Guidance

Inspecting local authority children's services

Ofsted's framework and guidance for inspecting local authority services for children (ILACS) in need of help and protection, children in care and care leavers.

From:: Ofsted
Published: 29 November 2017
Last updated: 1113 ~~April~~August 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Inspecting local authority children’s services

HTML

Summary of framework changes

HTML

How to use the local authority inspection sharing site

PDF, 364 KB, 5 pages

Child-level data: additional guidance and template for Annex A

ODS, 50.3 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Talking to an Ofsted inspector: children

HTML

Talking to an inspector: parents and carers

HTML

Links to legislation, regulations and statutory guidance

HTML

Details

Ofsted uses this framework and guidance for most inspections of local authority children’s services (ILACS).

This page includes:

Ofsted’s framework for the inspection of local authority children’s services
guidance for local authorities on sharing information with us on an inspection
guidance for local authorities on providing child level data for the inspection
‘Talking to…’ information for children and young people and their parents/carers that explains why inspectors want to speak with them and what we do with the things they tell us

For information about how Ofsted inspects the social care providers that we regulate see the Social care common inspection framework (SCCIF).

Published 29 November 2017

Last updated 1113 ~~April~~August 2025 + show all updates

13 August 2025
See 'Summary of changes'.

11 April 2025
See 'Summary of changes'.
13 December 2024
See 'Summary of changes'.
5 April 2024
See 'Summary of changes'.
2 February 2024
See 'Summary of changes'.
5 January 2024
See 'Summary of framework changes' for details.
24 August 2023
See 'Summary of changes'.
6 April 2023
See summary of changes.
2 December 2022
See summary of changes.
2 September 2022
See 'Summary of changes'.
5 August 2022
See 'Summary of framework changes' for details.
1 April 2022
See 'Summary of framework changes' for details.
3 December 2021
See 'Summary of framework changes' for details.
5 August 2021
See 'Summary of framework changes' for details.
26 March 2021
Updated details of notification periods for inspections and visits and guidance on arrangements for publishing inspection reports and letters; concerns and complaints about an inspection; and on how our inspections/visits consider the local authority's arrangements with regional adoption agencies. See 'Summary of framework changes' for more information.
11 December 2020
Changes made to the guidance on ILACS focused visits during the restart of routine inspection (see summary of changes for more information).
2 December 2020
Removed information about our work during the national lockdown (5 November up to 2 December).
4 November 2020
Ofsted is pausing ILACS visits during the national lockdown starting on 5 November.
18 September 2020
In the section on ILACS focused visits during the restart of routine inspection, we added information about identifying areas for priority action and two items to the information request.
17 August 2020
Updated the framework, setting out arrangements for focused visits in light of the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Also converted documents to a more accessible format.
9 August 2019
We have updated Annex A: Child-level data: additional guidance and template, a summary of all changes can be found at the end of the document.
12 April 2019
Updated framework document - a summary of the changes made is included at the end of the framework.
14 December 2018
A summary of the changes made is on the penultimate page of the framework.
28 November 2018
Updated the 'How to use the local authority inspection sharing site' document to include details of how to receive and use verification codes.
14 September 2018
Updated the framework - there is a summary of changes at the end of the document.
5 April 2018
Published 'Talking to...' inspection privacy notices for children and young people and parents/carers.
27 March 2018
Added guidance on sharing files with Ofsted during inspections of local authority children's services.
9 February 2018
Annex B updated and new annex added (Annex C) about inspections where a local authority is part of a regional adoption agency.
29 November 2017
First published.

Inspecting local authority children's services

Applies to England

Documents

Inspecting local authority children’s services

Summary of framework changes

How to use the local authority inspection sharing site

Child-level data: additional guidance and template for Annex A

Talking to an Ofsted inspector: children

Talking to an inspector: parents and carers

Links to legislation, regulations and statutory guidance

Details

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