Nursery World - Rush to register holiday schemes

Ofsted has advised providers wishing to set up holiday playschemes in England this summer to get their applications for registration to their local council as early as possible and well before July, when it will take over new registrations. The schools inspectorate has published a guide for providers, 'What to expect from the regulation of childcare services', which warns that its Early Years Directorate will not be able to process applications for holiday playschemes in July and August.

The schools inspectorate has published a guide for providers, 'What to expect from the regulation of childcare services', which warns that its Early Years Directorate will not be able to process applications for holiday playschemes in July and August.

An Ofsted spokeswoman explained that local authorities were expected to be very busy in the run-up to transition, which could cause delays in registering holiday playschemes. She said, 'It's very important that anyone interested in running a holiday playscheme extradites that application now - they should act as soon as possible.'

The leaflet, produced by the Daycare Trust for Ofsted, offers reassurance by saying that providers are 'unlikely to notice a big difference between their last council inspection and their first Ofsted inspection'. It also points out that providers who are already registered may even find they know their Ofsted childcare inspector already, since many are already working for local councils and will be transferring to the Directorate.

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