6/12/2026

The Government has intervened in Torbay Council’s emerging local plan amid concerns it falls short of meeting its housing need by more than 10,000 homes.

5/18/2026

Over 40% of registered care homes have not received a full CQC inspection since February 2021, with some local authority areas seeing rates above 80%.

4/30/2026

Ofsted inspections disproportionately disadvantages schools serving deprived communities and those educating higher numbers of pupils with SEND, union says.

4/15/2026

Basildon BC has been awarded the lowest possible social housing grade following an inspection that uncovered very serious failings.

3/24/2026

Ofsted has announced changes to how it inspects local authority children's services, with updates to its ILACS framework taking effect from April 2026.

1/8/2026

Council leaders have welcomed the Government’s plans to introduce inspections of multi-academy trusts, saying the move will bring ‘greater transparency’.

10/2/2025

Two Oxfordshire councils have been told to withdraw their joint local plan due to concerns there was not enough cooperation with Oxford City Council.

4/23/2025

Horsham District Council has complained to the planning inspectorate after its local plan was rejected.

1/31/2025

Leicester City Council has said a newly-published Ofsted report ‘does not accurately reflect' its children's services.

1/16/2025

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has identified serious failings following inspections at Newcastle and Nottingham city councils.

12/6/2024

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is set to inspect hundreds of council buildings to check the risk of asbestos is being properly managed.

11/12/2024

Government envoys will oversee the management of Tower Hamlets LBC after inspectors found a ‘toxic' environment was stopping the council ‘moving forward'.

11/8/2024

England’s adult social care regulator has found that services provided by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council require improvement.

9/26/2024

Best Value inspectors sent into Tower Hamlets LBC have been personally threatened with legal action by the council, The MJ understands.

9/10/2024

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for the scrapping of single-word ratings in assessments of adult social care services.

6/14/2024

A Local Government Association peer challenge urged Cumberland Council to take immediate action on a ‘significant’ safeguarding backlog.

5/28/2024

The Best Value Inspection (BVI) team at Tower Hamlets LBC has extended its work to include the council’s oversight of the General Election.

2/16/2024

Havering LBC’s children’s services have been rated inadequate by Government regulator Ofsted after a two-week on-site inspection.

12/1/2023

Councils have reported spending 'a huge amount of time and energy' preparing for and undergoing the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) new adult social care assessments.

11/2/2023

Too many care leavers live in hotels or other unsuitable accommodation in Devon but oversight at the county council has improved, Ofsted has found.

5/30/2023

Councils should be enabled to spend more time ensuring food standards are maintained, study says as one in 10 takeaways are found to have failed inspections.

3/21/2023

Education unions have called for Ofsted inspections to be paused following the death of a head teacher who was waiting for a report on her school.

2/7/2023

A Government-appointed commissioner has warned Sefton Council’s children’s services are still in ‘severe difficulties’ and could be removed from local control.

1/31/2023

Local government will join an ‘expert group’ with the community sector and care providers to ‘build adult social care capacity’ as part of a new NHS plan.

12/21/2022

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced it is to delay the introduction of its new adult care assessments.

11/14/2022

Councils are being given access to a £20m government fund to tackle landlords who exploit the supported housing system at the expense of vulnerable residents.

6/14/2022

Ofsted and the CQC have today launched a consultation on a new draft framework for inspecting local provision for children and young people with SEND.

2/10/2022

Councils have been urged to properly record complaints about the private rented sector after campaigners found over half are failing to accurately do so.

11/17/2021

All schools and colleges will be inspected by Ofsted by summer 2025 to determine how education is recovering from the pandemic.

10/28/2021

Norwich City Council failed to carry out inspections relating to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safety, causing the potential for 'serious detriment to tenants'.

9/1/2021

Police criticised for delaying alerting children’s social care when they have found children living in houses where they might be vulnerable to abuse.

8/31/2021

Children with special educational needs are being left behind by council services across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, inspectors have found. 

4/13/2021

An accreditation scheme assessing COVID-19 safety measures in London’s pubs, restaurants, gyms, hairdressers and shops has been extended following a successful pilot.

1/19/2021

Deborah Heather urges local authorities to ensure the tourism industry uses enforceable and accountable accreditation schemes.

12/17/2020

Liverpool City Council will undergo an inspection of whether it is complying with its best value duty after the arrest of its mayor.

5/26/2020

Local authorities should be allowed to carry out unannounced inspections of workplaces most at risk of spreading coronavirus, according to a trade union.

3/17/2020

The social care regulator in England has announced it will be stopping all inspections in order to focus on supporting providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1/10/2020

Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next five academic years, the Government has announced.

9/23/2019

Labour has vowed to scrap Ofsted and replace it with regular ‘health checks’ led by local government.

7/12/2019

Local government leaders have welcomed a move to review the system for inspecting private sector housing.

5/24/2019

Gloucestershire CC is making ‘slow progress’ in improving its services for its children and young people two years after it was judged inadequate, Ofsted has found.

5/22/2019

Ofsted inspectors have awarded children’s services at Suffolk County Council the top grade of ‘outstanding'.

5/14/2019

Teachers have welcomed Ofsted's new inspection framework which pledges to focus on curriculum, behaviour and development rather than on test results.

4/30/2019

Ofsted has decided to retain its current 4-point grading system when it launches its new inspection framework in September.

2/5/2019

Serious fire safety failures have been found in nearly 100 care homes across London, the capital’s fire brigade have said.

1/16/2019

Ofsted says it is moving away from its focus on performance data as the watchdog launches a consultation on proposals for changes to its inspection framework.

11/22/2018

‘Fetishising failure’ distracts increasingly scarce management time away from improving outcomes, according to a new report naming the top 10 most productive councils in England.

9/27/2018

The new health and care inspection regime is a ‘significant improvement’ on the previous system, but there is room for improvement, concludes landmark report.

9/11/2018

Birmingham City Council has said it is ‘very disappointed’ by the results of a special educational needs and disabilities inspection and said it would take urgent action to make ‘significant improvements’.

9/7/2018

Ofsted is not providing the level of independent assurance about the quality of education that schools and parents need, MPs warn.

8/1/2018

Fire doors from five suppliers have failed to meet minimum safety standards, according to government inspectors.

6/25/2018

Many councils are struggling to meet their food hygiene responsibilities, according to new research by consumer watchdog Which?.

6/5/2018

Ofsted will carry out a full inspection of Wakefield’s children’s services after they were rated ‘requiring improvement’ two years ago.

3/27/2018

Local government secretary Sajid Javid has bowed to the inevitable and outlined plans for commissioners to run Northamptonshire CC amid concerns over the county’s sustainability.

3/1/2018

Local authorities are to share £1m to help then identify private high-rise buildings that may be clad in unsafe building materials.

1/22/2018

The Government has been accused of dragging its feet over inspections of children's centres, which have been frozen since 2015.

1/18/2018

Half of England’s large care home providers have at least one in four failing homes in their network, according to a consumer watchdog.

10/20/2017

Birmingham City Council is continuing to make progress with improving the quality of social work, inspectors have announced.

10/10/2017

The majority of adult social care services have been rated as good, but regulators have warned the future quality of services are ‘precarious’.

9/25/2017

The majority of the public believes housing safety inspections should be in the hands of local councils, survey reveals.

4/19/2017

A new set of inspections to examine how local partner agencies - including local authorities - are working together to protect children at risk of neglect will begin next month.

2/22/2017

Ofsted today announced a new social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) will take effect this April in order to create a more consistent inspections regime.

10/31/2016

Welsh councils have warned that handing over the regulation of food safety to producers would put the public at risk.

8/10/2016

New inspections will investigate how well local partners, including councils, work together to protect children living with domestic abuse.

5/3/2016

An average business can now expect a local authority health and safety inspection only once in every 20 years, according to a report into the decline of regulation.

5/3/2016

All food premises should be forced to display a hygiene rating so the public can better assess the quality and safety of the establishment before entering, councils say.