Ofsted plans no-notice, unannounced inspections of child protection services from May
Child protection services will be subject to no notice, unannounced inspections from May this year, Ofsted has announced.
The watchdog also said the number of cases examined by inspectors will double “to ensure there is an in-depth understanding of how well children are protected”.
Inspections under the new framework are expected to last for two weeks. A team of inspectors will spend the majority of their time talking to children and families about their experiences as well as with frontline social workers and managers.
The process will also see – for the first time – inspectors shadow social workers in their work with children and families. They will also observe multi-agency working.
The inspectors will make their judgements on three key areas (rather than the current nine):
- The effectiveness of the help and protection provided to children, young people, families and carers;
- The quality of practice; and
- Leadership and governance.
Ofsted Deputy Chief Inspector, John Goldup said: “This new framework puts the child’s experience at the heart of inspection. We want to ensure that inspectors are able to judge the impact that professionals working in child protection are making to help children and protect them from harm.”
Goldup said the direct talks with children and their families as well as the shadowing would be a very important part of the evidence the inspectors use.
“We won’t just look at what happens to children when they become subject to formal child protection processes – it’s just as important to evaluate the help that children and their families do or don’t get early on, when problems first emerge, because that can make a critical difference to whether the problems get worse and the risks to the child escalate,” he added.
For more information, go to the Ofsted website.
