Ofsted confirms removal of headline judgement for inspections of local authorities’ children’s services

Ofsted has announced plans to reform inspections of local authorities’ children’s services across 2026 and 2027. From April 2026, the inspectorate will remove the overall effectiveness judgement in Inspecting local authority children’s services (ILACS). The move follows the response to the Big Listen consultation and Ofsted’s commitment to making inspections fairer, including by removing overall effectiveness grades across all remits it inspects and regulates.

Ofsted also announced revisions to the ILACS framework from April 2026, to align inspections with the broader reforms happening across children’s social care. These changes will ensure inspections reflect the changing expectations on children’s services, which include a greater focus on supporting children and their families to stay together, get the help they need, be safe and have stable and loving homes.  

His Majesty’s 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.”