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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.

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 - 01/02/24 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. The 2024 survey runs from Monday 5 February 2024 and closes …

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.

Looking after children with complex needs: Dispelling myths about inspections and the need for suitable homes

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: children's homes, social care professionals
A girl looking out of a window through a set of blinds

There is a growing need for highly specialist homes that can provide good quality, nurturing care for children with multiple and complex needs. In some cases, these are children who are deprived of their liberty, Many have mental health needs …

Children’s homes need strong leadership and a stable workforce

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: children's homes, leaders
A man signing a form

Strong leadership and a stable workforce are fundamental for children’s homes to thrive. We know that there are many committed leaders and staff delivering excellent care across children’s residential care. However, we know that high levels of staff turnover and …

Supported accommodation – we need strong oversight to make sure young people are safe, secure and doing well

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: care experienced, children looked after, social care professionals, supported accommodation
Young people chatting and laughing in a shared kitchen.

Yvette Stanley, our National Director Regulation and Social Care, discusses the progress we have made in our plans for regulating supported accommodation, as we seek to recruit inspectors.   In December 2021, Amanda Spielman agreed to the government’s request that …

Consultation on a judgement for care leavers in our inspections of local authority children’s services

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: care leavers, children's services, inspection framework, local authorities
A group of care leavers

Yvette Stanley, our National Director for Social Care, discusses our proposal to inspect the experiences and progress of care leavers. In June we announced proposals to introduce a separate judgement about the experiences and progress of care leavers in our …

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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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