Under Ofsted's tougher early years inspection framework, which comes into force today (Monday), the grade of "satisfactory" has been scrapped and replaced with "requires improvement".
This change is likely to lead to increased Ofsted scrutiny for more childcare settings, as any provider handed the "requires improvement" grade will have their efforts to improve monitored by the regulator within six months and face being reinspected within a year. They will have two years to attain one of the two highest grades of "good" or "outstanding" or face being automatically judged as "inadequate".
Anand Shukla, chief executive of Family and Childcare Trust, said the new approach must be matched with adequate local authority assistance for providers to improve.
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