Ofsted Visit Analysis – Page 4

Waiting times since the start of last Ofsted full inspection visit – all and south east authorities as at 02/02/2026

Table 4.1: Number of days since the start of last Ofsted full inspection visit with a published report

SE Rank	South East LAs	Type	Grade	Days waited	Ntl Rank 153	Next inspection window opens: based on Table 4.3 Minimum and current grade	Next inspection window opens: based on Table 4.3 Average and current grade	Next inspection window opens: based on Table 4.3 Maximum and current grade
1	Slough	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,106	23	01/09/2025	14/03/2026	06/07/2026
2	Wokingham	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,064	31	13/10/2025	25/04/2026	17/08/2026
3	West Sussex	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,062	33	20/10/2025	02/05/2026	24/08/2026
4	Portsmouth	ILACS2	Good	994	39	30/03/2026	23/09/2026	11/01/2026
5	Southampton	ILACS2	Good	973	40	20/04/2026	14/10/2026	01/02/2027
6	Medway	ILACS2	Good	931	47	01/06/2026	25/11/2026	15/03/2027
7	Isle of Wight	ILACS2	Good	826	55	14/09/2026	10/03/2027	28/06/2027
8	East Sussex	ILACS2	Good	784	64	26/10/2026	21/04/2027	09/08/2027
9	Oxfordshire	ILACS2	Good	721	66	28/12/2026	23/06/2027	11/10/2027
10	Brighton and Hove	ILACS2	Outstanding	693	71	18/01/2027	10/07/2027	11/10/2027
11	Reading	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	651	75	30/11/2026	12/06/2027	04/10/2027
12	Hampshire	ILACS2	Outstanding	602	88	19/04/2027	09/10/2027	10/01/2028
13	Windsor and Maidenhead	ILACS2	Good	483	100	23/08/2027	16/02/2028	05/06/2028
14	Milton Keynes	ILACS2	Good	462	104	13/09/2027	08/03/2028	26/06/2028
15	Buckinghamshire	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	371	117	06/09/2027	18/03/2028	10/07/2028
16	Surrey	ILACS2	Good	322	122	31/01/2028	26/07/2028	13/11/2028
17	West Berkshire	ILACS2	Good	140	143	31/07/2028	24/01/2029	14/05/2029
18	Kent	ILACS2	Good	91	149	18/09/2028	14/03/2029	02/07/2029
19	Bracknell Forest	ILACS2	Outstanding	56	153	16/10/2028	07/04/2029	09/07/2029

National Rank of 153	National LAs	Type	Grade	Days waited
1	Torbay	ILACS1	Good	1,414
2	Wolverhampton	ILACS1	Good	1,407
3	Coventry	ILACS1	Good	1,323
4=	Nottingham	ILACS2	Inadequate	1,302
4=	Luton	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,302
6	Somerset	ILACS1	Good	1,295
7	Southwark	ILACS1	Good	1,225
8=	West Northamptonshire	ILACS1	Requires Improvement	1,218
8=	North Northamptonshire	ILACS1	Requires Improvement	1,218
10=	North Lincolnshire	ILACS1	Outstanding	1,211
10=	Darlington	ILACS1	Good	1,211
12	Lambeth	ILACS1	Requires Improvement	1,197
13	Dudley	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,190
14=	Wandsworth	ILACS1	Good	1,183
14=	Norfolk	ILACS1	Good	1,183
16	Hull	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,176
17	Trafford	ILACS2	Requires Improvement	1,169
18	Bradford	ILACS2	Inadequate	1,162
19	Lancashire	ILACs1	Good	1,155

Table 4.2: Last 20 published reports: number of days waited, and position on the waiting list when picked, at the start of last Ofsted full inspection

Start Date	Local Authority	Wait between inspection type	Grade Before	Grade After	Position in waiting list when taken	Days waited
Dec 2025	Bracknell Forest	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Outstanding	Outstanding	3	1,274
Dec 2025	Redcar and Cleveland	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Requires Improvement	Good	4	1,260
Nov 2025	Solihull	ILACS2 – ILACS3	Inadequate	Good	19	1,099
Nov 2025	Newham	ILACS2 – ILACS3	Good	Outstanding	8=	1,211
Nov 2025	Herefordshire	ILACS2 – ILACS3	Inadequate	Good	8=	1,211
Nov 2025	Rotherham	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	7	1,225
Nov 2025	Kent	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Outstanding	Good	3	1.274
Oct 2025	Sandwell	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Requires Improvement	Good	3	1,253
Oct 2025	Wigan	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Requires Improvement	Good	3	1,246
Sept 2025	Manchester	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	1	1,281
Sept 2025	West Berkshire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Good	1	1,281
July 2025	North East Lincolnshire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Inadequate	Good	1	1,379
July 2025	Merton	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Outstanding	Outstanding	3	1,232
July 2025	Bedford Borough	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Requires Improvment	2	1,337
June 2025	Warwickshire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Requires Improvement	4	1,288
June 2025	Richmond upon Thames	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	3	1,246
June 2025	Shropshire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	4	1,232
June 2025	Leeds	ILACS2 – ILACS3	Outstanding	Outstanding	4	1,225
June 2025	Sefton	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Inadequate	Good	5	1,218
June 2025	Bath and North East Somerset	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Good	10	1,197
June 2025	Gloucestershire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Requires Improvement	Good	6	1,218

Table 4.3: Wait in days between completed post-covid ILACS inspections (start-date to start-date)

Grade before inspection	No.	Minimum	Average	Maximum
Outstanding	7	1,043	1,216	1,309
Good	18	1,050	1,228	1,337
Requires Improvement	12	952	1,147	1,260
Inadequate	6	1,092	1,220	1,379
All ILACS inspections	42	952	1,202	1,379
New authorities, no prior inspection	2	388	472	556
Grand total	44		1,170

Table 4.4: All-time longest waits for a main inspection

National Rank	LA	Wait between inspection type	Grade before	Grade after	Days waited	Dates
1	Sefton	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Requires Improvement	Inadequate	2,191	Feb 2016 – Feb 2022
2	Poole (now closed)	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Requires Improvement	2,142	Oct 2011 – Sep 2017
3	Oxfordshire	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Good	2,128	Apr 2018 – Feb 2024
4	Brighton and Hove	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	2,072	Jul 2018 – Mar 2024
5=	Bury	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Requires Improvement	Inadequate	2,072	Feb 2016 – Oct 2021
5=	Blackburn with Darwen	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	2,072	Jan 2012 – Sep 2017
7	Hartlepool	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	2,065	Jul 2018 – Mar 2024
8	Sheffield	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Requires Improvement	Good	2,064	Nov 2013 – Jul 2019
9	Derbyshire	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Good	Requires Improvement	2,057	Nov 2013 – Jul 2019
10	Wolverhampton	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Requires Improvement	Good	2,051	Jun 2011 – Jan 2017
11	Gateshead	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Good	2,044	Apr 2019 – Dec 2024
12=	Southwark	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Good	Good	2,030	Mar 2017 – Sep 2022
12=	Camden	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	2,030	Feb 2012 – Sep 2017
14	Richmond upon Thames	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	2,016	Mar 2012 – Sep 2017
15	Warwickshire	SIF1 – ILACS1 (no SIF2)	Good	Requires Improvement	2,010	May 2017 – Nov 2021
16	Havering	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Inadequate	2,009	Jun 2018 – Dec 2023
17	Bracknell Forest	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	2,006	Oct 2011 – Apr 2017
18	Merton	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	2,005	Jan 2012 – July 2017
19	Hillingdon	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Outstanding	1,995	Apr 2018 – Oct 2023
20=	Waltham Forest	ILACS1 – ILACS2	Good	Good	1,988	Jan 2019 – Jul 2024
20=	Wirral	SLAC – SIF1 (no LACPI)	Good	Good	1,988	Jan 2011 – Jul 2016

NB the database starts from the date of SLAC inspections which run between June 2009 and July 2012

Return to Ofsted Visit Analysis Page 3

Advance to Ofsted Visit Analysis Page 5

Our friends at LIIA, working with D2I have produced more Ofsted analysis Ofsted inspections Power BI dashboard (external link hosted by LIIA).

The dashboard has five pages and covers ILACS and SEND inspections, with all manner of filters and visualisations available.

All the data on these pages have been produced by SESLIP analysis of information published at Ofsted’s report pages, which involves manual data transfer and is therefore subject to errors and omissions. If you spot anything that looks wrong, please contact Richard Tyndall 07880-787007

	Enablers	Outcomes
1	Multi-agency working is prioritised and effective	children, young people and families stay together and get the help they need
2	Leaders drive conditions for effective practice	children and young people are supported by their family network
3	The workforce is equipped and effective	children and young people are safe in and outside of their homes
4	–	children in care and care leavers have stable, loving homes

	Enablers
1	Co-production and relationships between children and young people, families and practitioners
2	Shared vision and evidence-informed priorities
3	Stable and knowledgeable leadership and governance
4	A focus on high-quality delivery of the essentials
5	A well-organised, skilled and supported workforce