Ofsted plans to restart area SEND inspections in April
Area SEND inspections, which Ofsted carry out jointly with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), are set to begin again after they were paused in March 2020 due to COVID-19.
From April 2021, Ofsted and CQC will start revisiting areas where they had significant concerns about SEND provision when they were last inspected. The areas will be given 10 working days’ notice ahead of a revisit.
Ofsted plans to restart full area SEND inspections from June 2021 at the earliest. These visits will be to areas that have not yet been inspected under the current framework. The precise restart date for full inspections will be kept under review, subject to government guidance and any COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time.
Ofsted is currently developing a new area SEND inspection framework and will consult publicly as part of its development.
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