non statutory agencies in early years
These are: We have a range of enforcement powers to use in regulating childminder agencies, including: We will consider all available evidence and information about non-compliance, as well as the enforcement options available, before we make a decision. In these circumstances, the childminders that were registered with the agency will have to apply to register with Ofsted or another agency if they wish to continue. This section sets out our powers of enforcement for providers on the Early Years Register. If the agency informs us that they do not intend to appeal to the Tribunal, the decision takes effect at that point and the agency is no longer registered and the childminders registered with the agency are no longer able to operate. If a registered person or other staff member employed at the setting refuses to cooperate, the inspector will explain our powers under the Childcare Act 2006 to enter the premises. Introduction. It is an offence to care for children on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register while suspended. We expect the registered person to demonstrate how the action taken is improving the standards of the agency, as well as the standards of the agencys employees and childminders registered. The good news towards developing your own pedagogy is that settings now have the freedom to determine what, when, and how to offer experiences and support to help children progress in their learning and development from birth onward. For example, we may do this when a registered early years provider applies for voluntary cancellation before we complete our assessment and we have not served a notice of our decision to cancel but we have concerns about that person. We can cancel an agencys registration with an NOI under section 69B of the Childcare Act 2006. to what extent has the suspect benefited, or intended to benefit, from the offence? The letter sets out the actions that a provider must take by a certain date to meet the requirements. is the offending likely to be continued, repeated or escalated? In some cases, the suspension may be lifted without any further action as the enquiries confirm that the provider continues to meet the requirements of registration. Also, if a person is prosecuted for an offence, we may apply to cite details of any Ofsted caution as evidence of the persons bad character. take appropriate and targeted action that: reduces the risk of harm or actual harm to children, considers the particular circumstances of each case and is proportionate to the seriousness of the non-compliance, is agile and revises our approach as appropriate, secures compliance with the law and improves the quality of the setting, implements fairly our statutory or non-statutory enforcement powers when a relevant threshold is met, persons providing childcare without the appropriate registration, registered providers that fail to meet the legal requirements for early years settings that are regulated under the Childcare Act 2006, our inspection handbooks, which describe our approach to registration and inspection, a registered person/provider is not meeting the relevant regulations or conditions of registration, a registered person may no longer be fit to carry on the running of a setting, an unregistered person or agency is operating a service, a person living or working where childcare is provided may not be suitable, childminders and childcare providers through, other agencies, such as schools, environmental health, fire safety authorities, safeguarding partners and local authority designated officers, other regulators/inspectorates, such as the Care Quality Commission, Food Standards Agency and His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Ofsteds inspections of early years, social care or other settings, registered person or their nominated individual, childminder (as the registered person) and/or a person aged 16 or over who lives or works on the premises where childminding, and/or childcare on domestic premises, takes place, share information we have that is relevant to the concern being investigated, identify any limitations on the information that we can share (which should be discussed and agreed before the strategy meeting with Ofsteds legal advisers), provide background details to our involvement with the registered setting/provider, including any decisions or actions we have taken in respect of the concern, provide information about any actions we may take to make the registered setting safe for children, explain our regulatory functions and powers. In these cases, we would always discuss this with the complainant before doing so. This is in addition to the body corporate being guilty. We will review their response and may visit or inspect again to check that they are meeting all the regulations. The Tribunal will consider whether cancellation remains appropriate at the point when the appeal is determined. It may also be helpful to refer toHSEs guidance about choosing a first aid training provider. For example, when: If an emergency order is granted, the registered person may appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. on 31 March 2021, and it is mandatory for all early years providers in England from 1 September 2021. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. schools will be registered and inspected by ofsted. We expect providers to be open and honest with us when providing these contact details and ensure that details are provided for all children who attend, including family members and those who may only attend part time and/or only before and after school. Warning letters are non-statutory actions. For example, we could be trying to contact them to arrange an inspection or confirm they are caring for children, or because we want to talk to them about their registration. This can be announced or unannounced. Childminder agencies will not have to share with Ofsted information on childminders they register as a matter of course. However, if these objections are not upheld, an NOD will be served against which an agency may appeal. We will not be involved directly in these investigations. In refusing, we must be clear that the reason for refusal is because of the disqualification. For those on the Voluntary Childcare Register, we do this under section 66 of that Act. Non-statutory bodies are organisations or institutions that are not regulated by law. We may specify the extent to which we agree to waive a disqualification. However, there are some examples of when providers have their registration cancelled and are not disqualified, for instance: If a person has become disqualified, then we must cancel registration as this is a mandatory ground for cancellation. Even if we uphold the providers objection to these other issues, we must still serve a notice of our decision to cancel the registration on the grounds that the registered person is disqualified, unless they provide evidence that the information we have about the disqualification is inaccurate and they are not disqualified. We may also seek to impose conditions in an emergency. Where possible, we will give the registered person notice of our application for an emergency order and give reasons for it, so that they may attend the hearing and make representations. We will monitor a providers compliance with the suspension, usually by carrying out an unannounced visit to the suspended premises at least once within each 6-week period of suspension. We will send an NOI to cancel at the same time. Employers are responsible for identifying and selecting a competent training provider to deliver theirPFAtraining. A failure to meet this requirement may lead us to consider taking enforcement action. Using the Early Years Coalitions own words: because these refer to behaviours and dispositions of the child, not the adult. During that time, childminders registered with the agency are still able to operate. Childminder agencies should tell Ofsted about any changes or significant events, as set out in the requirements for registration. If the objection is not upheld, we will serve an NOD and the applicant may choose to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. If the inspector finds that a provider has met all the WRN action(s), they will update the published outcome summary to confirm this. If we decide to waive a disqualification, the letter we send will explain the circumstances that apply to our decision. The original four-column structure Development matters; Look, listen and note; Effective practice; Planning and resourcing has been replaced by three columns entitled: A Unique Some enforcement steps can only be taken through the NOI and NOD process. We will review the response. If we have concerns about the provider, we will keep the information on record because we may wish to consider this should the provider seek future registration with Ofsted. An enforcement notice is a legal letter that we send to a person telling them that they cannot provide childminding without being registered with us. In relation to escalating concerns, a notification from the provider is not the same as a concern that comes from another person about the provision. If a case is discontinued, this decision can be reviewed if, for example, further evidence comes to our attention. We will only use clear, proportionate and reasonable conditions. If we have concerns about the childminder agency, we will keep the information on record as we may wish to consider this should they seek future registration with Ofsted. contact the person (or registered person for childcare being provided on unapproved premises) for a description of the service that they are providing or are alleged to be providing, carry out a visit to assess whether registration is required, refer the information to the local authority or the police, if it suggests there are child protection concerns, decide, from information we have received about the service provided, that the person does not need to register with us and confirm this in writing, serve an enforcement notice if it appears a person is acting as a childminder without being registered, issue a warning letter (sending a warning letter does not mean that we will not also seek to prosecute where evidence meets the test for prosecution), begin a criminal investigation, which may include an interview under the PACE Act, prosecute the person for committing an offence, acting as a childminder while not registered and an enforcement notice is in effect, without reasonable excuse (under sections 33(7) and 52(7)), providing, without reasonable excuse, early or later years provision (except childminding) while not registered, without reasonable excuse (under sections 34(5) and 53(5)), failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any condition imposed on registration (under sections 38(5), 58(5) and 66(5)), acting as a childminder or providing childcare, without reasonable excuse, while registration is suspended (under section 69(9)); this does not apply to the voluntary part of the Childcare Register or to childminding/childcare activities that are exempt from registration, providing early or later years provision or being directly involved in the management of early years or later years provision while disqualified (under section 76(4)); this does not apply if disqualification is only by virtue of the provider living in the same household as a disqualified person or if a disqualified person is employed and the provider can prove that they did not know and had no reasonable grounds for knowing that they were living in such a household (under section 76(5))*, employing, in connection with the provision of early or later years provision, a person who is disqualified by the regulations (under section 76(4)); this does not apply if the provider can prove that they did not know and had no reasonable grounds for believing that the person was disqualified (under section 76(6))*, intentionally obstructing a duly authorised person exercising any power under section 77 (such as rights of entry, rights to inspect documents or rights to interview) (under section 77(8)), knowingly making a statement that is false or misleading in a material particular in an application for registration (under section 85(1)); this applies to all registers including the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, providing childcare provision other than on approved premises (offence under section 85A), Regulation 7(1) not to use corporal punishment and, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that corporal punishment is not used on the child by any person who cares for or is in regular contact with children or any person living or working on the premises, Regulation 8 to notify of events specified in the schedule within the prescribed time, Regulation 10(2) failure to comply with a welfare notice within the specified period, failing to comply with a condition of registration (sections 51C(4) and 61D(4)), falsely representing that the person is a childminder agency (sections 51f and 61g), registering a childminder who is disqualified (section 76(4)), running or being involved in the management of a childminder agency, or working for an agency in a capacity that involves entering a childminders home while disqualified (section 76B(3)), employing a person in a childminder agency who is disqualified (if that role involves being directly concerned in the management of the agency or entering a childminders home) (section 76B(3)), intentionally obstructing a person carrying out their statutory duties (section 78A(8)), knowingly making a false or misleading statement in applying to register as an agency (section 85(2)), use the Print this page button under the Contents menu, right-click or secondary click on the page and choose Print in the menu. If it appears that the requirements are satisfied, and will continue to be satisfied, we will grant the application to register. Any proposal to change the hours during which childcare is provided or if the provision will include overnight care. The party that requested the withdrawal can apply to have its case reinstated. Some will be delivering statutory services and may be run by volunteers, such as library . Therefore, if a provider on the voluntary register continues to provide childcare while suspended, we may consider whether this warrants a review of that registered persons suitability to remain registered. We do this to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as our notices of suspension can contain personal or sensitive information. It is for local authorities to determine whether concerns reach their threshold and decide which concerns they will investigate. We serve an enforcement notice if it appears to us that a person is providing childminding for which registration is required, without being registered. If we have concerns about an applicant who withdraws their application before an NOI to refuse is served, we will record our concerns and may consider them further if the applicant applies to register in the future. When invited, we attend strategy discussions when the investigation concerns a: Ofsted does not hold a statutory responsibility for child protection matters, but we work together with other statutory agencies by sharing information we hold to protect the welfare of children and young people. For providers registered on the compulsory parts of the Childcare Register, we will not remove them from the register after an NOD has been served. Example of a statutory body is SEBI i.e. We must make clear that, to do this, we may carry out our own enquiries to determine that the registered setting continues to be fit to provide a service. At the same time, new sections on play, characteristics of effective learning, and self-regulation are designed to help practitioners reflect on and develop their own pedagogy. We will consider taking action against them where the investigation reveals that the offence was committed with their consent or connivance or was attributable to their neglect, and where it would be appropriate to do so in accordance with this policy. They are both non-statutory and schools and settings can decide how to use them to best support their practice and provision. We will review their response and may inspect again to check that they are meeting all the regulations. If the objection is not upheld, we will serve a notice of decision (NOD) and the applicant may choose to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. The relevant criminal offences are listed in Annex B. implements fairly our statutory or non-statutory enforcement powers when a relevant threshold is met is transparent is accountable and complies with the Regulators' Code Ofsted's powers of. In this context, harm means ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development, including, for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. We will do this only after considering factors such as the seriousness of the non-compliance, the impact on children, the history of the registered persons compliance, and other actions available to us. The registered person can appeal to the Tribunal against each period of suspension. We will write to the agency to let them know we have done this. If we are satisfied that a provider has met the actions, we will confirm this by responding to the email and updating the published outcome summary. 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