Guidance

Protocol between Ofsted and services managed by local authorities: children바카라 사이트™s social care providers

Updated 28 February 2025

Purpose

This protocol sets out the working relationships between the Office for Standards in Education, Children바카라 사이트™s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and services managed by the chief executives of local authorities regarding children바카라 사이트™s social care providers. It does this by:

• establishing the legal basis for Ofsted바카라 사이트™s regulatory responsibilities

• explaining how Ofsted carries out those responsibilities

• explaining the responsibilities of local authorities

• explaining how agreed working arrangements can help both organisations to meet these responsibilities

• establishing the legal basis for Ofsted바카라 사이트™s inspection responsibilities

Ofsted and local authorities share a great deal of information and have different memorandums of understanding and data-sharing agreements in place to support this work. This protocol is specific to the following:

• checks with local authority children바카라 사이트™s services on those associated with applications for registration with Ofsted

• local safeguarding partners

• safeguarding and child protection concerns

We have separate guidance and protocols that set out how we share information in other circumstances regarding social care providers .

Ofsted바카라 사이트™s role

Ofsted regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. As part of this, we inspect local authority children바카라 사이트™s services.

We are also responsible for regulating and inspecting the following children바카라 사이트™s social care establishments and agencies:

• children바카라 사이트™s homes, including secure children바카라 사이트™s homes and residential special schools registered as children바카라 사이트™s homes

• independent fostering agencies

• voluntary adoption agencies

• adoption support agencies

• residential family centres

• residential holiday schemes for disabled children

• supported accommodation

The legal framework under which Ofsted regulates

The legislation under which Ofsted regulates children바카라 사이트™s social care includes the following:

Powers and duties

A person must register with Ofsted if they carry on or manage any of the children바카라 사이트™s social care establishments or agencies listed above. Failing to do so .

Those who apply for registration must demonstrate to Ofsted that they are fit to provide or manage social care services and that they meet the legal requirements, as set out in the legislation above.

The Care Standards Act 2000 gives Ofsted a range of powers to deal with:

• people carrying on or managing a children바카라 사이트™s social care service without the appropriate registration

• registered persons who fail to meet the legal requirements for social care establishments or agencies and supported accommodation services

The types of enforcement actions we can take against registered providers or managers for breaching requirements include:

• refusing a registration

• imposing or varying conditions of registration

• serving compliance notices

• suspending a registration

• restricting accommodation

• imposing an urgent condition

• prosecuting for offences contrary to The Care Standards Act 2000, including unregistered care

• cancelling a registration

Inspection and reports

Legislation sets out how frequently Ofsted should inspect each children바카라 사이트™s social care service that is registered. We inspect them under the 바카라 사이트˜Social care common inspection framework바카라 사이트™ (SCCIF) and publish a report afterwards.

Ofsted바카라 사이트™s applications, regulatory and contact team

Our central point of contact for the public and all providers is the applications, regulatory and contact (ARC) team. It is responsible for:

• being the first point of contact with Ofsted

• giving information and guidance on using our website, including technical help for online applications

• carrying out all relevant suitability checks, including social services checks, references and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, on all applicants and anyone connected with an application

• processing our registration work across early years and social care and the regulatory risk assessment of childcare providers

See for the ARC team. Local authorities can contact us at extranetqueries@ofsted.gov.uk or on 0300 123 1231.

Carrying out checks on those associated with applications to register with Ofsted

As the , we must assess whether those who provide and manage these are 바카라 사이트˜fit바카라 사이트™ for registration.

As part of this, we carry out a check with local authorities about individuals who are connected with a children바카라 사이트™s social care registration. We need to see whether the local authority has any information about those individuals that may affect their fitness for registration.

, applicants must provide any information or documents we reasonably require in relation to their application for registration.

Who we check with local authorities

We carry out these checks on applicants for the following roles connected to a children바카라 사이트™s social care application for registration:

• registered managers/registered service managers

• where the registered provider is an organisation, the responsible individual or nominated individual

• where the registered provider is an individual, the individual person

• where the registered provider is a partnership, the partners

What Ofsted does

Applicants and people connected to an application complete forms stating that they accept that Ofsted will carry out a range of checks on them. This includes each applicant agreeing that Ofsted will ask local authorities to carry out a check against children바카라 사이트™s services바카라 사이트™ records.

We contact the children바카라 사이트™s services department for any local authority areas the individual has lived in within the previous 5 years.

For those connected to an application for registration, we ask the local authority whether it holds any relevant information about that individual that may affect their fitness to carry on or manage the social care establishment or agency. For example, this information could include:

• whether the individual has been connected with a child protection inquiry

• whether the individual has had a child removed from their care because of their care of that child

• whether allegations about the individual have ever been referred to a local authority designated officer in relation to working with children in any setting, and the outcome of those allegations

The local authority may also hold personal information about any children of the people we are checking. We do not ask for this information, so those children do not need to give consent for their data to be shared (even if they are now adults). However, we may sometimes need to process personal data relating to children. We may receive this data as part of:

• the information that we reasonably require from applicants under

• the information that the local authority shares with us as it may impact on someone바카라 사이트™s fitness

We therefore need to process this data in order to carry out thorough and effective checks on individuals. This is part of how we perform our public function and task as the regulator of children바카라 사이트™s social care establishments and agencies.

Our privacy notice for social care sets out what personal information we collect, what we do with it, how long we keep it and individuals바카라 사이트™ rights under data protection legislation.

What local authorities do for Ofsted

When carrying out checks, local authorities will:

• accept that Ofsted has obtained consent from the person concerned to get information from children바카라 사이트™s services records

• decide whether information can be released to Ofsted

• arrange a check of child protection records and other appropriate case records

• respond to Ofsted within 2 weeks of receiving the request stating that either:

• the person is not known

• information is held that may be relevant to the application, and a summary of that information

• the person is known to children바카라 사이트™s services, but information cannot be provided within 2 weeks and details of when the director of children바카라 사이트™s services will provide Ofsted with the information

• provide information in writing so that Ofsted can make a decision about a person바카라 사이트™s suitability

• be aware that any information provided to Ofsted may be shared with the subject of the check and that Ofsted may need to use the information to determine the outcome of the application for registration

What we do when a local authority gives us information

When a local authority gives us information about a person as part of our checks, this does not automatically mean that we will decide that person is unfit for registration. We consider any information we receive and assess whether it has an impact on the fitness decisions we need to make.

We may discuss the information with an individual at interview and it will inform our registration decision.

Local safeguarding partners

Local authorities have the lead responsibility for investigating safeguarding concerns about children in their area. They have duties under section 17 of the to provide services to children in need for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare. Under section 47 of the same Act, they have a duty to make enquiries where they suspect that a child is suffering or is at risk of significant harm.

The (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act 2017) requires the 3 safeguarding partners in an area to agree local arrangements for working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The 3 safeguarding partners are:

• the local authority

• an integrated care system for an area, any part of which falls within the local authority

• the chief officer of police for a police area, any part of which falls within the local authority area

Local safeguarding partners바카라 사이트™ responsibilities

Local safeguarding partners will ensure that processes are in place to inform Ofsted about child protection concerns involving:

• a registered provider or manager of a children바카라 사이트™s social care establishment or agency

• a person employed in a children바카라 사이트™s social care establishment or agency

They will also make sure that they inform Ofsted if they become aware of any unregistered children바카라 사이트™s social care establishments or agencies.

Safeguarding and child protection concerns

We follow our safeguarding policy and guidance in 바카라 사이트˜Working together to safeguard children바카라 사이트™.

We are not the statutory authority for enquiries into specific child protection concerns, under . If we receive any concerns about safeguarding or allegations of abuse, we will refer them to the relevant local authority children바카라 사이트™s services and/or the police. It is for the local authority to determine how it responds to the concerns.

We will escalate to the director of children바카라 사이트™s services if we remain concerned that appropriate action has not been taken. We will also carry out our own assessment of whether the provider meets the requirements for continued registration and decide on the appropriate action to take. We will work closely with the local authority and the police when there is a . If the information suggests risk of harm, we may use our urgent enforcement powers.

Local authority children바카라 사이트™s services arrange strategy discussions to help them to decide whether the information they hold about a child meets their threshold to investigate a child protection concern and, if so, the steps they need to take in response. We may attend strategy meetings if appropriate.

Ofsted바카라 사이트™s role at strategy meetings is explained in the social care enforcement policy.

We will always carry out our own immediate assessment of risk to children based on the information we hold. This will determine whether there are any actions we should take, as the regulator. We will liaise with the local authority, police and other agencies as necessary, but we will always carry out our own inspection where appropriate. We will work jointly with local authorities to consider how to best to do this.

Handling child protection concerns

The address of the registered childcare provider may be in a different local authority to that of the child concerned. In these cases, the registered provider바카라 사이트™s local authority will tell us as soon as possible which local authority will take lead responsibility for the assessment or investigation.

Child protection concerns that relate to a registered children바카라 사이트™s social care establishment or agency

Local safeguarding partners, Ofsted and relevant agencies may be made aware of concerns that relate directly to a child바카라 사이트™s experience within a children바카라 사이트™s social care establishment or agency. These concerns may become known as a result of a formal complaint made to:

• a registered provider

• Ofsted

• local authorities

• another relevant agency

Where the responsibility and decision lie with the employer, and the provider prevents a person from working or being present at the establishment or agency, we will take this into account, and monitor the situation. We may suspend a registration if we reasonably believe that the continued provision of children바카라 사이트™s social care by the registered person may expose someone to a risk of harm. In some cases, we may take steps to cancel the registration. Further information on the action we may take can be found in our social care enforcement policy.

Child protection concerns that involve a registered provider as an individual

Local safeguarding partners, or Ofsted, may receive concerns involving a registered provider that do not relate directly to the children being cared for in the establishment or agency. For example, the concerns may relate to the person바카라 사이트™s own children or a person being arrested for accessing pornographic images of children online.

Local safeguarding partners will tell us about these concerns as soon as possible because the concerns may affect the fitness of the registered person or manager. If available, local safeguarding partners will provide sufficient information to enable us to make a decision about the individual바카라 사이트™s fitness.

Supplying written information to Ofsted at the conclusion of a child protection investigation

Following the outcome of a child protection investigation concerning a registered person, the lead local safeguarding partner will ensure that information is passed to us to help us in making a decision about the registered person바카라 사이트™s continued ability to meet the requirements for registration.

The local authority (or police if they are the lead agency) will give us a written statement that includes:

• the nature of the concern

• a written assessment of risk

• an outline of the conclusions of the investigation

• a clear statement of the assessed risk to children, with particular reference to any concerns identified on behalf of the registered person that we might need to pursue

• confirmation that the agency has informed the provider in writing of the outcome of the investigation

• a recommendation, if relevant, on the need for the registered person, or Ofsted, to provide information to the Independent Safeguarding Authority or to any other body about any person who is found unsuitable to work with children

Learning from serious safeguarding incidents

Local safeguarding partners are responsible for identifying and reviewing serious child safeguarding cases that raise important issues in their area. They will sometimes commission a local child safeguarding practice review to learn lessons from the incident and identify improvements that can be made to the systems and services that protect children. Serious child safeguarding cases are those in which abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected and the child has died or been seriously harmed.

Serious child safeguarding cases sometimes involve a provider that is registered with Ofsted. If so, local safeguarding partners may ask Ofsted to contribute to the review.

Media interest in child protection investigations

In cases of possible or known abuse involving a registered provider where there is likely to be media interest, it is important that the relevant agencies liaise with one another before releasing a press statement. These agencies may include the Department for Education, police and local authorities as well as Ofsted.

We will contribute to this process by making relevant information available to local safeguarding partners바카라 사이트™ member agencies.

Appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards)

When we take regulatory action against a children바카라 사이트™s social care provider or manager, which can include suspension, cancellation of registration or changes to conditions of registration, the provider or manager has the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards). The tribunal will only uphold any action we have taken if it is satisfied the action is lawful, justified and proportionate.

If a provider appeals against suspension, the tribunal will hear the appeal within 3 weeks of it being made. We may require relevant supporting evidence from local safeguarding partners and relevant agencies to help us defend our action.

If the tribunal considers evidence provided by local safeguarding partners as important in reaching its judgment, we may ask a representative of a local safeguarding partners to attend a tribunal hearing. We may also ask the local safeguarding partner to give a written statement.

Although not part of the initial child protection process, decisions made at a tribunal hearing may be of direct relevance to local safeguarding partners바카라 사이트™ objectives, as set out in 바카라 사이트˜Working together to safeguard children바카라 사이트™.

Ofsted바카라 사이트™s contribution to any civil or criminal action by local safeguarding partners

We will comply with the and associated regulations General Data Protection Regulation and , the and the , and any requirement by a court to make available any relevant information that we hold. This includes written statements or verbal evidence at court hearings for any civil or criminal proceedings initiated by local safeguarding partners.