From April 2026, Ofsted will remove the overall effectiveness judgement in its Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services framework. The decision follows feedback from the Big Listen consultation and reflects Ofsted’s commitment to making inspections fairer, including removing overall grades across all remits it inspects and regulates.
Alongside this change, Ofsted has announced revisions to the ILACS framework to align inspections with broader reforms in children’s social care. These updates will ensure inspections reflect evolving expectations on children’s services, with a stronger focus on:
- Supporting children and families to stay together
- Ensuring children receive the help they need
- Keeping children safe and providing stable, loving homes
To support these changes, Ofsted will deliver additional training for ILACS inspectors, helping them understand sector reforms and their impact on inspection practice.
A new advisory reference group will also be established, bringing together National Advisors, sector experts and representatives from pathfinder local authorities. This group will assist with inspector training and provide valuable insight during this period of improvement.
Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver said:
“During the Big Listen, social care professionals were consistently positive about our inspections but told us that single-word overall effectiveness judgements over-simplified the complexities of their work. I committed to reforming children’s social care inspections to raise standards and to do right by children and the professionals that support them. The removal of the headline judgement in ILACS is a significant first step in fulfilling this commitment.
“We know that most children are best served by remaining safely within a loving, supportive family. The move to Family Help, including early help and prevention, is a key focus of the wider reforms happening across children’s social care. It is important that our inspections reflect this and I look forward to speaking more about the updates we will be making to our framework in 2026.
“Looking further ahead, we will build on our strong, existing foundations, to bring the best of ILACS into a renewed framework to be introduced in 2027. I look forward to hearing from children, professionals and local leaders as we develop our plans next year.”
Looking ahead, Ofsted has announced plans for more significant reforms to how it evaluates and reports on local children’s services. In 2026, Ofsted will consult with children, professionals and local leaders on proposals for a renewed children and families services framework, which is expected to be introduced in 2027.
These changes mark a major step in Ofsted’s efforts to modernise inspection and ensure it supports better outcomes for children and families across England.
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