Ofsted’s new inspections, from September 2026
The single overall judgement you have worked towards for years has gone. So have Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate. Here is what replaces them, and what it actually means for a childminder.
In short
- No more single overall grade. You are judged across several separate evaluation areas instead.
- New scale: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
- Safeguarding is judged separately as met or not met — it is not on the same scale as everything else.
- Notice is unchanged in feel: a phone call, usually by 10am, no more than 5 working days before — and some inspections still happen with no notice at all.
- “Expected standard” is the bar, and it is a perfectly good place to be. It is not the new “Requires Improvement”.
- Nothing about good practice has changed. The reporting of it has.
Go to the source before you act on this.
This is a plain-English summary of Ofsted’s published operating guide and toolkit for inspections from September 2026. It is not official guidance and it is not legal advice. A framework this new will be clarified as it beds in, so read Ofsted’s own early years inspection operating guide and the accompanying toolkit, and treat those as definitive over anything here.
What has gone
The single word. For years, an inspection ended in one judgement that went on your website, your parent pack and every conversation you had about your setting. Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Inadequate.
That has been replaced by a set of separate judgements across several areas. There is no longer one headline grade summarising your whole provision.
Why this matters commercially, not just professionally
“We’re Ofsted Outstanding” has been the single most effective line in childminder marketing for a generation. It no longer exists. If your website, leaflets, Facebook page or parent pack lead on a grade, you will need a new way to describe your quality — and so will every setting you compete with. That is an opportunity as much as a problem, particularly if you are good at explaining what you actually do.
The new scale
Ofsted’s operating guide sets out these grades:
The trap to avoid
Do not read “Expected standard” as the new “Requires Improvement”. It is not. It means you are meeting the standard expected of a good early years provider — which is what the overwhelming majority of childminders do, every day.
There will be a period where parents, and some childminders, misread it. Being able to explain that calmly to a parent is going to be a genuinely useful skill this year.
The evaluation areas
Rather than one judgement, inspectors evaluate across separate areas. Ofsted’s toolkit covers:
- Safeguarding — judged separately, see below
- Inclusion
- Curriculum and teaching
- Achievement
- Behaviour and routines
- Welfare and wellbeing
- Leadership and governance
For a childminder, “leadership and governance” means you. There is no management team to point at, and no committee to share it with — which cuts both ways. You cannot delegate it, but you also do not have to explain someone else’s decisions.
Inclusion as its own area is worth noticing
Inclusion being evaluated in its own right, rather than folded into a general judgement, raises the stakes on how you support children with SEND. If you have never been asked to talk about that in detail, expect to be.
Worth being able to say, out loud and without notes: who your Area SENCo is, what adjustments you have made for a specific child, what the graduated approach looked like in practice, and what happened next.
Safeguarding is judged on its own
Safeguarding does not sit on the five-point scale. It is met or not met, with provision for minor improvements.
That binary is deliberate, and it tells you where to put your energy. Everything else has gradations. This does not.
The safeguarding questions to be able to answer cold
- What would you do, step by step, if a child disclosed something to you today?
- Who do you contact, and what is the number? Do you know it, or would you be searching?
- What would you do if an allegation were made against someone in your household?
- When did you last do safeguarding training, and what changed as a result?
- What are your recording arrangements, and where are they kept?
Note that the reporting threshold for allegations dropped from “serious harm” to “harm” in the EYFS framework change on 1 September 2026. Check your policy uses the current wording.
Notice, and the call
For childminders, Ofsted typically telephones no more than 5 working days before the inspection, usually by 10am. They will check which days you are working and when children will be there. You are told the time of day it will start, not the exact date.
Some inspections still happen with no notice at all. That has not changed.
There is then a planning call, and an email asking for factual information about your setting.
The call is part of the inspection
Treat it as such. It is where the inspector starts forming a picture of how well you know your provision. Have a pen. Ask what they would like available. Then, crucially, go and do your normal day — a childminder visibly performing an unusual routine is more obvious than most people realise.
What it actually means for you
Less than the announcement suggests, in terms of what you do on a Tuesday.
- Good practice has not changed. Knowing your children, planning for them, keeping them safe, working with parents. All identical.
- The paperwork position has not changed. Ofsted’s guidance still says inspectors will not ask to see your internal tracking or assessment records, and that you may use whatever approach to paperwork suits you. See the paperwork you can safely stop doing.
- What has changed is the reporting. More areas, more granularity, no single word.
- Being able to talk about your practice matters more than ever. With more separate areas, there are more distinct conversations to have. The childminder who can explain why they do something has always done well, and now has more opportunities to show it.
What to do about it
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Read the toolkit yourself
Not a summary, including this one. Ofsted’s toolkit sets out what each evaluation area actually looks for. An hour with it is worth more than any amount of Facebook speculation.
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Update anything that quotes your old grade
Website, parent pack, leaflets, social media. Decide now how you describe your quality instead — and make it about what you do, not what you were once labelled.
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Prepare for the inclusion conversation
Pick a real child you have supported and be able to tell that story properly: what you noticed, what you tried, who you involved, what changed.
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Rehearse safeguarding out loud
It is met or not met. Say your answers to someone, not in your head.
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Check your EYFS policies
Two frameworks changed on the same day. See what changed in the EYFS on 1 September 2026 — particularly the harm reporting threshold and the banned dog breed prohibition.
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Don’t panic-buy a template pack
Someone will be selling a “new framework compliance bundle” by the end of the week. The framework does not require new paperwork. It requires you to be able to talk about what you already do.
The honest summary
A new framework always feels bigger before it arrives than after. The children in your care will not notice. Your day will not change. What changes is the shape of the report at the end, and the language you use with parents. Read the toolkit, tidy your policies, and carry on doing the job.