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Blog Ofsted: social care
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Ofsted

Yvette Stanley

Yvette Stanley is Ofsted's National Director for Social Care.

Yvette was previously Director for Children, Schools and Families at Merton Council and has 30 years of experience in children's services.

Providing good experiences for children with complex needs

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: children's homes, children's services, local authorities, looked after children, mental health, social care professionals
An image of a woman showing a child something on a laptop. Next to it, text reads "Blog post: Providing good experiences for children with complex needs"

***Update: we have also released a podcast on this topic*** In January, we published a new research report on children with complex needs in children’s homes. The report was based on a national survey of local authorities and children’s home …

How the children’s social care reforms will affect inspection

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Care Review, children's homes, children's services, kinship care, local authorities, social care regulation

The Department for Education (DfE) has published several documents as part of the children’s social care reforms: The National Framework and Children’s Social Care (CSC) dashboard Working Together to Safeguard Children (‘Working Together’) The kinship strategy A data and digital …

Ofsted's response to Stable Homes, Built on Love

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Care Review, children's homes, local authorities, looked after children, social care professionals, social care regulation

Ofsted’s consultation response Last month Ofsted submitted its response to the government’s consultation Stable Homes, Built on Love. I am sure many of you did the same. There’s a lot in the proposals that we welcome. With additional resources and …

Foster Care Fortnight 2023

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: children looked after, Foster Care Fortnight, fostering, looked after children, multi-agency, partnership working, social care professionals
A woman and two men sitting with a young child, smiling and talking.

As we begin another Foster Care Fortnight, I want to again offer our rightful appreciation to the people providing incredible yet often unremarked-on foster care to tens of thousands of children every year.

Fostering a child is an incredibly generous and selfless thing to do even in the best of circumstances. But in the tough context we currently live in, it is a remarkable act.

How we use the children’s social care point-in-time surveys results

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: point in time survey, social care regulation
Six young students sit, chatting and socialising with mobile phones and digital tablets.

UPDATE - 03/02/25 This blog post was originally published in February 2023 but the information on how we use the survey results, and why it is important, remains relevant. We run the social care point-in-time surveys each year for 7 …

Ofsted's 2023 priorities for social care

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Care Review, social care professionals, social care regulation, Uncategorized

2022 saw the publication of several reviews looking at the children’s social care sector. The Care Review, the Competition and Markets Authority market study, and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel all made major recommendations for reform. In our own …

Getting ready to regulate supported accommodation

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: care experienced, children looked after, looked after children, social care professionals, supported accommodation
Two young people cooking together

We’re fast approaching the time when we can accept applications to register as supported accommodation providers. This is a whole new area of work for Ofsted, providing important regulatory safeguards for children. Over the last year, we’ve been busy getting ready – recruiting inspectors, developing our registration guidance (due to be published soon), and planning ahead for beginning inspections in 2024.

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About Ofsted - social care regulation and inspection blog

This blog looks at the way Ofsted inspects and regulates the social care sector: local authority children's services and social care providers, such as children's homes.

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