Ofsted complaint letter ratios

[machl00]

I was shocked to receive a letter from Ofsted on Friday advising they had been contacted to say I sometimes I am providing care for more children than I am permitted to
Has anyone else had one of these?
I have 3 registered assistants working along side me at different times and believe it is someone in the village I live in who has done this for no other reason than jealously
I am perfectly aware of the requirements of my registration and at no point are children in our care put at risk

[Simona]

I was shocked to receive a letter from Ofsted on Friday advising they had been contacted to say I sometimes I am providing care for more children than I am permitted to
Has anyone else had one of these?
I have 3 registered assistants working along side me at different times and believe it is someone in the village I live in who has done this for no other reason than jealously
I am perfectly aware of the requirements of my registration and at no point are children in our care put at risk

I am afraid it sounds like a malicious complaints or at least a complaint by someone who does not understand CMs ratios ...have you contacted Ofsted and do you have 'proof' of the children attending each day?

When you do contact them they will not tell you who complained but make sure you ask them to enable you to provide proof...will it trigger and inspection?

Good luck and keep us posted

[Koala]

I can understand your frustration.

I too live in a village and I had a case of an anonymous letter being written to the council! And an anonymous letter has been written to my landlord Complaining about the fact that I was running business from a residential property and this upset me very much as nobody has approached me personally. No action as there wasn't any action to take and in both instances the council and landlord were perplexed as to the particular reasons of the anonymous complaint.

This upset me for a long time as it probably has you and I do believe as you do that it is jealousy and spineless vindictiveness, unfortunately there are people out there who really need to get a life instead of meddling with others.

Try not to worry who or why the jelly spine no mark, curtain twitch er who has complained, as it will drive you mad and it isn't worth it just rise above it and carry on smiling this will be their retribution as it will drive them mad because they haven't had a negative impact on your business.

Take a deep breath, chin up girl

[kellyskidz!]

Some people want to get a life! Seriously, why not ask you if they feel you have too many kids or research it instead of potentially damaging your business and reputation by running to OFSTED which causes you a lot of stress, especially in this case when you have done nothing wrong
Makes me so sad that we are so vulnerable to malicious people who have nothing better to do that try to damage someone who is working for honest days pay! AND doing a job that I bet they could never do!

[Simona]

Some people want to get a life! Seriously, why not ask you if they feel you have too many kids or research it instead of potentially damaging your business and reputation by running to OFSTED which causes you a lot of stress, especially in this case when you have done nothing wrong
Makes me so sad that we are so vulnerable to malicious people who have nothing better to do that try to damage someone who is working for honest days pay! AND doing a job that I bet they could never do!

Unfortunately Ofsted have to respond to these complaints if they relate to safeguarding and welfare requirements but because the anonymous complaints remains so I bet they are spending a lot of money inspecting people who are not breaking any rules

I wonder what would happen if those who complain were made to leave their name in confidence and, if the complaint resulted in being malicious, be charged for the cost of inspection?
I know that this would carry the risk that many may not raise a 'genuine' concern but it would stop malicious complaints.

Yes we are very vulnerable and unfortunately no protection other than try to prove the complaint is wrong!

[jadavi]

The nastiest sting in the tail is that after Ofsted has visited they are duty bound to carry out another inspection in six months even if you've just had one.... Was really livid about that for the six months running up to it as my complaint was also without rhyme or reason....

[kellyskidz!]

Unfortunately Ofsted have to respond to these complaints if they relate to safeguarding and welfare requirements but because the anonymous complaints remains so I bet they are spending a lot of money inspecting people who are not breaking any rules

I wonder what would happen if those who complain were made to leave their name in confidence and, if the complaint resulted in being malicious, be charged for the cost of inspection?
I know that this would carry the risk that many may not raise a 'genuine' concern but it would stop malicious complaints.

Yes we are very vulnerable and unfortunately no protection other than try to prove the complaint is wrong!

It really is unfair.
They're wasting Ofsteds time which could be put to better use inspecting genuinely unsuitable childcare providers and improving their standards so children have better quality of care
I think names should be left, or at least some way of identifying the caller so malicious ones do get at least a warning. But I know that would be hard to do, since a caller could have genuine concerns and there may be no evidence to support it but its just such a shame that we have no protection from someone with a grudge attempting to cause trouble
Obviously if we're doing our jobs right there should be no problem but I imagine its still upsetting for the minder who is doing nothing wrong and may make them feel singled out or shaken by being reported for nothing.
In this case I supposed Ofsted are damned if they do damned if they don't, it just leaves us very vulnerable x

[hectors house]

I think that if Ofsted decide that the complaint was made maliciously that they should be able to claim costs back from the person who complained - bit like calling out fire brigade on prank call outs.

[Simona]

I think that if Ofsted decide that the complaint was made maliciously that they should be able to claim costs back from the person who complained - bit like calling out fire brigade on prank call outs.

Ofsted have said very clearly that if people have to leave names they may not report something that is actually 'factual and of concern'
They would need to review their policy on 'anonymous' complaints in order to charge ....
I believe that Ofsted run a seminar at the Childcare Expo and have explained a couple of things on malicious complaints and inspections....I read some very interesting bits from someone who was sharing information from the seminar.

[hectors house]

Ofsted have said very clearly that if people have to leave names they may not report something that is actually 'factual and of concern'
They would need to review their policy on 'anonymous' complaints in order to charge ....
I believe that Ofsted run a seminar at the Childcare Expo and have explained a couple of things on malicious complaints and inspections....I read some very interesting bits from someone who was sharing information from the seminar.

If that info is on a website - would you mind sharing the link with us Simone - many thanks

[Simona]

If that info is on a website - would you mind sharing the link with us Simone - many thanks

if you look at Sue Gregory's reply to #Ofstedbigconversation yesterday you will see how Ofsted deal with anonymous complaints and what happens if the complaint is not upheld by the inspector....it is by far not clear but that is what we have to go by until Ofsted explain further
Ofsted have repeated they are duty bound to follow complaints if they raise a safeguarding issue.

Also the new inspection framework effective from Nov 2013...which includes cms...explains about inspections both scheduled and complaint triggered...there are 2 documents that must be used in conjunction with the framework

[SammySplodger]

http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/articl...g-conversation

^ this is the link