Notifying Ofsted of changes

The rule: regulation 8 and section 3 of the EYFS

The duty to notify Ofsted is set by regulation 8 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012: “A registered early years provider must notify the relevant person of the occurrence of any of the events set out in the Schedule to these Regulations”, and the notification must be given “where it is reasonably practicable to do so, in advance of the event occurring; and in all other cases as soon as reasonably practicable, but in any event within 14 days beginning with the date that the event occurred”. The relevant person is Ofsted, or the childminder agency (CMA) a provider is registered with. Regulation 9 adds a separate duty to give details of any disqualification of the provider or of anyone living or employed in the provider's household, as soon as reasonably practicable and within 14 days of the provider becoming aware of it, or when they ought reasonably to have become aware.

Providers meet the duty through section 3 of the two EYFS statutory frameworks, in force from September 2026, which repeat each notification in plain terms and say where a failure is an offence. In the framework for group and school-based providers they sit at paragraphs 3.10 (allegations), 3.23 to 3.26 (suitability and disqualification), 3.73 (food poisoning), 3.79 (serious accidents) and 3.105 to 3.107 (changes); in the framework for childminders, at 3.11, 3.25 to 3.27, 3.72, 3.78, 3.104 and 3.105. Paragraph 3.107 of the group framework notes that providers of childcare on domestic premises registered with a CMA give these notifications to the CMA, not Ofsted.

Two notification changes are recorded for 1 September 2026. The Department for Education's change note says the group and school-based framework now requires providers of childcare on domestic premises to notify changes to the people aged 16 or over living or working there, and Ofsted's page on how to report a serious childcare incident records that “Providers must now inform Ofsted of allegations of harm (rather than serious harm) by anyone living, working or looking after children on the premises.” A setting whose policy still says “serious harm” is working to the old threshold.

The changes and events to notify

For nurseries, pre-schools and other group providers, the legal requirements in the framework are that providers must notify Ofsted of:

1. Allegations of harm or abuse (3.10) “by anyone living, working, or looking after children at the premises”, whether alleged to have happened on the premises or elsewhere, and of the action taken in response – within 14 days of the allegations being made.
2. Serious accident, illness, injury or death (3.79): “any serious accident, illness, or injury to, or death of, any child while in their care, and of the action taken”, within 14 days of the incident. Local child protection agencies must be told too.
3. Food poisoning (3.73) “affecting two or more children cared for on the premises”, within 14 days of the incident.
4. Significant events and disqualification (3.23 to 3.26): any significant event “likely to affect the suitability of any person who is in regular contact with children”, and the details of any order, conviction, caution or other ground for disqualification – the disqualification details within 14 days of the date the provider “became aware of the information or should have reasonably become aware of it if they had made reasonable enquiries” (3.26).
5. Changes to the provision (3.105): the address of the premises, with prior approval “where appropriate”; changes to the premises that may affect the space available to children and the quality of childcare; the provider's name, address or other contact information; the manager; any proposal to change the hours to include overnight care; and, for domestic premises, the people aged 16 or over living or working there.
6. Changes to the organisation (3.105): a company's name or registered number, a charity's name or registration number, the nominated individual, and – where the organisation's sole or main purpose is childcare – its partners, directors, secretary or other officers or members of its governing body.
7. Other serious incidents on Ofsted's serious incident page: “events that might affect the condition and safety of the premises or the quality of childcare offered, or lead to ongoing closures (such as a fire or flooding)”, and “the death of, or a serious accident or injury to, anyone else on the premises (unless you only look after children from birth to the age of 5)”.

Childminders notify the same kinds of event under their own framework, with differences that matter. Paragraph 3.104 lists changes to the premises, the childminder's name, address or contact details, the people aged 16 or over living or working on domestic premises, “the persons caring for children on any premises where childminding is provided”, overnight care, and significant events affecting the suitability of the childminder or anyone in regular contact with the children. Prior approval is needed to operate from “any non-domestic premises”. Childminders on the Childcare Register are also told by Ofsted's guidance for childminders on the compulsory Childcare Register to report changes to their working hours and “number of children you look after (including any children you are related to)”.

Which clock applies: in advance, or within 14 days

Changes a setting can see coming are notified before they happen. Paragraph 3.106 says that for a change of person “where it is reasonably practical to do so, this must be done in advance of the change happening”; otherwise “as soon as is reasonably practical but, in any event, within 14 days”, and a provider who fails without reasonable excuse “commits an offence”. For a new person, the notice must give the person's name, any former names or aliases, date of birth and address; for a new manager, the setting notifies Ofsted that a new manager has been appointed. A planned move, a new extension, a new director and a manager who has handed in notice are all known weeks ahead, and should reach Ofsted before the date, not after it.

Incidents and allegations run on 14 days, and “as soon as reasonably practicable” comes first. Ofsted's guidance says “we expect you to report significant events affecting your childcare as soon as possible but always within 14 days”. For new people in a childminder's home, Ofsted's guidance on how childminders report new people in the setting fixes the start of the count: “The first of the 14 days is the day the new person begins living in the home, starts working there or turns 16.” A teenager's sixteenth birthday is a notifiable event. The same guidance, updated on 14 September 2026, says “childminder assistants must not begin working at a setting until they have been confirmed to be suitable by either Ofsted or their CMA”, and tells childminders not to wait for a new person's DBS certificate before telling Ofsted.

What counts as serious is defined. Ofsted's guidance on reporting children's accidents and injuries lists, among others, “anything that requires resuscitation”, “admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours”, “a broken bone or fracture”, “any loss of consciousness” and any loss of sight. It does not need minor injuries such as cuts, grazes, sprains, bruising and minor burns, unless the injury “needs to be treated at a hospital for more than 24 hours”. The serious incident page adds that Ofsted does not need to hear about general hospital appointments, routine treatment by a doctor, or a setting closing “as long as there's no significant effect on how you provide childcare”.

Significant events: the judgement call

Most of the list is mechanical; significant events are not. Ofsted's guidance on significant events to notify Ofsted about says “as the registered provider, you should use your judgement to determine whether you should notify Ofsted. The greater the risk to children posed by the significant event, the more likely it is that you should notify us.” Its examples include involvement with safeguarding partners and statutory agencies “about incidents or concerns that might affect someone's suitability”, which can include the police, the local authority and mental health services, “a device containing children's information being stolen”, a child who “was able to leave a setting or was missing for any period”, a child who “was not adequately supervised”, “an unauthorised person gained access to the childcare premises”, and, for the people it covers, “any incidents of domestic abuse” and “any incidents of self-harm or overdose”.

The guidance is precise about whose events count. It covers “anyone aged 16 or over who lives or works during childcare hours on domestic premises” and “everyone that Ofsted checked when you registered your childcare, such as the sole trader, nominated individual, directors, partners, committee members”, and it wants to know “even if they happen: when you are not working with children (in the evening or weekend)”. It says “we do not need notifications about managers or staff at early years settings as they are checked by the registered providers themselves” – but paragraph 3.105 of the group framework still requires notice of “any significant event which is likely to affect the suitability of any person who cares for/is in regular contact with children on the premises”, so a serious concern about a member of staff is still a decision to make and record. Changes to health count where they affect suitability; the guidance gives examples such as “any alcohol or substance dependency or misuse”, and says a notification is still needed where health changes “affect sound decision-making and resilience”.

It also lists what not to send: “referrals you make to other agencies following a concern about a child in your care, such as a child protection referral”, “complaints about fee disputes”, “minor injuries”, “changes to the health of managers, staff or volunteers at early years settings”, and routine hospital admissions. A child protection referral about a child goes to children's social care under paragraph 3.9, not to Ofsted. After a significant event notification, Ofsted says it will carry out a risk assessment and may contact the provider or other agencies, consider whether new suitability checks are needed, or “carry out a telephone interview, regulatory visit or inspection”; it adds that “notifying Ofsted will not necessarily affect your registration. But we can take action against you if you do not tell us about these events.”

How to notify, and the record to keep

Incidents, allegations and significant events go through Ofsted's online form, which the serious incident page says takes “about 10 to 20 minutes to complete” and needs the setting's reference number, the childcare address and the details of the incident and those involved. Updates to the registration, “such as changes to your address”, go by email to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. For changes to registered people in a nursery or other daycare, Ofsted's guidance on how to report changes to registered people says only the nominated individual or the sole owner can report them, by email from the address associated with the registration, with “the words ‘report association changes’ in the subject line”, the setting's unique reference number, each person's name and date of birth, whether they are joining or leaving, their role, and “the date the change(s) take effect”. Anyone joining in a governance role must then apply to Ofsted to be registered. A childminder registered with a CMA uses the agency's process instead.

Ofsted does not file the notification and forget it. Its early years inspection information for use from September 2026 says “we risk-assess any information we receive about early years provision. This information is logged on the provider's record, and we consider this either at the next inspection or refer it to the Ofsted region”, and that in some instances “this will result in an inspection without notice”. After a serious incident report, Ofsted may “talk to you about it at your next inspection”. An inspector who knows about an event the setting never reported, because a parent or the police told Ofsted, starts from a different place.

So keep a notification log. For each entry: what happened or changed; the date it happened; the date the setting became aware, and who told whom; the decision whether to notify and who made it, with the reasons where the answer was no; the date and method of notification and any reference; what was sent; the action taken; and any reply from Ofsted. The log sits beside the incident, accident and safeguarding records described in the nursery record-keeping guide; it is the only place that proves the 14 days were met, and the only place that shows a considered decision not to notify a borderline event.

Where the 14 days actually start

The notification clock starts with an event or with awareness, and awareness in a nursery rarely arrives on a form. It arrives as a message. A practitioner texts the manager on Sunday to say her partner has been arrested and she does not know whether she can come in. The deputy posts in the staff group that the side gate was found open after a child was collected. A childminder's assistant messages to say her eighteen-year-old son is moving back home from university. The owner of a group of nurseries learns from a manager's WhatsApp that a director is resigning next week. Each of those can be the first day of a 14-day count, or the moment a change became foreseeable and should have been notified in advance.

When Ofsted later asks when the setting knew, the honest answer is in those messages, on staff phones, in an app the setting does not control, mixed in with the rest of everyone's week. The notification log can record a date, but it cannot prove it; the conversation that would prove it may belong to someone who has since left. Where a decision was made not to notify, the reasoning often exists only as a chat between the manager and the owner.

The remedy is not to forbid staff from messaging the manager, which is how things get reported at all. It is to have an approved route for work messages about the setting, kept where the provider can find them, with the people in it told that it is a record, and with anything notifiable moved straight into the notification log and the right procedure. The question for the next owners' or committee meeting: for the last event you notified to Ofsted, could you show the message in which you first heard about it?

Questions people ask

What do you need to inform Ofsted of?

An early years provider must tell Ofsted, or its childminder agency, about allegations of harm or abuse by anyone living, working or looking after children on the premises; any serious accident, illness, injury or death of a child in its care; food poisoning affecting two or more children; disqualification and any significant event affecting someone's suitability; and changes to the premises, the provider's details, the manager, overnight care, people aged 16 or over on domestic premises and, for organisations, registered people such as directors or the nominated individual. The full list is in section 3 of the EYFS statutory framework.

How do I notify Ofsted of changes?

Report incidents, allegations and significant events through Ofsted's online form for serious childcare incidents, and send other changes to your registration, such as a change of address, to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. Changes to registered people in a nursery or daycare are emailed by the nominated individual or sole owner with “report association changes” in the subject line; childminders use Ofsted's service to report new people in the setting.

When should you make an Ofsted notification?

Notify Ofsted in advance where the change can be foreseen and it is reasonably practicable, and otherwise as soon as reasonably practicable and always within 14 days. Regulation 8 of the 2012 welfare requirements regulations counts the 14 days as beginning with the date the event occurred; for disqualification information the EYFS counts from the date the provider became aware, or should have become aware.

What are the key changes to the EYFS in 2026?

The EYFS frameworks in force from 1 September 2026 brought, in the Department for Education's words, “updates on safer sleep, a requirement for providers to have regard to screen use, prohibiting childcare where banned dog breeds are present and other safeguarding clarifications”, and the group and school-based framework “also requires providers of childcare on domestic premises to notify Ofsted or their childminder agency of changes to persons aged 16 or over living or working on the premises”. Providers must also now notify allegations of harm, rather than serious harm.

As a childminder, how do I notify Ofsted about changing my address?

A childminder must notify Ofsted, or their childminder agency, of any change to the address of the premises and of their own name or address “as soon as reasonably practicable but in any event within 14 days of the change” (paragraph 3.104 of the childminder framework), and must obtain prior approval before operating from any non-domestic premises. Ofsted asks for updates to a registration, such as changes to an address, by email to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

What is the 2 hour rule for Ofsted?

The 2 hour rule is the registration threshold for childminders: GOV.UK's guidance on how to become a childminder or nanny says you must register as a childminder if the children are under 8, “you look after them for more than 2 hours a day” and you are paid, including payment in kind. It is not a notification deadline.

Official guidance and your next step

The primary sources are section 3 of the EYFS statutory frameworks for group and school-based providers and for childminders, regulations 8 and 9 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012, and Ofsted's guidance on significant events, serious childcare incidents, children's accidents and injuries, and registered people. Settings on the Childcare Register only should read Ofsted's requirements for daycare providers on the compulsory Childcare Register or the childminder equivalent, which list the changes they must report.

This guide summarises published guidance for England and is not legal advice; if you are unsure whether an event is notifiable, Ofsted's own test is the risk to children, and a short record of why you decided either way is better than no decision at all.

Then do one thing: start the notification log today, and enter the last three changes or incidents from memory with the date each became known. If you cannot find that date anywhere, you have found the gap.