Guidance

Early years and childcare: Ofsted's enforcement policy

Ofsted's policy on how we regulate childcare providers explains what we may do if a provider is not following the regulations.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This policy explains how we regulate childcare providers, including childminders, nannies, nurseries, childminder agencies and other types of childcare. It also sets out:

  • our powers under the law
  • what actions we can take if providers are not following the regulations
  • what we may do if we find out about unregistered provision
  • a list of the things registered providers need to tell us about

Use our Report a serious childcare incident service to report accident and incidents to Ofsted.

Published 28 March 2019
Last updated 1 March 2024 + show all updates
  1. See 'Summary of changes'.

  2. See 'Summary of changes' document.

  3. See 'Summary of changes' document.

  4. Reviewed the content to make it more accessible and user-friendly (no change to our enforcement powers and general approach to regulation). Details in 'Summary of changes'.

  5. First published.