The public services trade union served Ofsted with a pre-action legal letter disputing the proposals and warned that a new pay structure would mean school inspectors earned almost twice as much as early years and childcare inspectors.
The move follows union concerns about the privatisation of the Ofsted service (News, 11 September).
The letter alleges that Ofsted has failed to comply with the equality duties in the Sex Discrimination Act. It says that without conducting an equality impact assessment the new proposals could result in unlawful sex discrimination and victimisation. It also claims that inadequate consultation was taken with Unison.
A statement from the union said, 'Unison has asked Ofsted to revoke their proposals, asked for an explanation of why the decisions were taken and requested relevant information. We have given Ofsted two weeks to respond, but are allowing them the option of short extension should they need it because of the Christmas holidays.'
An Ofsted response said, 'Ofsted takes its duties for equality extremely seriously and as such completely refute Unison's allegations. We have referred their pre-legal action to our lawyers and will respond in due course.'
A spokesperson for Ofsted confirmed that it is looking to outsource routine elements of early years inspection and regulation, including inspection and registration visits, with plans 'at a very early stage'. The move aims to provide greater flexibility and value for money.
'All the difficult work, including where there are concerns that need investigating, will be kept in-house. We have been working with private sector partners on schools inspections for many years. We are used to working with the private sector and our significant experience from the schools sector will be used to inform our work in childcare.
'Our staff will be given the opportunity to give their views through a full consultation process and we have made it clear to the unions that we will involve them appropriately throughout,' the spokesperson added.
Early years inspectors belonging to Unison followed a work-to-rule policy until last month, but following a review, the union has decided to focus on legal action.
