Huge rise in complaint-driven nursery inspections
Laura McCardle
Thursday, October 10, 2013
The number of early years providers inspected as a result of a complaint made to Ofsted increased six-fold in less than a year.
In July, Ofsted carried out 719 unscheduled inspections of providers that had been prompted by a complaint, a 509 per cent increase since September 2012 when just 118 unscheduled inspections were carried out.
The number of providers given a lower rating following the complaint-driven inspection also rose significantly during the same time frame, with 234 receiving a lower judgement in July, compared with 37 in September last year.
In addition, 101 providers were rated satisfactory following a complaint-driven inspection when they had previously been judged outstanding or good, compared with 18 in September last year.
The figures, published by Ofsted on Wednesday, support recent concerns raised by early years organisations over the rise in complaint-driven inspections and how these are affecting judgements given by the regulator to nurseries.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said: "The fact that nearly 30 per cent of such inspections result in a downgrade, and that a quarter of these downgrades are from 'good' or better to 'inadequate', indicates that there is something fundamentally wrong here.
"Perhaps the most striking thing about this data is the huge increase in the number of complaint-triggered inspections over the past year – six times as many in July as there were in September last year. This worrying trend needs to be explored further. At a time when many providers are concerned about an increase in unsubstantiated or malicious complaints, it’s clear that we need a much more robust screening process for anonymous complaints."
Chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, Purnima Tanuku, said the figures will concern nurseries already worried about the quality and consistency of inspections.
“The rapid increase in the number of inspections being made following complaints is a cause for concern," she said. "Ofsted and its inspection service providers will need to manage this workload and the potential for impact on the routine inspection schedule.
“This is a huge concern for nurseries’ business sustainability and a threat to the two-year-old offer.”
The figures were brought to light in a letter from Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw in response to parliamentary questions asked by former shadow education minister Sharon Hodgson.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: "We know there is some unease about inspections carried out after a concern has been raised about a provider. However, we believe that all parents and the vast majority of early years providers will agree that Ofsted simply cannot ignore concerns which, if legitimate, mean that young and vulnerable children are at risk. Parents expect Ofsted to act robustly and firmly on their children’s behalf and we will not fail to do so.
"These figures demonstrate that previous suggestions that any concern-led inspection would automatically result in a lowering of a judgement were unfounded."
