The statistics on Childcare Providers and Inspections, published today, show that between 31 March and 31 August 2018, the total number of childcare providers fell from 64,398 to 63,460 – a loss of 938 providers.
In July, Ofsted moved to a new system, which means that the way it records data on childcare places has changed and it is therefore not possible to compare the latest statistics with previous data accurately.
Therefore, while the statistics show that the number of childcare places increased by 11,686 between 31 March and 31 August, this is not an accurate reflection.
Ofsted states in the latest statistics bulletin, 'In July 2018, Ofsted moved to a new administrative database system for recording information on providers and inspections. Due to this move, the way places data is recorded has been improved. As a result, the number of palces including estimates has risen by 11,700 compared with the last release. Most of this increase is due to the change in systems, rather than a substantive change in the number of places offered by providers.'
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