Standard

Statistical work programme: April 2026 to March 2027

Updated 30 April 2026

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-standards-for-official-statistics/statistical-work-programme-april-2026-to-march-2027

Introduction

Good data and analysis sit at the heart of operational delivery and policy development in Ofsted. They underpin our inspection and regulation activity, helping to determine the timing and nature of our operations. In addition, data and analysis give context to the conversations we have with providers during inspection, in line with Ofsted’s published inspection frameworks and statutory responsibilities. We have a statutory duty to provide an overview of the state of the sectors that we inspect and regulate.

Across Ofsted, most data collection and analysis take place between the Research and Evaluation and the Data and Insight divisions, both of which sit within the Insights and Research directorate.

Our research and evaluation team carry out research to fill gaps in knowledge and to influence practice in the sectors we inspect and regulate. We carry out evaluations to understand what works and to drive improvements in our inspection and regulatory policy and practice. The team carries out formal evaluations of frameworks and leads on other strategic projects where there is a need for wider system change.

The research and evaluation team provides quantitative survey research and support across Ofsted, advising on survey design and drawing samples for the research and evaluation research programme. The team also carry out cross-government quantitative data analysis and modelling, including accessing cross-governmental data. We have worked within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS) and Integrated Data Service (IDS).

This statistical work plan focuses on the work of the Data and Insight division. It sets out the statistical publications and quantitative analysis that describe current patterns and trends across the remits that we inspect and regulate, including schools, further education, early years and social care.

This publication of our statistical work plan highlights our aspirations for the ongoing effective use of data.

We are committed to the principles of trustworthiness, quality and value, as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. While there are many aspects of our work that we can plan for, such as supporting the renewed education inspection framework, we also carry out work according to emerging user need. We maintain a release calendar for our official statistics releases. We also publish important ad hoc analysis and narratives as blogs and data commentaries, in response to Freedom of Information requests, and as analysis within the annual report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

About us

The head of profession for statistics leads the Data and Insight division in Ofsted, working with the director of the Insights and Research directorate. On professional statistical matters, the head of profession for statistics is accountable to the national statistician. We use data and statistics to inform Ofsted’s work. We work closely with the organisation’s Research and Evaluation division. Together, we aim to support inspection and regulation through the transparent, intelligent and responsible use of data.

The Data and Insight division:

  • maintains and develops the databases and other technology needed to produce statistical publications and reporting
  • investigates and analyses our data, combining it with other sources to inform decision-making and support our strategic aims
  • supports inspection and improvement of education remits – this includes developing statistical tools, such as the school inspection data summary report (IDSR) and the further education and skills inspection toolkit (FESIT), which also gives transparency to providers about the data that Ofsted inspectors can see during inspection
  • supports regulation by developing inspection tools to provide insights that inform visits and interventions
  • supports the wider organisation and external customers by preparing and publishing helpful data
  • produces official statistics that meet the responsibilities laid out in the Code of Practice for Statistics
  • produces regular management information about inspection outcomes
  • produces analysis and commentary for the annual report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills (the annual report)
  • provides commentary and data for Ofsted’s Annual Report and Accounts
  • develops and supports Ofsted: explore an area, a new service that provides local insights on the provision and quality of education and children’s care services in a local area, based on our inspection and regulation activity – alongside other data, it provides a view of what it is like to be a child growing up in any given local area
  • leads the exploration, testing and implementation of Ofsted’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) – see Ofsted’s approach to AI

We have developed this work plan to meet users’ needs for our statistics.

Users include:

  • academics, researchers and students
  • analysts
  • inspectors
  • international users
  • local authorities
  • other government departments
  • parliament
  • policymakers
  • sector advisory groups
  • the media
  • the providers we inspect and regulate
  • the public
  • the voluntary sector and charities

Priorities for 2026–27

Our priorities for April 2026 to March 2027 align with Ofsted’s strategy 2022 to 2027. In line with our strategy we will focus on:

  • delivering the data and necessary analytical support for the renewed education inspection framework, and using this to inform policy and practice
  • delivering analysis and creating products to support a new multi-academy trust inspection framework
  • supporting children’s social care reform by providing data and analysis to understand the impact of government reforms and renewal of our inspection frameworks
  • delivering continuous improvement of existing inspection tools such as the IDSR and FESIT, in response to user feedback and policy changes
  • delivering the first outputs from the ‘Measuring What Matters’ project, which will give insights into children’s social care sufficiency across local areas
  • further developing ‘Ofsted: explore an area’ to include and support more remit areas, including further education and skills and children’s social care, as well as non-association independent schools
  • further exploring how AI can be used to help us to deliver our strategic priorities more effectively
  • producing analysis and commentary for the annual report 2025/26
  • providing commentary and data for Ofsted’s Annual Report and Accounts 2025/26
  • adapting our official statistics and management information to reflect changes resulting from the introduction of the renewed education inspection framework and seek feedback from our users on these changes – see our public involvement and engagement strategy for more information
  • produce statistics publications on time and to high quality
  • developing a strategy for the long-term dissemination of official statistics and management information, exploring new hosting platforms, frequency of publication and user need
  • continuing to provide ad-hoc analysis, bringing our insight to the forefront of debate

Across all that we do, we will continue to draw on user feedback with a desire to maintain the quality and relevance of our statistical publications and analysis. Although we will primarily draw on our own administrative data, we will continue to use data available through the Department for Education (DfE) and other external sources.

2026–27 publications of official statistics and management information

Ofsted statistics provide policymakers, members of parliament and other users with reliable information that helps with policy development, policy monitoring and operational decision-making. Official statistics help us to operate transparently and give the public access to our data. In 2026–27 our official statistics will cover:

  • area SEND inspections and outcomes
  • children’s social care
  • early years and childcare
  • fostering
  • further education and skills inspections and outcomes
  • local authority inspections and outcomes
  • ownership of children’s social care providers
  • non-association independent schools inspections and outcomes
  • state-funded schools inspections and outcomes
  • teacher development inspections and outcomes

We publish our statistics at different intervals. We publish some biannually and some annually. We announce the release window of our publications on GOV.UK’s research and statistics calendar.

For some areas, we also publish management information about inspection outcomes. We publish this information about state-funded schools and further education and skills every month to give users a timely and up-to-date picture of inspection findings. Other management information is published less frequently. You can find the cadence of our management information publications for each remit at our statistics at Ofsted page on GOV.UK.

What we delivered in 2025–2026

In the period April 2025 to March 2026, we:

  • delivered continuous improvement of existing inspection tools such as IDSR’s and FESIT, and necessary analytical support and updates to the tools in readiness for the renewed education inspection framework
  • developed and tested data which sits alongside the new Ofsted report cards and grades
  • published ‘Ofsted’s use of AI’ and explored how AI can be used to help us to more effectively deliver our strategic priorities
  • supported children’s social care reform by providing data and analysis to assess the impact of government reforms and renewal of our inspection frameworks
  • launched Ofsted: explore an area
  • produced analysis and commentary for the annual report 2024/25
  • provided commentary and data for Ofsted’s Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25
  • published a range of official statistics publications on time and to high quality
  • published management information providing findings on inspection and regulatory activity across the remits we inspect and regulate
  • published our third and fourth publications in our research series on childcare accessibility. This is a continuation of the work that won the Civil Service Award for Evaluation and Analysis, the Analysis in Government award for Collaboration and the Campion Award for Excellence in Official Statistics
  • published commentary and data providing insight on unregistered schools
  • published commentary on early years complaints and notifications with supplementary data
  • published transparency data covering regulatory activity in children’s social care settings, with a focus on children’s homes and supported accommodation
  • published transparency data on inspections where Ofsted considered requests to defer or pause an inspection or visit, as well as where inspections required additional evidence
  • published transparency data on complaints about schools
  • provided additional ad-hoc analysis

2025–26 publications of official statistics and management information

In the period April 2025 to March 2026, we published official statistics on:

Please see our Statistics at Ofsted page for further publications.

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