Safeguarding children

Ofsted and our inspection partners carry out all the required employment checks for staff who visit nurseries, childminders, schools and colleges as part of an inspection. This includes appropriate employment checks and an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosure.

All HMI, Regulatory and Additional Inspectors carry official Ofsted photo identification badges so that schools and other providers know they have passed these rigorous safeguarding checks.

Ofsted inspectors work to government legislation and statutory guidance, which is based on the Department for Education's Safeguarding children and safer recruitment in education.

Below you can find additional advice and FAQs.

If you want to contact us to report concerns about practices and procedures for the safeguarding of children and young people in local authority services go to the Whistleblower hotline page.

Additional advice and FAQs

Q. When will the safeguarding arrangements in my Cafcass service area be inspected?

A. Ofsted has been piloting a new framework for the inspection of Cafcass. This has now been agreed and the timeframe for inspection confirmed. The inspection of all 21 Cafcass service areas will be completed by August 2011. Unfortunately, we are unable to release details of the schedule for this inspection, as a service area is given only two weeks notice of its inspection.

For further information, go to Ofsted inspects – Cafcass,

Q. Is it still a requirement for administrators in services regulated and/or inspected by Ofsted to be CRB checked if they have access to children’s records. We have been told by the CRB that these staff are no longer eligible for such a check.

A. Administrators who do not have regular contact with children under 18 but who have access to health, educational and social services records of children are engaged in what is currently defined under the Vetting and Barring Scheme as controlled activity. This means that they currently require an enhanced CRB disclosure certificate.

The Government announced in February 2011 that it proposes to repeal controlled activity in the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which is currently going through parliament. If the repeal is approved by Parliament, it could come into force in 2012 and after that point enhanced CRB checks would not be required for administrators. However, until the repeal of the category of controlled activities takes effect in 2012, administrators who have access to health, educational or social services records of children in the services that we inspect will still need them.

Ofsted understands that the CRB are already advising local authorities that administrators who are employed in posts where there is no regular contact with children or vulnerable adults but who have access to sensitive records are not eligible for CRB checks. We have contacted the DfE to seek clarification on this specific issue and will update this answer when we have a decision. In the meantime, in recognition that this is a transitional period, inspectors will not penalise services for non-compliance with the current controlled activity requirement where they have received this response from the CRB.