
The National Portage Association actively encourages all Portage Home Visiting services to apply for registration, please download a application form from the right hand side of this page.
Purpose of Service Registration
Registration of Portage Services identifies the elements of Portage that distinguish it as different to other early year’s provision and other home visiting services. More importantly, service registration also ensures that families across the country are guaranteed the same high level of Portage Service delivery.
The purpose of service registration is to:
- Establish national standards for Portage Services, reflecting the essential components of the Portage Model and agreeing a minimum standard for service delivery.
- Safeguard each family’s right to a Portage Service of recognised quality.
A full description of the Portage Model of Service Delivery is given in the NPA Code of Practice.
Service Registration Criteria
Details of the 2024/25 criteria for registration of Portage services can be found on the right hand side of this page
PLEASE NOTE in response to feedback from services, the NPA reviews and amends the service registration criteria annually.
The different grading levels Services can acheive are as follows:-
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NPA Registered Portage Service – 5 star ***** |
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NPA Registered Portage Service – 4 star **** |
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NPA Registered Portage Service - Establishing |
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Early Years’ Service (NPA Affiliated) The NPA is very aware of the changing models of Portage provision and that some services are no longer able to offer regular Portage Home Visiting, which has always been an essential criteria for Service Registration. To enable such services to remain linked to the NPA we introduced 'NPA Affiliated' to the grading system. We amended our criteria to remove the requirement to offer Home Visiting but Affiliated services still need to provide details of the service they offer to families and other providers and meet our other essential criteria. |
Registration runs from 1st October to 30th September.
The cost for Service Registration for the year 2024-25 has been held at £120 (+ VAT)
The registration fee includes:
- full access to the Portage Support Hub – for 3 individual NPA members, as required as part of service criteria.
- access to NPA events, including Regional Networking Days & NPA Conference / Portage Early Years Development Day.
- regular email updates regarding the NPA and Portage,
- invitations to relevant on-line meetings
How to Apply for Service Registration
- Application for registration is made on an annual basis - it runs from 1st October to 30th September
- Service renewal reminders & application forms are sent from the NPA office in July/Aug to be returned by 1st October each year.
- Complete the NPA Service Registration form for 2024/25 and pay the appropriate fee
- Your application will then be assessed against the current criteria to determine your grading level
- Registration is given at the discretion of the Board of Trustees.
- The NPA keeps a database of all registered Portage Services and these are also 'searchable' on the website
The NPA Logo
Services registered with the National Portage Association are entitled to use the National Portage Association logo, only in accordance with specific guidelines issued by the NPA.
Services are not entitled to use the National Portage Association Charity Number and registration does not give charitable status to an individual service.
