Ofsted to make 3,000 more surprise visits to nurseries
The Department for Education says the extra unannounced visits are part of its plan for safer nurseries in England.
What it means for you
- Treat every day as a possible visit day: keep safeguarding records and staff files up to date as you go.
- Make sure every member of staff knows who to fetch when an inspector arrives.
- Check that sleep, nappy changing and supervision look the same on a quiet day as on a busy one.
Ofsted will make 3,000 more unannounced visits to nurseries and other early years settings in England, the Department for Education has said.
The visits were announced on 22 June 2026 under the heading of safer nurseries.
A surprise visit gives a setting no notice. Inspectors see the setting as it is on an ordinary day.
Train your team on this: Child Protection, a short Hubba course (120 minutes) with a certificate at the end.
Over the border: Does this apply in Scotland?. No. In Scotland, settings are inspected by the Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Education. News for Scotland
Official sources
How this story was made. This story was written with help from AI from the official sources below, then checked and approved by the Hubba Training team before it went live.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence.
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