Guidance

Ofsted safeguarding policy

Updated 7 November 2025

Applies to England

Purpose

This policy sets out Ofsted’s approach to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk.^{[footnote 1]} It applies to all aspects of our work and to everyone working for Ofsted, including permanent and temporary employees, contractors and self-employed contracted inspectors.

Ofsted has a duty to regulate and inspect how effectively providers keep children and adults at risk safe from abuse, neglect and exploitation, in line with statutory guidance.

Definitions

Ofsted uses definitions of the term ‘safeguarding’ from statutory guidance.

Safeguarding children is defined in Working together to safeguard children as:

• protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
• preventing impairment of children’s health or development
• ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Safeguarding adults at risk is defined in the Care and support statutory guidance issued under the Care Act 2014 as:

• protecting the rights of adults to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect
• people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect
• people and organisations making sure that the adult’s well-being is promoted including, where appropriate, taking fully into account their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action
• recognising that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances and therefore potential risks to their safety or well-being

Recruitment

Ofsted carries out safer recruitment checks on everyone who works for us, whether as an employee or contractor. All roles require a basic, standard or enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and satisfactory references. All inspectors will be subject to an enhanced DBS check because their role may bring them into regular contact with children and adults at risk.

Anyone interviewed for a post with Ofsted, either internally or from outside the organisation, will need to show a clear understanding of all aspects of safeguarding relevant to the role they have applied for.

Expectations of staff and inspectors

Everyone working for Ofsted has a responsibility to familiarise themselves with the relevant suitability policy and procedures relevant to their role. They must maintain a proper focus on the safety and welfare of children and adults at risk in all aspects of their work.

They must inform their manager if they or anyone living in their household become(s) the subject of a safeguarding concern. Employees must inform their manager as soon as is practicable. Please note this requirement includes all concerns, and employees and workers should not await the completion of any investigation before informing Ofsted. If anyone is in doubt whether the situation or allegation is relevant, they should:

• refer to the definitions of safeguarding and protection of adults at risk
• seek advice from the People and Culture team or their manager

Any allegations of misconduct towards children and/or adults at risk by those working for Ofsted will be managed in accordance with internal guidance on management of safeguarding complaints.

Safeguarding training

Ofsted is committed to ensuring that all our employees and contractors understand their safeguarding responsibilities and keep their knowledge up to date. All staff and contracted inspectors must complete an online safeguarding training package within 3 months of taking up post, and after that at 3-yearly intervals. There will also be regular refresher training for inspectors on safeguarding children and adults at risk, including on specific areas of risk and safeguarding practice.

Acting on safeguarding concerns

It is not Ofsted’s role to investigate concerns about individual children and adults who are or may be being abused or who are at risk – the focus of our inspection is the overall quality of safeguarding practice. However, this does not mean that we should do nothing when we learn of a concern. We all have a responsibility to make sure that concerns about children and adults at risk are passed to the agency that can help them without delay.

If anyone is concerned that a child or adult is at risk of being abused or neglected, they should not ignore their suspicions and should not assume that someone else will take action to protect that person.

Concerns about children should be referred to the children’s social care department of the local authority where the child lives. Similarly, concerns about adults at risk should be referred to local authority adult services. Our processes for what to do if concerns are raised during an inspection and making referrals are set out in Ofsted’s Safeguarding concerns guidance.

If anyone is in any doubt about what to do, they should consult their line manager or duty team.

Anyone who has concerns about the behaviour of a colleague must always raise this with their line manager and the Director of People as quickly as possible.

Learning and improving

We are determined to keep improving our knowledge and understanding of how best to protect children and adults at risk. We will review our own practice regularly to check that we are placing the right emphasis on safeguarding in our work.

We will carry out in-depth reviews of our actions in cases where children suffer serious harm while under the care of providers that we regulate or inspect, and where these cases raise questions about Ofsted’s practice that need to be examined. The main purpose of the reviews is to learn lessons about where our systems need to improve to better protect children in future. We will also promote a culture in which we are able to highlight and review near misses to learn and improve our practice.

1. An adult is any person who has reached 18 years old. A child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. ↩