This article is brought to you by Slough Borough Council on behalf of the Department for Education, for the attention of all Early Years settings.
This statutory guidance from the Department for Education is for English local authorities on their duties pursuant to section 2 of the Childcare Act 2016 and sections 6, 7, 7A, 9A, 12 and 13 of the Childcare Act 2006. Local authorities must have regard to this guidance when seeking to discharge those duties.
This guidance uses ‘must’ to indicate a legal obligation that local authorities are required to comply with. Where the guidance uses ‘should’, local authorities must take it into account and should not depart from it unless they have good reason to do so.
This guidance applies from 1 April 2026, with the exception of the references to Ofsted inspection changes in Section A3 (Quality) and paragraphs A4.15 to A4.21 and D.2 to D.3, which apply from 9 February 2026.
This guidance will be kept under review and updated as necessary.
To read more - please see the following link:Early education and childcare (valid from 1 April 2026) - GOV.UK