Ofsted launches children's social care survey

2 Feb 2026 01:17 PM

Ofsted has sent surveys to social care providers to find out about the experiences of the children, parents, staff and professionals involved.

Ofsted has today (Monday 2 February) issued its annual children’s social care survey for the following social care providers:

• residential special schools
• further education colleges with residential provision
• children’s homes (includes secure children’s homes and residential special schools registered as children’s homes)
• fostering agencies (includes independent fostering agencies and local authority fostering services)
• adoption agencies (includes voluntary adoption agencies and regional adoption agencies)
• adoption support agencies
• residential family centres
• boarding schools
• supported accommodation

We highly value the responses we receive. They help to both inform future inspections and build a national picture of people’s experiences with their respective providers. We have a blog post explaining how we use the responses.

The survey will close on 22 March 2026.

Social care providers

Ofsted has sent online survey links to all relevant registered managers and responsible individuals or nominated persons.

Read our guidance for providers for more information.

How to complete the survey

Ask your school, college, agency or centre for a link to the survey. Alternatively, if you want to give your views, you can call Ofsted on 0300 123 1231 or email socialcarepitsurvey@ofsted.gov.uk.