Ofsted information

Early years and childcare provisions are regulated by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). They inspect and regulate schools, day nurseries, sessional groups, crèches, out of school provision and childminders.

All early years providers caring for children from birth to 31 August after their fifth birthday must register with Ofsted on the Early Years Register. All providers on this register must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which sets the standards for early learning, development and care.

The EYFS ensures:

• children learn through play
• providers work closely with parents
• your child's learning at home is taken into account
• you are kept up to date on your child's progress
• the welfare, learning and all-round development of children with different backgrounds and levels of ability, including those with special educational needs and disabilities

Ofsted carry out inspections of providers registered on the early years register to judge the quality and standards of the provision in relation to the welfare, learning and development of children as set out in the EYFS.

Childcare providers who provide activities for children aged five and over can register with Ofsted on the childcare register, which is split into two parts:

• the compulsory part - for providers of childcare for children from the end of the EYFS to age eight
• the voluntary part - for providers of care for children aged eight and over

Some providers who look after children between the end of the EYFS and age eight don't have to join the compulsory part of the childcare register. Those who don't need to register include nannies or providers offering activity-based childcare like sports, arts and crafts, or dance and drama clubs.

Ofsted will also inspect a random selection of all those on the childcare register.

Ofsted carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits each week and publish their findings on the Ofsted website.

Complaints

If you are worried about any aspect of your child's care, you should speak to the provider about it first or contact the Early Years Safeguarding and Welfare Officer. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact Ofsted and they will investigate it further for you.

You can also make a complaint to Ofsted if you have concerns about a provider that is not registered.

Ofsted will look into any concern or complaint, that a provider is not meeting the requirements of the registers they are on or their conditions of registration.

Ofsted have recently revised their complaints commitment and now all new complaints (that are founded) about early years providers are published on the Ofsted website. These complaints will remain on the Ofsted website for five years following the closure of the complaint investigation.

All early years and childcare providers must have a written procedure for dealing with concerns and complaints in place, and this should be shared with you when first registering your child with the provider. All written records of complaints and their outcomes should be kept by the provider for a period of three years.

If you make a complaint to an early years provider relating to the welfare requirements, they must investigate and notify you, the complainant of the outcome of the investigation within 28 days of receiving the complaint.

If you have any concerns you can call the Ofsted enquiry line on 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

Further information about Ofsted is available below.

Using childcare services [61KB]

Concerns and complaints [61KB]

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