The move follows a four-week trial by Ofsted in May in which the inspectorate either carried out an urgent inspection when it received a complaint, or wrote to the provider to tell them that they would follow up the complaint during their next scheduled inspection.
Previously, if a concern or complaint raised against an early years provider prompted a compliance investigation, Ofsted would carry out a priority inspection within five working days, or a brought-forward inspection within 30 days.
The inspectorate has now confirmed that it will be removing the brought-forward option.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA) has welcomed the news.
Its chief executive Neil Leitch said, ‘Following the introduction of complaint-driven inspections, reports of providers being subjected to repeated malicious and spurious complaints became increasingly common, and it was clear that action needed to be taken to try to
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