Ofsted U-turn on controversial early years employee health guidance

The move comes after the early years sector expressed outrage at the document, published yesterday evening, that stated providers must report any changes to an employees’ health including depression, ‘stress-related’ or emotional issues.

It follows a meeting between the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and Ofsted in which the NDNA shared the concerns of the sector.

Writing on Twitter, Ofsted said, ‘We've removed our document 'Childcare: reporting signficant events and changes to health' and will review it.’

In response, David Wight, owner of Paintpots Pre-school & Nursery, tweeted, ‘Thank you for listening and acting.’

EYFS trainer and consultant Alison Featherbe also tweeted, ‘Thank you for reacting. Whilst I understand you may deem it necessary to have such guidance, EYFS providers must be trusted to risk assess “significant events” and react.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of NDNA, said, ‘We welcome that this guidance has been taken down while it is thoroughly reviewed. We understand that it will be made clearer that the guidance will only apply to the registered person whose suitability is checked by Ofsted at registration.’

The publication of the guidance led to an immediate backlash on social media with nurseries and childminders saying it was unworkable, an intrusion of privacy, and that it could mean sharing confidential information, which could potentially be discriminatory.

An Ofsted spokesperson said, 'We put together this guidance in response to a survey we carried out, where early years providers told us they wanted more clarity on things they need to inform Ofsted about, such as an incident or health issue.

'Nothing in the guidance was new. Reporting to Ofsted has always been a requirement of the EYFS. However, we understand the guidance has caused some confusion, so we have taken it down while we review it to make it clearer.'