OFSTED have this week announced a consultation and proposed changes to their complaints process, which would apply to all education settings, included Early Years providers, despite the wider changes being focused primarily on schools which is causing concern for many within the Early Years sector.
Key changes proposed to the process include:
- introducing a new opportunity for providers to contact a Senior HMI the day after an inspection if they have concerns about the process or outcome
- extending on-site dialogue opportunities during inspections to “help address any issues at an early stage”
- a conversation between the complainant and the investigator at the beginning of the process, aimed at making it more responsive to the specific concerns
- new arrangements for formal challenges to inspection outcomes to be considered sooner than is currently possible, s to enable them to be addressed earlier and reports finalised more quickly
- allowing complainants to escalate concerns to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO) at an earlier point in the process
- a new, periodic review of closed complaints by external representative
The consultation is open now and will run until 15th July 2023. You can read the full proposals and respond to the consultation here.