Inspections Clinic - Ofsted’s Covid-19 response
By Jo Stephenson
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Ofsted’s national director for social care Yvette Stanley answers 10 key questions about what steps the regulator is taking to keep children and staff safe during the Covid-19 outbreak. By Jo Stephenson
1 What are Ofsted’s key concerns when it comes to ensuring the safety and welfare of children and young people?
We understand the pressures on the children’s social care sector. As ever, we ask that all decisions are child-centred, focus on safeguarding children, both from harm and the virus, and that decision making is clearly documented. We have been clear with the sector that Ofsted has no powers to waive regulatory requirements but we recognise local authorities and providers will have to make pragmatic decisions about placing children.
Child protection is hugely challenging with schools and other education establishments being closed and this has been reflected in a significant reduction in referrals to children’s social care. Like the government and local authorities, we are concerned about those “unseen” children at risk from neglect, abuse and exploitation.
While government has made provision for vulnerable children to attend school, we are concerned that schools are reporting very low numbers attending. While the lockdown continues, local authorities, schools and settings need to find imaginative ways to maintain contact with the most at-risk and vulnerable children and families.
We are also worried about the offer for children and families with complex needs and disabilities.
We know there has already been a significant reduction in the availability of short breaks provision for disabled children and that many children’s homes and residential special schools, who would normally be supporting these children, are closing or operating with reduced capacity. This means many vulnerable children are with much reduced support and families under increased pressure.
2 What steps should providers take when employing new temporary staff such as social workers returning to the register – or in recruiting new or returning foster carers?
Providers need to take such steps as are reasonably possible in the current context to ensure only those fit to work directly with children are employed to do so. We know they will have to mitigate some risks to the best of their abilities. Taking careful decisions and documenting them will continue to be important.
We support the government’s efforts to fast-track Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and make existing checks more portable. We have agreed in these extreme circumstances to accept medical self-declarations when agencies are recruiting staff and foster carers, but these will be rigorously assessed once the medical profession is able to return to this routine work.
3 What impact has coronavirus had on social care inspections?
All routine inspections are suspended until further notice. However, we continue our business as a regulator and are working hard to register social care provision and managers. We are making some temporary changes to the steps we take in completing the registration process. Most contact throughout the process is being done by telephone, email or video call. We are keeping any visits to a minimum and are following the latest government guidelines, restrictions and safety advice.
We still have the option to undertake an on-site inspection but the decision to do so is taken very seriously because we want to comply with Public Health England guidance while continuing to safeguard children. We are working closely with government to ensure any children, provider staff and our own staff are adequately protected when we do on-site visits.
4 How will Ofsted decide whether an inspection visit or regulatory action is necessary?
This will only occur when we have serious concerns and there is no other safe way to assess the situation. We reserve the right to inspect in emergency situations – for example, when we receive complaints or whistleblowing information that suggests children may be at risk of harm – or when we might want to visit in order to lift a restriction on the numbers of children who can live in a children’s home.
5 What adjustments have been made to the inspection and registration processes?
We have made adjustments to our guidance for inspection and regulatory activity. For example, when registering new children’s homes, as many interviews as possible are being done by phone or Skype. Where we have to go on site to review key documentation which involves sensitive personal information that cannot be emailed, we are inspecting these while maintaining social distancing.
In social care we have prioritised those applications that were already in progress at the time of the lockdown and new registrations from local authorities and established providers. We have sought to be flexible in shortening timeframes and introduced approaches to providing assurance about suitability to register that we see as appropriate and necessary in order to safely add to capacity while in no way lowering the bar for registration.
6 What is happening with the publication of reports from recent or new inspections?
All completed social care inspection reports will be published as most of those services remain open. We will not be publishing reports from recent inspections of schools, further education and early years providers until they reopen as normal for all children or students.
For education settings we will write to these providers ahead of publishing their reports so that they can provide a copy to all registered parents and pupils at that time. Providers can share the findings of their report once it has been finalised. If they do they should make clear that the report has not been published by Ofsted.
7 When schools and childcare settings start to reopen will routine inspections recommence?
We are working closely with government and all the sectors we inspect about what happens once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted and services reopen. We are aware of the current impact on services and providers across all remits and will want to respond as intelligently and responsibly as we can in that context.
8 What is the role of leaders of children’s services in managing and supporting staff?
Now, as ever, senior leaders are key to effective children’s service delivery. We expect all leaders to provide visible leadership, take child-centred decisions and to minimise the risks to children and staff in what we know is a very challenging context.
We know providers are working hard to source personal protection equipment for staff who need it and we are pleased to have a role in supporting staff to access testing.
Senior or regional managers of providers may need to visit children’s homes in person. They have responsibilities to safeguard children, and although online and telephone can replace some aspects of this, providers should retain the option to visit in person when necessary.
We are closely monitoring capacity in senior leadership and have been exploring where Ofsted staff can support both frontline staff and managers during the crisis
9 How have Ofsted staff been supporting local authorities and others?
Since the crisis broke, we have been amazed but not surprised by the resourcefulness, determination and kindness shown by children’s services professionals.
Our regulatory work in early years and social care continues – in fact, we are very busy. With routine inspections suspended, we’ve been matching our staff into supporting roles across education and social care, working with councils to provide support where it’s most needed.
We have placed our staff with just over 60 councils that have asked for help with tasks like mapping and supporting vulnerable children, developing safeguarding processes and communicating with school leaders. We are extending this offer to a larger number of authorities. We have also agreed for suitably qualified colleagues to work in children’s homes, and others to staff advice lines for parents and schools. Staff are moving to other government departments to support the wider civil service response and a number have volunteered to be emergency foster carers.
10 What feedback have you had from the sector?
We are working in partnership with local authorities and feedback so far has been good in terms of our pragmatic approach while seeking to maintain standards.
The sector has appreciated our efforts to redeploy our staff to support them. We in turn have been impressed with how local authorities and providers have risen to this challenge and are doing their best for the children and families in most need of services and support.
Information correct at 30 April, but may have changed subsequently
INSPECTIONS SHORTS
YOUTH JUSTICE HM Inspectorate of Prisons has developed a new approach to visiting prisons and young offender institutions involving short one-day visits in order to meet its duty to report on the treatment and welfare of inmates. The inspectorate said visits would focus on issues essential to the “safety, care and basic rights” of those detained including healthcare, contact with family and friends, use of time and support for those at risk of self-harm and suicide. Inspections would be clustered according to themes with a summary of findings from groups of visits published two weeks after they had taken place.
EARLY YEARS Early years and childcare settings whose paediatric first aid certificates were due to expire have been told they could qualify for an extension if they have struggled to access training. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said this applied to First Aid at Work and Emergency First Aid at Work certificates coming up for renewal on or after 16 March 2020. Ofsted has told settings to follow HSE guidance on ways to ensure appropriate first aid cover.
YOUTH JUSTICE A planned inspection of Peterborough Youth Offending Team has been postponed in light of the coronavirus crisis. HM Inspectorate of Probation said it was postponing all recently announced inspections after suspending all face-to-face inspection activity. The body said it would not be announcing any new probation or youth service inspections that would have involved inspectors undertaking fieldwork in the period up to the end of June.
EDUCATION Ofsted has said it will go ahead with publishing its new framework for inspecting teacher training this summer to give providers time to familiarise themselves with the document. The move follows a consultation on proposed changes to the inspection of initial teacher education, launched at the start of the year, which included the introduction of a new judgment for the “quality of education and training” and a new model for inspection.
HEALTH The Care Quality Commission has suspended routine inspections of health and social care providers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The body said it would shift towards other “remote methods” to give assurance about the safety and quality of care and would only inspect in a very small number of cases such as allegations of abuse. Any inspections “will not be conducted in their present form” and inspectors would speak to providers before a visit took place.