Prospects Services, an education consultancy that employs around 1,200 staff in 60 offices, has been named as the firm that will take over inspections in the Midlands and the north of England.
Last week the Tribal Group, which offers consultancy services to a wide range of public sector organisations, announced that it had won a £64m contract to take over inspections in the south of England (News, 25 February).
The five-year contracts are expected to begin on 1 September.
Ofsted said the agreements make provision for the inspectorate's early years inspectors and support staff to transfer to the new contractors. It added that transferring staff with strong knowledge of early years work would ensure that inspections and registration visits continue to be carried out by very experienced inspectors.
In an exclusive interview with Nursery World, Jean Humphrys, director of early years development at Ofsted, said that all childcare providers would receive a letter about the outsourcing in June or July and gave more details of how inspections would be carried out in the future.
She added, 'There will be opportunities for inspectors to spend time going back into daycare to refresh their skills.'
When asked whether the outsourcing would spell redundancy for any of Ofsted's early years inspectors, Ms Humphrys said, 'We won't be able to confirm whether there will be fewer inspectors until we get to the point of signing over, but the numbers will match the work we have to do, and reflect the fact that there has been a decline in the number of providers.'
