Department for Education launch early years foundation stage consultation

The Department for Education (“DfE”) have published a new consultation on the proposed changes to the safeguarding requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage (“EYFS”) statutory framework.

The DfE sought the views of education professionals through consultation, which opened on 22 April 2024, in a bid to gather wide-ranging views on their policy proposals to assist the government to “reach well-informed and fair decisions.”

The aim of the proposed changes is to make the requirements more comprehensive for early year providers, strengthening the existing requirements to ensure the safety for children in these settings.

The consultation proposals include amendments to ensure safer recruitment, new requirements for following up on prolonged absence, and a requirement for safeguarding policies to include details of how safeguarding training is delivered and how practitioners are supported to put it in place. Although the consultation is open to the public, the DfE are keen to hear from those with an interest in childcare, including:

• Childminders
• Childminder agencies
• Early education and childcare providers
• Early years and childcare practitioners
• Nurseries, preschools and schools
• Parents and carers, and organisations representing them
• Charities
• Local authorities
• Early years and childcare sector organisations
• Ofsted
• Colleges, universities and suppliers of qualifications.

The DfE have confirmed that they intend to publish the consultation results along with their response in Autumn 2024.

The consultation closed on Monday 17 June 2024 – we will provide further updates in due course.