In Gateshead, the local authority has its own quality improvement programme and has identified serious problems with one particular setting that was rated as good in its last Ofsted inspection.
Pam Stephens, head of early years at Gateshead, said: "Ofsted graded the setting as good, but there are major problems. We have been trying to withdraw their nursery education funding, but we don't get the backing of Ofsted."
Sally Orr, head of early years in Hertfordshire, said she has experienced similar problems, and is concerned with the delay in feedback.
"School reports come out two days after inspection, while pre-school reports come two months later. If a setting is graded inadequate, we don't know about it soon enough and it eats into the time they have to turn things around," she added.
Dwynwen Stepien, head of the Local Authority Early Years Network, said she would raise the concerns at her next meeting with Ofsted.
A spokeswoman for Ofsted denied over-grading weak settings and said it aimed to publish all inspection reports within 20 days.
