Ofsted Proposal

Ofsted proposes to:

•         Introduce a separate new judgement within ILACS – ‘The experiences and progress of care leavers.’
•         Review and update the existing evaluation criteria to ensure that they are relevant and reflect what good looks like for care leavers
•         Introduce the new judgement after all local authorities have at least one OLACS inspection outcome.

Proposal 1: a new judgement for care leavers

Ofsted proposes to introduce a separate new judgement within ILACS: ‘The experiences and progress of care leavers’. The below table outlines the current and proposed judgement structures.

This judgement will be made using the same 4-point scale as for the other judgements:

•         Outstanding,
•         Good,
•         Requires improvement,
•         Inadequate.

The findings from this judgement will inform the overall effectiveness grade.

Inspectors will evaluate the experiences of care leavers and the services they receive using the evaluation criteria as a benchmark. Inspectors will use professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings. A judgement of good will be made if the inspection team concludes that the evidence overall sits most appropriately with a finding of good. This is what is described as the ‘best fit’. The overall effectiveness judgement will be derived from findings in each of the four other judgement areas. Inspectors will use both evidence and their professional judgement to award the overall effectiveness grade.

Proposal 2: Evaluation Criteria

Currently, there is an evaluation criterion for a judgement on ‘the experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers’. Ofsted will separate these evaluation criteria into separate judgements for ‘children in care’ and ‘care leavers’.  

Ofsted will propose to review the criteria to ensure they have the right focus on the things that matter most to care leavers. They will:

•         Update the criteria in light of statutory guidance for local authorities,
•         Take account of the government response to the independent review of children’s social care,
•         Review whether they need to change the evaluation criteria for ‘the experiences and progress of children in care’ and ‘the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families to align with the updated criteria for care leavers.
•         Take account of feedback during this consultation.

Proposal 3: When Ofsted will introduce the new judgement

Ofsted proposes to introduce the new care leavers judgement in January 2023. By January 2023, all local authorities will have had at least one ILACS standard or short inspection. By carrying out at least one inspection under the current arrangements, they will have evaluated all local authorities against a consistent framework before making this important change.

Ofsted will not introduce the new judgement sooner than January 2023. They want to take the time to carry out a full consultation, review the responses and update their published guidance before introducing the new judgement.

Consultation Process

The Ofsted consultation process opens on Monday 30th June and closes on Friday 29th July 2022. In December 2022, they will publish a report on the outcome of this consultation.