Ofsted renews early years inspection contracts with Tribal and Prospects

The inspectorate revealed that the contracts for Tribal and Prospects have been extended and the contractors will continue to inspect early years providers until March 2017.

Ofsted confirmed that the contracts were renewed in May.

The decision was included in Ofsted’s annual reports and accounts, 2014-15, published yesterday.

The move is a blow for the sector, as early years providers have long been calling for Ofsted to bring all early years inspections in-house.

Concerns about the consistency and quality of outsourced inspections were largely responsible for the launch of the Ofsted Big Conversation campaign.

Last September, Nursery World revealed that Ofsted’s own in-house inspectors would be taking on responsibility for re-inspecting ‘requires improvement’ nurseries in place of outside contractors Prospects and Tribal.

Last year, Ofsted confirmed that it would bring early years inspections for schools and FE and skills in-house from September 2015.

The current contracts with CFBT, Serco and Tribal for school and FE inspections have run since September 2009 and expire in August.

Early years providers have called for Ofsted to do the same for early years inspections.

An Ofsted spokesperson said, ‘Having considered quality and value for money, Ofsted agreed to extend its contract with early years inspection providers, which provide more than 90 per cent of our early years inspections. We are confident that our providers will, working within the same inspection framework, continue to provide a high quality service and help raise standards for young children in nurseries and other early years settings.

‘Last year, Ofsted decided to bring school and further education inspections in-house from September 2015. Our inspection service providers have been delivering a successful inspection programme for Ofsted. But with the conclusion of these contracts, the time is right to bring inspection in-house.

‘These new arrangements will give Ofsted tighter control over selection, quality assurance and training of inspectors and their work.’

Commenting on the plans, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said, ‘Given the concerns that have previously been raised about the quality of the early years inspector service providers, we are disappointed that Ofsted has chosen to extend their contracts to 2017. Over recent months, the inspectorate has demonstrated its willingness to engage with the sector and respond positively to practitioners’ views and concerns, and so this seems like a missed opportunity to make a change that would have helped improve confidence in the fairness and consistency of early years inspections.’

Nick Hudson, Ofsted’s early years director had previously said that it would be very unsettling to make any significant changes before the end of the current inspection cycle in 2016, and because of uncertainty around the number of inspectors that would be required to inspect childminder agencies. (Currently there are only five agencies registered.)

‘Most early years inspectors are contracted out. I believe to bring all of them in-house would, in the short-term, be an administrative distraction when we need to focus on other matters,' Mr Hudson said at the time.

Mr Leitch said that as this ‘defence of the decision to continue outsourcing early years inspections no longer applies, we would be very keen to gain a better understanding as to why this decision has been taken.’

On Monday 13 July, Ofsted will publish the annual report for early years. This will report on the evidence from inspection for children before the start of Reception, including new evidence from the introduction of the early years grade for primary schools.

The last report highlighted that 78 per cent of providers on the Early Years Register were good or outstanding, the highest proportion since the register was set up. Ofsted said this ‘upward trend was continuing’.