Ofsted announces major overhaul of children's services inspections

A range of children’s social care settings, including children's homes, will be subject to the same social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) from April 1.

This means that for the first time, the Government watchdog is setting out the same expectations for all social care establishments and agencies in an attempt to simplify the inspection process so a bigger focus can be placed on the experiences and progress of children.

Eleanor Schooling, Ofsted national director of social care, said: “The SCCIF is an important step forward in Ofsted setting out clearly and consistently what we think matters most to children’s lives, wherever they live or receive help.

“We think this not only makes it clearer for providers, but also sets out how our inspections will consistently focus on the difference providers are making to children’s lives.”

Following a consultation on the plans last year, which received more than 200 responses, and the launch of a pilot scheme to trial the SCCIF, Ofsted developed three principles to like all inspections of children's social care providers:

To focus on the things that matter most to children’s lives

To be consistent in the expectations of providers

To prioritise work where improvement is needed most

At present there are several variations in the inspection guidance for social care providers across the range of settings, and differences in the criteria used by Ofsted to make judgements on each type of service.

A spokesman for Ofsted said the experiences and progress of children are central to the new SCCIF and the framework will "support inspectors to focus on the difference it makes to the lives of children and other service users".

He also stressed that it did not mean "a one-size-fits-all approach to inspection", adding: "The framework is tailored to reflect and address each distinct type of children’s social care provider".

These include children’s homes, independent fostering agencies voluntary adoption agencies, residential family centres, residential holiday schemes for disabled children, boarding schools and residential special schools and the residential provision of further education colleges.

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, said: “Ofsted and social care professionals have a shared goal: to give all children the best possible chance in life. The intention of our three principles is exactly this. I am pleased that sector leaders and providers responded so positively to our consultation on the framework, and we will continue to engage with them as we implement and evaluate it.”

Ofsted has also set out its future plans to change its approach to the inspection of local authority children's services.

It is proposing to introduce proportionate inspections every three years, with a graded judgement, and focused visits between inspections to evaluate strengths and weaknesses and support local authorities to deliver good and better services.

The spokesman said: "These plans will be subject to piloting over the coming months, ready for implementation in January 2018."