Ofsted to require social care inspectors to have social care qualifications

Social care inspectors will be required to have minimum qualifications recognised by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) or equivalent bodies under new plans being drawn by Ofsted.

According to a report in Community Care magazine, Ofsted is expected to help its existing inspectors to gain the necessary qualifications and has yet to decide on a date by which the minimum qualifications will become mandatory. It does plan, however, to recruit an unspecified number of new inspectors to complement the existing ranks.

Ofsted told Community Care: "As well as providing any necessary training for our current inspectors, we will shortly be recruiting for a small number of vacancies in our social care inspection team. We have not yet finalised the recruitment and selection arrangements but would expect candidates to have the necessary experience and qualifications to become an Ofsted inspector of social care."

The move follows Lord Laming's recommendation that social care inspectors should have experience of social work, after complaints that too many Ofsted inspectors came from education backgrounds.