Ofsted joint inspections delayed as councils shun pilots

The inspectorate has previously said that it wanted to launch the new joint inspection system, which was first announced in February, this month.

However, pilots of the inspections, which aim to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-agency work to protect children, are yet to get under way. It had been planned for six of the inspections to take place before March 2016.

Ofsted has told CYP Now that the pilot will not get underway until next month, with the inspection system now set to be launched early next year.

According to minutes of an Ofsted board meeting held in August, which were published this week, the watchdog has struggled to attract local authorities to pilot the new inspections.

Minutes of the meeting reveal that, as of 19 August, Ofsted had "yet to secure a volunteer for a pilot inspection".

"Senior [inspectors] are engaging regional [Association of Directors of Children's Services] networks and individual [directors of children's services] to promote involvement in the pilot, but so far without success," the minutes state.

The minutes add that, at the time of the meeting, the Department for Education had agreed to help Ofsted to find a volunteer.

Organisations in the children and young people sector have previously raised concerns about joint inspections, which will be conducted by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation.

Responding in August to a consultation on the plans, the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), the Local Government Association (LGA) and council chief executives group Solace, said the new inspection process, which would be over and above the existing single inspection framework, could be burdensome for services.

An Ofsted spokeswoman confirmed that inspections are yet to get under way.

"We have already undertaken some methodology testing in a local authority, with a full pilot planned for later in the year," she said.

"We are confident that methodology testing already carried out and the forthcoming pilot will give us the information we need to begin joint targeted area inspections along with our fellow inspectorates early in the new year.

"We had planned to carry out up to six joint inspections focusing on child sexual exploitation and children missing from home, care and education by March next year.

"As we are now piloting the inspections in November, we expect to be able to complete these before summer 2016."

Yesterday CYP Now revealed that the inspectorate is struggling to complete its current three-year programme of inspections of children's services departments on time due to funding problems.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has agreed to extend the cycle of single inspection framework inspections by an extra five months - to the end of March 2017, but Ofsted has said there is a risk it could fail to complete them all by that date.