The vast majority of nursery education inspectors are self-employed and work for contractors such as Nord Anglia, Wessex Associates and Kinderquest, who are shutting down their nursery inspection divisions this summer. The education inspectors will not be transferring to the Early Years Directorate when local authority inspection and registration officers become Ofsted employees under the new regime.
Some local authority inspectors are also registered nursery education inspectors. However, they may have done relatively few education inspections. There are 700 registered nursery education inspectors in England and Wales; around 300 work full-time and some have inspected hundreds of settings.
Last week Ann Hutchinson, a registered nursery inspector from Clapton in Somerset, wrote in Nursery World that 'it seems illogical to dispose of a pool of experienced people who have so much to offer'. Her point has been echoed by a number of others working either as inspectors or inspection administrators, who asked not to be named. One described it as 'a wicked waste', and another said that Ofsted might well 'get a few months down and hold their hands up in despair'. Another expressed concern that plans for the Ofsted childcare inspectors to carry out an 'augmented' inspection covering both care and education every four years would lead to a 'watering-down' of the nursery education inspection process.
An Ofsted spokeswoman said that Ofsted was taking a 'tiered approach', first taking on local authority staff, then training them if necessary to bring them up to speed and finally recruiting new nursery education inspectors if it finds it does not have enough people with the right expertise. The list of the Directorate's childcare inspectors has not yet been finalised and needs to be given ministerial approval after the general election.
Meanwhile, the public service union Unison's legal officer has written to Ofsted arguing that the way it is conducting the transfer of local authority staff is unlawful and warning that the union's members could submit claims for constructive dismissal or sue for damages as a result.
Unison says that some local authority staff are not being offered positions commensurate with the nature and status of their current jobs, which is against the principles of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). About 100 registration and inspection officers have appealed against the positions they have been offered.
The transfer is not strictly a TUPE transfer, since this usually refers to staff transferring from the public to the private sector or from one private company to another. Unison says that under the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector, the same guidelines should be followed. Ofsted says it has taken legal advice on this point and argues that it has adopted the principles of the Cabinet Office guidance.
Unison is also fighting what it describes as a 'blanket refusal on all secondary employment' on behalf of members who currently also have another job besides carrying out inspections, for example lecturing at an FE college. Ofsted says secondary employment will be acceptable where there is no conflict of interest.
