Summary of changes
Updated 1 November 2024
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-and-childcare-ofsteds-enforcement-policy/summary-of-changes
November 2024
The following amendments have been made to the guidance:
- updated to include a new childcare provider type, ‘childminders without domestic premises’, following changes introduced by the Department for Education’s EYFS framework
- under ‘During the regulatory activity or inspection’, we clarified that we need consent to enter a domestic premises if it is not the home of the person providing care
- under ‘Providers who divide their time between domestic and non-domestic premises’, we updated the amount of time a provider can provide childcare on non-domestic premises
- explained our approach to suspending providers’ premises for childminders and childminders without domestic premises
- clarified that that a provider’s registration can be cancelled if they are a registered childminder who has not provided childminding for more than 3 years
- added requirements to tell Ofsted about changes to persons looking after children on non-domestic premises
- explained that childminding on non-domestic premises without a registration (where one is required) is an automatic offence
- clarified that agencies can request adaptations to the inspection process due to a protected characteristic, or any reasonable adjustments due to a disability
October 2024
Updated to include how we manage suspected unregistered childminder agencies.
April 2024
Clarification on the opportunities for providers to discuss and/or provide information on potential equalities duties, including reasonable adjustments for individuals.
March 2024
Updated wording around Ofsted’s code of conduct to clarify expectations of inspectors. Provided clarification on Ofsted’s role in strategy meetings and outlined how a provider can raise concerns or issues about a regulatory event or outcome.
November 2023
Updated following new regulations which mean any childcare provider registered with a childminder agency at the time of its closure will automatically be registered with Ofsted.
June 2022
‘Enforcement notice (childminding only)’ section: clarified the enforcement notice legislation and what happens if a person applies to register as a childminder with Ofsted or a childminder agency after receiving an enforcement notice.
March 2022
Reviewed throughout and published in HTML for accessibility. Some information about our internal procedures has been moved to internal-only guidance.
New sections added: ‘CCTV’, ‘Childminder agencies’, ‘Data protection’ and a new Annex B listing criminal offences.
Sections updated
‘Refusing a registration’ section: clarified the process if a provider resigns before we issue a NOI to refuse a registration.
‘Applying to waive disqualification’: clarified that we consider a waiver application before, and separately from, any application to register.
‘How we act on information’: explained how we may share information about registered providers and other individuals with other agencies.
‘Notifications to Ofsted’ – this is now in Annex A and we have added details of how to notify us in each scenario.
‘Ofsted’s role at local authority strategy meetings’: clarified our role in strategy meetings.
‘Regulatory activity and inspections’: listed the ways we may respond to concerns.
‘Making the decision to cancel a provider’s registration (Early Years Register)’: clarified that if we have judged a provider as inadequate at 2 consecutive inspections and there is no improvement, we would usually take steps to cancel their registration.
‘Welfare requirements notices’: clarified how we check compliance with these.
‘Raising an action’: clarified that providers that are set actions must notify us within the specified timescale about the action that they have taken.
‘Suspending a registration’: explained how we serve the notice and what information providers should share with us.
‘Voluntary removal/resignation’: explained that if a provider resigns when we have concerns about them, we will record our concerns and may consider them further if the applicant applies to register in the future.
The ‘Prosecution’ section has been reviewed and updated throughout.
‘Referrals to the DBS’: Added more information about the ‘harm test’ and when we can refer individuals to the DBS.