Get Ready For Your First Ofsted Inspection With This Quick Guide
An Ofsted inspection can be a daunting prospect for new providers. To achieve the best outcome, read our quick guide below and contact us on 0330 808 0050 to discuss how your ClouDoc documents can support your setting before and after inspection.
The Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF)
Ofsted has recently published the Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) for Supported Accommodation. Most inspections under the SCCIF have previously followed the 4-point scale: outstanding, good, requires improvement to be good and adequate. Ofsted have adapted the SCCIF for Supported Accommdation settings into the 3-outcome model:
- Outcome 1: Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action. The next inspection will be within approximately 3 years.
- Outcome 2: Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months.
- Outcome 3: Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately 6 months.
Evaluation Criteria
The SCCIF evaluation criteria fall under these 3 headings:
- The overall experiences and progress of children
- How well children are helped and protected
- The effectiveness of leaders and managers
Inspectors use the range of evaluation criteria as benchmarks against which to grade and judge performance. The outcome is not derived through a checklist – failure to meet all the criteria under a heading will not automatically lead to a weaker outcome. The evaluation assesses whether the support for children is effective and determines what impact your service’s support has on children’s experiences and progress.
For the full list of evaluation criteria click here.
Tips for achieving the #1 inspection outcome
#1 – Make sure you’re overly familiar with the Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations including Quality Standards. At the base level, your setting needs to be meeting all the Supported Accommodation regulations. Ofsted also consider the knowledge and understanding gained from the Care Standards Act 2000 and The Care Standards Act 2000 (Registration)(England) Regulations 2010.
#2 – The needs and experiences of your young people have to be at the forefront of your service. In their Inspection Framework Ofsted state, “We have reached a general consensus with the main social care stakeholders that social care inspections should focus on the experiences and progress of children.” To reflect this focus, all ClouDoc documents come with the “principles for supported accommodation” developed with care experienced young people. Make sure the support you deliver is meeting the needs and asipirations of your young people and involve/evidence that your young people have a say in how your setting is run. The evaluation criterita includes “The overall experiences and progress of children” and “How well children are helped and protected,” your setting should be able to meet and evidence the evaluation criteria under these headings. Ofsted sends out online questionnaires annually by email and asks to distribute these to young people in the setting – reponses should be sent by the time an inspection gets announced. Inspectors will also ask providers to share a short survey with young people when annoucing the inspection.
#3 – Be ready to evidence the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Ofsted state “Adults can only support children well if they’re given the time, resources and information they need to do this.” Your setting should be able to meet and evidence the evaluation criteria under the heading “The effectiveness of leaders and managers” while also paying close attention to Regulation 4: The leadership and Management standard (see Guide to supported accommodation regulations including quality standards).
#4 – Show inspectors how you safeguard your young people. Safeguarding young people is a top priority. Your location risk assessment should have revealed the safeguarding issues in your area and you should continue to review and update this document (see OSA14 – Location Risk Assessment Template on ClouDoc). Your safeguarding policy (see OSA07) should also reflect your location risk assessment and contain the procedures staff should follow in relation to safeguarding. See the “Safeguarding” folder in “Looking After The Young Person” for specific safeguarding related policies.
#5 – Evidence multi-agency working. Your location risk assessment should have evidence of your consultation with external agencies – keep this updated and continue building positive relationships with stakeholders, including young people, their families and external agencies. Multi-agency working enables you to keep young people safe and provide high quality support.
“The registered person has a key role in seeking to develop the service’s effective working relationships with each young person’s accommodating authority and with other relevant persons which may include individuals (including parents), agencies, bodies offering floating support, organisations and establishments that work with young people in the local community. These could include, but are not limited to, schools, colleges, health, police and youth offending teams.” – Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations.
This is important as Ofsted inspectors consult with a range of professionals in your local area to inform the inspection findings. These professionals may include placing social workers, independent reviewing officers, the virtual school headteacher, school/college staff, local police, designated safeguarding officers and children’s adovcates. Inspectors may ask for their relevant contact details.
#6 – Have your documents ready! An inspector will not examine every single document and the SCCIF has tried to put more emphasis on the actual support and experience of the young people. The SCCIF does, however, still highlight that the following documents may be reviewed:
- children’s records (local authority care plans/pathway plans or minutes/reports from statutory looked after children reviews and/or pathway plan reviews)
- any documents that demonstrate progress made by the child
- notes of supervision from the last 3 months
- minutes of any professional meetings
- health & safety checks
- staff recruitment records
If you have any questions relating to Ofsted inspections or the documents you may need, give ClouDoc a call on 0330 808 0050 or email support@cloudoc.co.uk
Check “SILA14 – Quality Assurance Policy” and your “Quality Assurance” folder in your Supported Accommodation Management Forms package for documents that you can use to audit your service pre-inspection and according to Regulation 32.
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