The Department for Education (DfE) has published a policy paper on its proposals to reform children’s social care. This is a significant opportunity for the government, the sector and Ofsted to better serve the nation’s most vulnerable children. We have …
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 …
***Update: we have also released a podcast on this topic*** In the autumn, we will publish a research project on children with complex needs who live in children’s homes. This is a 2-stage project. The first stage, which we completed …
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.
From April 2023, we will be carrying out annual assurance inspections of secure training centres (STCs). These will be in addition to the full annual inspections we do with Care Quality Commission and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons. Since 2016, …
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
Yvette Stanley, our National Director for Regulation and Social Care, discusses plans to pilot the use of serving social care practitioners as Ofsted Inspectors (OIs). As an inspectorate and a regulator, we always want to learn from and draw on …