Notifications to be sent by Ofsted to local authorities about children's social care providers
Friday, March 12, 2010
All providers of children's homes, residential family centres, fostering agencies, voluntary adoption agencies and adoption support agencies are legislated by the Care Standards Act 2000 and are regulated by Ofsted.
When a provider has not met its statutory duties and action is taken against it, Ofsted is legally required to notify all local authorities in England and Wales.
Such cases could include establishments or agencies that have had conditions imposed on their registration, or those that are to be prosecuted for failure to comply with regulations.
This consultation seeks views on draft regulations that set out what information Ofsted must provide to local authorities and under what circumstances notifications must be made. New measures introduced by the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 will increase the enforcement options available to Ofsted, and include the power to restrict new admissions to a children's home or family centre and to issue a compliance notice to a provider.
The draft regulations should provide local authorities with up-to-date information on which to base their decision about continued use of such a provider. The consultation is part of work initiated by the government's white paper Care Matters: Time for Change, and results are due to be published in the summer. The statutory regulations are expected to come into force in April 2011.
Closing date 10 May
See full consultation document on Notifications to be sent by Ofsted to local authorities about children's social care providers
