Nursery World - Nearly 1,000 children's centres not inspected

Action for Children says the Government is 'letting families down' as it finds that four in ten children's centres have not been inspected for over five years.

The charity estimates that since the Government suspended full Ofsted inspections of children’s centres in September 2015, 969 should have been inspected – 40 per cent of all designated centres in England.

Action for Children says that during the suspension, introduced by the Department for Education on a ‘short-term basis’ pending a consultation on the future of children’s centres, which has not taken place, Ofsted has undertaken no assessment of the quality of performance of early intervention family support services delivered by centres.

Previously, Ofsted was required to inspect centres no later than five years after the last inspection. Inspections collect evidence on aspects such as the safety of the centre, how its public finances are managed, how well it serves young children and parents in the area and its success in identifying prospective families in most need.

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