Ofsted is seeking views on whether it should change the children’s homes inspection frequency.
Ofsted proposes basing the inspection frequency on the inspection outcome that year rather than the preceding year. That means a home judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ will have a minimum of one inspection per year, even if it had had two inspections the previous year because it was then rated ‘requires improvement to be ‘good’ or ‘inadequate’.
Currently, the Chief Inspector must arrange for premises used for the purposes of a children’s home to be inspected at least twice every year.
The changes would mean that a home that receives a good or outstanding rating would not receive a repeat visit in the same year unless concerns were raised or flagged by Ofsted!
Ofsted wants to know what concerns this might raise, especially regarding safeguarding children and gather opinions on their proposal.
Ofsted state the reason for their proposal as follows:
‘These proposals aim to give Ofsted more flexibility to deploy their support and resources and to prioritise inspections on a more risk-assessed basis by using up-to-date judgements, evidence and intelligence.’
What do you think of the proposal?
You can have your say here.
