Letter from ofsted!

Hi


I have been registered since end of August. 2 weeks before Xmas I has a call from ofsted asking about the EY children in my care and the days I work and was told a inspector would call to arrange my first inspection at a future date.
Today I have received a threatening letter from ofsted saying they have been unable to contact me re my first inspection and if I don't respond within 5 days if the letter they will unregister me!
The letter is dated the 30th dec but I only received the letter today!
I have checked my phone records for the days they said they tried to contact me and I had no missed calls although had a couple withheld ( which I don't answer) days either side.

Has anyone else ever had thus am getting myself so worked up over it! :(

Sorry so long rant over!!! Xxx

Give them a ring on Monday and state that you received the letter today and that you only had withheld numbers on your phone for the days in question which you don't answer anyway....I don't answer unknown numbers and Mrs O has always left a message anyway.

Don't panic

Thank you - I would have expected them to leave a message or try my house phone ?

Am so nervous about pending inspection anyway now feeling even worse!!

Withheld numbers I find are usually sales companies so I never answer them x

When I was in the same situation the lady left a message on my answerphone , I would also tell them that you dont answer withheld numbers especially whilst working lol :) x

I would not tell Ofsted that I never answer withheld numbers.

What if they make a note, and your inspectors asks along the lines of, "what if a parent was trying to contact you from a works phone which was set to withhold the number?" You might be missing an essential emergency call. :panic:

I too hate withheld/private numbers and yes, most of them are unwanted calls. But not all of them are. All the phones in Mrs bunyip's workplace are "private numbers" for instance (and my life wouldn't be worth living if I dared to ignore SWMBO. :p )

Yes they do sometimes ring from withheld numbers - and the letter you received is standard so don't take it to heart - it always reads threatening but it's not - it's designed to get your attention.

Ring them and sort it out that's the best advice. Hugs xx

It may be a standard letter but there is no need for the tone of it to be so hostile, surely it would have been far nicer to just say that they had been unable to contact you to arrange an inspection so could you kindly phone the number on the letter at your earliest convenience! Apart from anything, some people go away on holiday for a week or two so it is ridiculous to only give 5 days notice in case you were away.

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Originally Posted by bunyip

I would not tell Ofsted that I never answer withheld numbers.

What if they make a note, and your inspectors asks along the lines of, "what if a parent was trying to contact you from a works phone which was set to withhold the number?" You might be missing an essential emergency call. :panic:

I too hate withheld/private numbers and yes, most of them are unwanted calls. But not all of them are. All the phones in Mrs bunyip's workplace are "private numbers" for instance (and my life wouldn't be worth living if I dared to ignore SWMBO. :p )

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I disagree with this...this is not a game but a serious issue!
All inspectors are issued with mobiles and they will always come up as 'withheld'...however there is a difference to parents calling us from a withheld number rather than their own mobile which we would immediately recognise because it would come up when they call.

Too right that this is the holiday season and cms are entitled to have a break and not be tied to their mobiles waiting for Ofsted to call.
if the letter was sent on 30th Dec, which was a Monday, Ofsted would have to allow for a delay in the post due to Bank Holiday on the Wednesday 1st Jan...not penalise or threaten a cm with a subsequent 'deregistration'...that is totally unacceptable

Letters from Ofsted should not be threatening and before they issue any threats, however veiled in standard wording, they should ensure they have all facts right.

Yikes! That's a bit extreme isn't it? De-registration in 5 days?! Especially at this time of year. Easy for me to say but all you can do is call them on Monday and explain that you've only just received the letter.

And isn't that a really quick turn around for your first inspection?! End of August to end of December is only 4 months isn't it? I'm gearing up to expect my first inspection from beginning Feb which is 5 months after registering and thought I was erring on the side of caution....feeling very stressed now!

When I was expecting first visit I got the same letter. I had no calls and they had all my numbers. It is a horrible letter but just the same as I got. Don't worry just ring them.

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Originally Posted by Simona

I disagree with this...this is not a game but a serious issue!
All inspectors are issued with mobiles and they will always come up as 'withheld'...however there is a difference to parents calling us from a withheld number rather than their own mobile which we would immediately recognise because it would come up when they call.

Too right that this is the holiday season and cms are entitled to have a break and not be tied to their mobiles waiting for Ofsted to call.
if the letter was sent on 30th Dec, which was a Monday, Ofsted would have to allow for a delay in the post due to Bank Holiday on the Wednesday 1st Jan...not penalise or threaten a cm with a subsequent 'deregistration'...that is totally unacceptable

Letters from Ofsted should not be threatening and before they issue any threats, however veiled in standard wording, they should ensure they have all facts right.

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You've lost me here: at what point did I suggest it was a game? :huh:

I do think inspectors ought to leave a message when they ring (assuming the means are in place for them to do so.) I can't imagine why they refuse to do so, and it seems really bad practice to move straight from a couple of calls to such an officious and potentially upsetting letter.

Beyond that, though, and at the risk of attracting the flak I'm going to defend them for once. They are lone lone workers, working in a potentially exposed position in other people's homes, and are widely disliked (about as welcome to childcare providers as traffic wardens are to motorists: slightly less popular than a rattlesnake in a lucky-dip.)

With that in mind, I am not surprised they use withheld/private numbers, if only to avoid the possibility of being exposed to unpleasant calls from the odd disgruntled provider with a grudge. I'm not suggesting that CMs and nursery managers are queuing up to make abusive calls following a bad inspection report, but it only takes one and inspectors have a right to live and work in safety. Every employer has a legal duty of care to safeguard their staff, so I wouldn't be surprised if the practice of withheld numbers is the policy of Ofsted, Prospects, etc. rather than the choice of individual inspectors.

It may surprise members to know that quite a few CMs and other practitioners were once Ofsted inspectors. It would be interesting to see if they could shed any light on this practice.

Btw, it's not the fault of inspectors that sales/marketing firms use withheld numbers to cold-call us. And there are better ways to stop such calls than to ignore every incoming 'private number'-displayed call. We may choose to ignore them, and now we see the consequence of that choice.

Yes, it is "the holiday season" but there are so many "holiday seasons" that there's not a lot of time left for phone calls if Ofsted aren't allowed to call us during the holidays. It is far from safe to assume everyone has the same holidays: for many people, the Christmas break is just 1 or 2 days off, or no more than an unattainable luxury enjoyed by others. And with CMs collectively and incessantly insisting on how "flexible" we all are, we should be the last people to come over all affronted if someone actually takes us seriously (or maybe I should say "calls our bluff" on the issue of 'flexibility'.) Essentially, inspectors can only go by the working/opening times declared on our SEFs and are in no position to second-guess which of us take which holidays, let alone whether we celebrate or even give a monkey's cuss about which pseudo-religious festivals. How much harder for them to figure out exactly which of us can't get through life without getting churlish about being called outside our own personal 'office hours'.

I agree that the content of Ofsted's letter seems OTT. But I do tire of seeing the word "threatening" misused so frequently on this forum. Say "upsetting" if you're upset about it, but a "threat" is something very, very different.

Well said Mr B.

Many of the letters sent by large organisations to a wide audience are strongly worded, they often need to be too get a reaction from some people, and while others feel them to be a bit stern or hasty, they're standardised to ensure everyone gets the same message, otherwise we'd all be jumping up and down shouting about how unfair it is that X got treated differently from y!!

I hope the op is able to speak to someone and arrange the inspection easily.

Bunyip...I hit the wrong button and I copied your reply as if responding just to you...that was not my intention as I wanted to reply generally

I still disagree with some of the things being said here regarding the phone calls, withheld numbers, the sending of letters which I personally still feel are threatening and unnecessary, messages left or otherwise and dubiously worded letter from the body we have to respect for being the judge of good practice and who is spending a lot of money reviewing their methods to appear more accountable and engaging with those they inspect as in the example of #Ofstedbigconversation

I received such a letter recently when renewing my registration fee with them...it was entirely their fault because the payment had been sent but the letter...which is prewritten and worded the same way 'threatening' deregistration....was fired off immediately.

Here again we have an area of practice where Ofsted actions are not really 'clear' to us...
yes they need to contact CMs to warn about a looming inspection...we have now had that clarified in their recent updated guidance from the practice of inspectors just turning up at our door.

What we do not know is what happens when we appear not able to answer the phone
if we should be available 24/7 that needs to be clarified as many of us have other jobs
We are also entitled to take holidays so that needs to be taken into account as cms do not operate like schools (I bet inspectors would not try to ring a school in holiday times??)
If we do not answer the phone we need to be told what will happen precisely and within what time limit

Until that is clear then yes it is a 'game' of guessing and being fearful what the right actions are....entirely my view of course and I hope SStars gets the situation resolved soon

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Originally Posted by Simona

Bunyip...I hit the wrong button and I copied your reply as if responding just to you...that was not my intention as I wanted to reply generally

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Understood - no offence taken. Were we drinking from the same bottle last night.....? ;)

All i meant by my comment was that i dont think they should be using withheld numbers to contact as a lot of peoplendont answer them when busy ....the inspector i had rang me off her mobile and left me a voicemail then when i returned her call and got her voicemail she rang me off her housephone .....guess i must have got a half decent one . I received the same snotty letter as you Simona re:registration fees even though it had cleared from my bank and panicked ....i totally agree they are very harsh how they word letters. Hope this problem gets sorted asap x

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Originally Posted by MessybutHappy

Well said Mr B.

Many of the letters sent by large organisations to a wide audience are strongly worded, they often need to be too get a reaction from some people, and while others feel them to be a bit stern or hasty, they're standardised to ensure everyone gets the same message, otherwise we'd all be jumping up and down shouting about how unfair it is that X got treated differently from y!!

I hope the op is able to speak to someone and arrange the inspection easily.

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Hi Messy :waving:

I can see why some letters maybe need to be "attention-grabbing" - and not just from big organisations either.

One of our local-ish CMs is giving up minding and gave notice to her clients: in fact I believe she gave them much more than the contracted 4 weeks' notice. One of her clients came to me over a month ago and we got a contract in place. BUT 2 of her other clients contacted me this week (1 as late as yesterday) asking to start next Tuesday. :eek: I assumed they'd been let down by another CM in between, but I was the first CM they'd tried. I can't help and asked why they'd not been in touch sooner (when I might've been able to phone around a few fellow-CMs). They said they knew about the notice, but didn't seriously believe it cos they'd been clients of their ex-CM for so long.

Doesn't it just beggar belief? :panic:

I think it's a bit of a cheek to say that they can't get hold of you when you have spoken to the Ofsted inspector just before Christmas and confirmed that you have children in the EY and that you are having an inspection in the immediate future.

I am sure this can all be resolved easily but I don't blame you at all for feeling like this after the tone of the letter.
Best wishes and good luck for your inspection.

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Originally Posted by bunyip

Hi Messy :waving:

I can see why some letters maybe need to be "attention-grabbing" - and not just from big organisations either.

One of our local-ish CMs is giving up minding and gave notice to her clients: in fact I believe she gave them much more than the contracted 4 weeks' notice. One of her clients came to me over a month ago and we got a contract in place. BUT 2 of her other clients contacted me this week (1 as late as yesterday) asking to start next Tuesday. :eek: I assumed they'd been let down by another CM in between, but I was the first CM they'd tried. I can't help and asked why they'd not been in touch sooner (when I might've been able to phone around a few fellow-CMs). They said they knew about the notice, but didn't seriously believe it cos they'd been clients of their ex-CM for so long.

Doesn't it just beggar belief? :panic:

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Hello back!
I would guess that's one of those "head in sand moments "!!! How fab that you can't help though? Must mean your busy again?

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Originally Posted by MessybutHappy

Hello back!
I would guess that's one of those "head in sand moments "!!! How fab that you can't help though? Must mean your busy again?

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Rather than hijack the thread, I'll PM you re: this.