Childcare: significant events to notify Ofsted about
Guidance for childminders, nannies and other registered childcare providers with examples of what Ofsted considers to be a significant event.
Applies to England
Introduction
When you applied to be registered with Ofsted, we carried out a range of suitability checks based on information you and others connected with your registration gave us. The kind of check we carry out depends on people’s roles. If there are any significant changes to any of this information after registration or anything significant happens, you must by law notify Ofsted if these changes have a negative impact on your childcare setting or safety of children.
Determining what counts as a significant event depends on many factors, including who the event involved and how much contact any individual involved may have with children.
As the registered provider, you should use your judgement to determine whether you should notify Ofsted. The greater the risk to children posed by the significant event, the more likely it is that you should notify us.
We also need to know about anything significant that is likely to affect the suitability of individuals to care for, or be in regular contact with, children. We need to know about these events, even if they happen:
- when you are not working with children (in the evening or weekend)
- when you have no children on roll
- away from the registered premises
Who this guidance covers
We need to hear about significant events that are related to the registered person and people connected with your registration, including:
-
anyone aged 16 or over who lives or works during childcare hours on domestic premises. This includes a childminder’s home, any home in which a childminder provides care, or any premises where childcare on domestic premises is provided
-
everyone that Ofsted checked when you registered your childcare, such as the sole trader, nominated individual, directors, partners, committee members and others associated with your registered childcare
This is to make sure that we can check that all individuals connected with your registration continue to be suitable.
We do not need notifications about managers or staff at early years settings as they are checked by the registered providers themselves.
Examples of significant events
We cannot list all possible events that you may need to tell us about. But we have listed some examples to help you to decide what may count as a significant event. In any case, if something happens that is likely to affect an individual’s continued suitability to care for or be in regular contact with children, you should count it as a significant event.
Examples of significant events may include:
- involvement with safeguarding partners and statutory agencies about incidents or concerns that might affect someone’s suitability, for instance child protection, welfare or safety investigations. These agencies and organisations could include: the police, your local authority (and services within it), mental health services, drug/alcohol services, fire services, environmental health, and building control and planning departments
- a device containing children’s information being stolen
- an incident where a child or children may have been at risk of harm, for example:
- you were involved in a car accident when transporting children and the police are investigating a possible offence
- a child was able to leave a setting or was missing for any period
- a child was not adequately supervised (such as being left unattended in a car)
- an unauthorised person gained access to the childcare premises
- if you have been the victim of a crime that occurred on the childcare premises, such as assault, harassment or vandalism
- any incidents of domestic abuse
- any incidents of self-harm or overdose
- any one-off or ongoing incidents on or around your premises that may affect children, such as violence, criminal or sexual exploitation and gangs, county lines activity, grooming and child trafficking
- the disqualification of an employee or any person who lives or works on the premises where childcare is provided (see applying to waive disqualification)
- changes to health
Changes to health
When we initially checked your suitability at registration, we asked you questions about your health. If there has been any change to your health and you think that change affects your ability to care for children, then you should notify us.
This also applies to any significant changes to the health of anyone connected with your registration, whether or not they have given Ofsted their health information previously. We only require this information if it is likely to affect the individual’s suitability to care for, or be in regular contact with, children.
Examples of health changes may include:
- any long-term condition that affects the physical ability to walk, balance, bend, kneel or lift a child
- any alcohol or substance dependency or misuse
- any other medical concerns, degenerative conditions or mental health conditions/disorders that may affect the individual’s suitability to care for, or be in regular contact with, children
When you must notify Ofsted
As the registered provider, you should notify us of significant events as soon as reasonably possible, and no more than 14 days from when the event happened.
Events you do not need to tell us about
You do not need to notify us about:
- referrals you make to other agencies following a concern about a child in your care, such as a child protection referral
- complaints about fee disputes
- minor injuries
- changes to the health of managers, staff or volunteers at early years settings
- admissions to hospital for routine operations or check-ups that have no effect on your ability to care for children
After you notify us about a significant event
We will carry out a risk assessment, looking at the information you have given us and the details we already hold. This will help us to decide the appropriate action to take. We will take account of the sensitive and personal nature of certain information you may have shared with us, and respond accordingly.
We may:
- contact you to discuss the information
- contact other agencies involved for more information
- consider if any new suitability checks are required
- carry out a telephone interview, regulatory visit or inspection
- if the information relates to another person, check whether they remain suitable to care for, or be in regular contact with, children. We may also need to contact that person directly to discuss this
For changes to health, we will not discriminate against you or another person for having a health condition. We will review the information to assess whether the change to health may affect your, or another individual’s, suitability to care for or be in regular contact with children. We may also:
- contact you to find out more information and/or seek an independent medical assessment
- if the notification relates to another person, contact them directly to find out more
Notifying Ofsted will not necessarily affect your registration. But we can take action against you if you do not tell us about these events. Our Early years inspection handbook explains how significant events inform inspection (see ‘Failure to notify Ofsted and/or meet conditions’ in the handbook). Our enforcement policy sets out our approach to regulation and enforcement.
How we will use your information
To find out how we process any personal data, read our early years privacy notice. This sets out your rights and the standards you can expect from Ofsted when we collect, hold or use your personal information.
The legal framework
It is a legal requirement to notify Ofsted of significant events. This is set out in regulation 8 and paragraph 7 of the Schedule to the Early Years Foundation Stage (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012 and the ‘Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework’, specifically paragraph 3.78 (Changes that must be notified to Ofsted – bullet point 3). The EYFS framework states that failure to notify Ofsted of significant events without a reasonable excuse is an offence.