Ofsted’s annual report for 2023/24 says early years, education and care services are serving most children well but professionals are working under immense pressure.
The report – published in December last year – shows that where services are under strain it is vulnerable and disadvantaged children who are most affected.
It highlights challenges including increased demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support and rising numbers of children entering care.
This is against a backdrop of staffing shortages across all sectors, which inevitably affects the timeliness and quality of support.
The report, which unlike previous years does not provide analysis of inspection ratings, comes amid a time of change at the regulator, including a move away from single-phrase inspection judgments.
More details of plans for new “report cards” for schools are due to be published imminently although the sector will have to wait until 2026 for the system to be extended to local authority children’s services.
Chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver urged all children’s and youth services professionals to take part in the 12-week report card consultation, which he promised would be “genuine and open”.
The report also highlights plans for a new service, designed to bring together information about education and care services in a particular area to better understand patterns of need and demand and help commissioners and others plan services and allocate resources.
Sir Martyn said his key priorities were “getting it right for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged but also looking at how services are working together”.
“Ofsted is unique in the fact that we’re the only organisation that goes into millions of children’s lives through the 96,000 or so institutions that we hold to account and we need to draw a thread between those,” he said.
An Ofsted spokesperson told CYP Nowthat the new Area Insights service was intended to be a tool for public use as well as for inspectors with an initial version expected to be made available later this year.
“It is still in development but aims to bring together high-level information about providers of education and care in an area, along with other relevant context,” said the spokesperson.
“The information is being developed in such a way as areas and providers can be searchable, and will likely provide information at regional, local authority and, if possible, lower levels of aggregation also.”
Here are some other headline findings from the report.
SCHOOLS
Rise in part-time and flexi-schooling
School absence rates remain higher than before the pandemic and there has been a worrying rise in the number of children who are severely and persistently absent.
“These high levels of absence create a vicious circle,” says the annual report. “Missing education makes it harder to catch up and progress. This can dishearten children and lead to further and more entrenched absences.”
Ofsted is not only concerned about children who are missing large chunks of school altogether but also those experiencing “disjointed” patterns of education.
These include an estimated 34,000 on part-time timetables where children attend school for part of the week and are at home the rest of the time.
While this is an accepted tactic to help some children back into school, Sir Martyn said part-time timetables were “not ideal, unless they’re very short-term and they come to an end quickly”.
Some schools allow children to be “flexi-schooled” where parents choose to home educate their children for part of the week.
Schools record this as an authorised absence so it is not known how many children are being flexi-schooled.
Sir Martyn said he was “very concerned” about this and had raised the issue with the Department for Education.
“I do think there needs to be greater safeguarding around it,” he said. He added that schools and parents should be held accountable for ensuring children “are getting a great package of education”.
A register of children who are not in school is due to be introduced as part of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill.
SEND SERVICES
Many children not receiving right support
The annual report highlights ongoing deficiencies in support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
“Outcomes for children with young people with SEND are poor and we have heard many heartbreaking stories of families’ struggles against the system,” it says.
It stresses that the needs of many children with SEND can and should be met in mainstream schools and also highlights the need to intervene early to stop problems escalating.
“What we see is too often children haven’t been identified, haven’t been worked with at an early enough stage right from early years, right at the beginning of primary school, and these issues and the gaps in their learning are allowed to manifest and become a problem as they move through education,” said Sir Martyn.
All schools are supposed to have a special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco) who works alongside the head teacher and governors to ensure children’s needs are being met.
However, the report suggests problems with recruitment and retention may mean not all have a Senco to advise senior leaders, devise strategy and help identify children who need additional support, which might include an education, health and care plan.
“I think it is really important that Ofsted is checking that schools are meeting that need and that these experts are in schools,” said Sir Martyn.
EARLY YEARS
Concerns about ‘childcare deserts’
In 2023/24, Ofsted worked with the Office for National Statistics to map childcare in neighbourhoods across England.
The research highlighted significant regional and local differences in the availability of high-quality childcare, described as a pattern of “childcare deserts and oases”.
Further analysis showed access to childcare has decreased on average over the past four years but some regions have been more affected than others. The North East, East Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber were the worst hit.
Ofsted said it was particularly concerned to see that disadvantaged areas with more people on low incomes and higher rates of child poverty are more likely to be “childcare deserts”, while better-off areas tend to have a lot more childcare.
“This is worth noting because interventions such as government-funded entitlements to childcare may not be effective for families who simply find it much harder to get children to a childminder or nursery in their local areas,” says the report.
SOCIAL CARE
Increased use of unregistered settings
A lack of suitable care placements continues to be a problem amid an ongoing decline in the overall number of fostering households and shortages of residential placements.
The annual report highlights the fact that the geographic distribution of children’s homes and residential special schools often bears little resemblance to the pattern of need or demand.
“The number of children’s homes we register has sharply increased but it is not solving the problems of having too many spaces in the wrong places,” says the report.
For example, a quarter of all children’s homes in England are in the North West, which far outstrips demand.
The lack of provision means more children being placed in unsuitable or unregistered accommodation.
Data published by Ofsted in November shows it investigated 1,056 potentially unregistered settings in the year from April 2023 to March 2024.
Of those 931 were found to be unregistered and operating illegally. This is almost three times the number of unregistered settings uncovered in 2021/22 and an increase of 300 from 2022/23.
A lack of secure placements for young people who need to be detained for their own safety or the safety of others, has led to a sharp rise in the number subject to court-imposed deprivation of liberty (DoL) orders.
Of the children placed in unregistered settings identified by Ofsted, 12% were subject to a DoL order.
“These are some of the most vulnerable children in care. They should not be placed in settings with no regulatory or independent oversight,” says Ofsted’s report on unregistered children’s homes.
INSPECTION SHORTS
EDUCATION Ofsted is looking into how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in schools and colleges to better understand the potential benefits and challenges. The research, which will help inform and train inspectors, will investigate how AI is being used to support teaching and learning and manage administrative tasks. It will also look at how well leaders are dealing with potential risks. Ofsted will gather evidence from up to 20 schools and colleges that are already using AI with a report due out this summer.
YOUTH JUSTICE Violence, disorder and self-harm have increased at Wetherby Young Offender Institution but inspectors say there are signs of improvement in other areas. A review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found progress had been slow but a new governor had begun to improve the regime for young inmates. They found oversight, including of strip-searching, has improved but more needed to be done to deliver better quality education and meaningful interactions with children.
EARLY YEARS The number of childminders has continued to fall in the past year despite efforts to halt a decline in the profession, reveal the latest statistics from Ofsted. The data shows the number of childminders registered with Ofsted dropped by 1,060 since August 2023 to 26,000 as of August 2024. However, the rate of decline has been slowing each academic year since 2021/22.
YOUTH JUSTICE Reading Youth Justice Service has been rated “inadequate” after an inspection identified numerous shortcomings. Inspectors found progress had been made but the needs of children were “neglected or overlooked” and key issues such as lack of access to education and health services had not been addressed. They also found planning and assessments to keep children and others safe was inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate. Management board chair Michael O’Connor said the service had already made changes and drawn up a comprehensive action plan.
HEALTH More pregnant women are being asked about their mental health and receiving support, shows the Care Quality Commission’s latest annual maternity survey. The survey was completed by nearly 19,000 people who used NHS maternity services in England in 2024. The findings show 76% were “definitely” asked about their mental health during antenatal checks while 89% said they received mental health support, up from 88% in 2023 and 85% in 2022. However, the survey shows an ongoing decline in positive feedback about other aspects of care including confidence and trust in staff, pain management and help during labour.
