{"id":19655,"date":"2026-04-23T09:57:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/?p=19655"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:57:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:57:31","slug":"changes-to-early-years-inspection-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/changes-to-early-years-inspection-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to early years inspection windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From April 2026, Ofsted will start to inspect early education and childcare providers more frequently. The change to a 4-year inspection window is part of the Department for Education and Ofsted\u2019s shared commitment to provide parents with more up-to-date information and reassurance about the quality and safety of their child\u2019s early education and care.<\/p>\n<p>Each provider on the Early Years Register will be inspected at least once by March 2030 and then again with a 4-year period, replacing the current 6-year window. If there are concerns about a provider, inspectors will of course visit more frequently.<\/p>\n<p>The inspection of newly registered providers will also happen more quickly. From April, Ofsted will usually inspect a new provider within 18 months of registration.<\/p>\n<p>The new inspection windows will be phased in gradually. Providers who have already been inspected under the previous arrangements will gradually transition to the new 4-year window before 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Find out more about the changes and read the updated FAQs blog here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fedua-zcmp.maillist-manage.eu%2Fclick%2F195f6ae4eef9c7c%2F195f6ae4eed6a16&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ceducate.earlyyearscommunication-mailbox%40devon.gov.uk%7Ca56be2d74e044d122f6f08de9fbe4075%7C8da13783cb68443fbb4b997f77fd5bfb%7C0%7C0%7C639123836623343671%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=%2Bv38E7mBDJAbtiH5xPvfSyl4Gpwu1tnUFD1mEsf4Vmg%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"noopener\">Ofsted to inspect early years providers more frequently &#8211; GOV.UK<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fedua-zcmp.maillist-manage.eu%2Fclick%2F195f6ae4eef9c7c%2F195f6ae4eed6a17&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ceducate.earlyyearscommunication-mailbox%40devon.gov.uk%7Ca56be2d74e044d122f6f08de9fbe4075%7C8da13783cb68443fbb4b997f77fd5bfb%7C0%7C0%7C639123836623370824%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=h1XiI09FQt01wd5bI7C%2F0Eng9APuJoF0gmgQ6z1Dq8c%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"noopener\">Early years inspections: frequently asked questions \u2013 Ofsted: early years<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ofsted will begin inspecting early education and childcare providers more frequently from April 2026, in line with the DfE&#8217;s Best Start in Life strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 15:52:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19657,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19655\/revisions\/19657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}