Ofsted updates complaints and pausing policies

Ofsted has updated its policies for making complaints about inspections, saying they will aim to handle providers' concerns more "fairly, thoroughly and efficiently."

More detailed guidance on the process for pausing an inspection has also been published today, and now applies to all childcare, education and social care inspections and regulatory visits.

The new complaints process comes into effect today and applies to inspections and regulatory activity carried out across all education and care provider types after 4 April 2024.

Sir Martyn Oliver, chief inspector of education, children's services and skills, said all inspections should be carried out with "courtesy, empathy and respect."

He said: "should anyone have concerns, we will always want to resolve them as quickly as possible, which is why we have already introduced a helpline for providers to call during their inspection.

"We introduced a new ‘pausing policy’ in January for state schools, but today are going further to clarify the steps we’ll take when circumstances mean we have to pause the inspection of any school, further education, early years or social care provider."

The changes follow last year’s consultation on proposals to make the complaints process as clear and simple to use as possible.

Ofsted said they have already introduced enhanced professional dialogue to help address any issues about an inspection on site, and a new helpline for providers to call and speak to a senior Ofsted inspector if they have concerns about inspectors’ conduct.

This comes after National Education Union's general secretary Daniel Kebede commented that only 3 per cent of the NEU's teacher members trust Ofsted to be a sound and reliable arbiter of standards.

The changes coming into effect today apply when concerns about Ofsted’s work cannot be resolved informally. The new process will allow providers to seek a review of their inspection – including the conduct of inspectors and the judgements reached – by submitting a formal complaint when they receive their draft inspection report.

If a provider remains dissatisfied with Ofsted’s response to their formal complaint, they will now be able to directly escalate it to the ICASO. This service is provided by an external organisation, which will review Ofsted’s handling of the complaint.

In addition, Ofsted will periodically submit a sample of closed complaints to a panel for review. This panel will include external representatives from the sectors Ofsted inspects, who will provide challenge and transparency on how complaints have been handled.

The guidance states that, under exceptional circumstances, Ofsted may agree to formally pause an inspection, for example, when leaders require support due to concerns about their well-being, or an incident prevents inspectors from gathering sufficient evidence.

The policy also sets out how long an inspection could be paused for, depending on the type of provider. Where an inspection is paused for longer than this period, it will be deemed incomplete and inspectors will return to gather additional evidence at a later date.