Nursery World - Early years sector made most complaints about Ofsted

Two-thirds of all complaints against Ofsted were made by early years providers last year.

Oftsed’s annual report and accounts reveals that the number of complaints made by early years settings about their inspections was significantly higher than complaints made in other areas Ofsted inspects.

This is despite the fact that early years inspections account for just over half of all Ofsted’s inspection activity.

The early years sector has been calling for an end to third-party inspections as part of the long-running Ofsted Big Conversation campaign.

However, the inspectorate has ruled out any contractual changes, saying it is not the right time to bring inspections for early years providers in-house.

During the 2013/14 financial year, 66 per cent of formal complaints against Ofsted were made by nurseries or childminders: there were 1,197 ‘step 2’ complaints – the start of the formal complaints process - made by early years providers, compared to 475 complaints made by schools, 21 by further education colleges and 97 by social care providers.

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