Tell Ofsted if you have a COVID-19 incident at your childcare business
You must tell Ofsted if there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 at your nursery, childminder business or other day care. You should also tell us if you have to close your setting as a result.
You must report to Ofsted:
- any confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in the setting, either in children or staff
- if the setting is advised to close as a result
You must tell us within 14 days of a confirmed positive test for COVID-19.
How to report a COVID-19 incident at your childcare
You will use the Report a serious childcare incident service, but you will need to follow the steps below:
- Complete the service as you normally would, until you get to the page asking “What type of incident do you want to report?”.
- Select the option “Child or member of staff testing positive for COVID-19, or closure due to COVID-19” as the type of incident you want to report.
- On the “Details of incident” page, provide the information below.
Information to include
If you are reporting a positive COVID-19 test by a member of staff or a child, or a closure of your setting due to COVID-19, you must tell us about important dates and who was present.
Where there is a positive test, you must tell us whether it was by a member of staff or a child. However, you do not need to give us their personal details.
Dates
You need to tell us the following dates:
- when COVID-19 cases were first suspected
- when COVID-19 cases were confirmed as positive
- when the setting is closing from, and when you intend to re-open
Who was there
We also need to know the total number of:
- children attending the setting at the time of the suspected case
- staff working at the setting at the time of the suspected case
Other information you should include
You should also tell us if you have:
- notified the case to Public Health England via the Department for Education helpline and any advice they gave you
- advised the local authority
- taken any other action
Tell Ofsted
Report a COVID-19 childcare incident
To complete this, you’ll need to have:
- your reference number – this will be on your certificate
- the childcare address
Responses