Complain about childcare
Contact your local council or call the police on 101 if you think a child is at risk. Call 999 if a child is in immediate danger.
Contact the childcare provider to discuss the problem first.
All registered childminders, daycare providers, nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools must have a process for handling complaints.
There’s a different process for complaining about a nursery or pre-school if it’s attached to a state-funded primary school.
There are different ways to complain about childcare in:
What to do if you’re still not satisfied
If you’re not satisfied with the response, you can complain to Ofsted about:
- daycare providers
- nannies - if they’re registered with Ofsted
- nurseries
- playgroups
- registered childminders
If the childminder is registered with a childminder agency, you must complain to the agency. Their contact details will be on the childminder’s certificate of registration, which the childminder must make available on request.
How Ofsted will deal with your complaint
Ofsted will review your complaint and see if they need to:
- carry out an immediate inspection
- work with other agencies to look into the issues you’ve raised
They may also ask the childcare provider to investigate and, if necessary, to make changes.
Ofsted will publish the results of an inspection on their website. They will not reply to you directly.
Ofsted cannot resolve individual disagreements with your childcare provider.