Risk assessment methodology: early career framework and national professional qualifications – GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
You can change your cookie settings at any time.
Departments, agencies and public bodies
News stories, speeches, letters and notices
Detailed guidance, regulations and rules
Reports, analysis and official statistics
Consultations and strategy
Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports
Published 7 December 2022

© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/risk-assessment-methodology-early-career-framework-and-national-professional-qualifications/risk-assessment-methodology-early-career-framework-and-national-professional-qualifications
We use risk assessment to ensure that our approach to inspection is proportionate and that we focus our efforts where they can have the greatest impact. We will apply the methodology described here for all early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualification (NPQ) inspections, with the exception of initial lead provider monitoring visits (LPMVs), which must take place within the first 12 months of course delivery.
New lead providers will receive an LPMV in the first year of operation. From the second year of delivery onwards, lead providers will usually receive a full inspection a minimum of once every 2 academic years.
If an LPMV finds that a lead provider is not taking effective action to ensure that delivery of the ECF and/or NPQ programmes is of a high quality, we will normally return to do a full inspection within a year.
Where a lead provider receives a judgement that is less than good, Ofsted will determine whether it is appropriate or proportionate to carry out an LPMV or full inspection within the following 12 months. This will depend on the concerns identified during the inspection and other risk assessment information available at the time.
We base the selection criteria on the ECF and NPQ inspection framework and handbook. It is important to note that the risk assessment process is not used to prejudge inspection outcomes.
The risk assessment process for scheduling full inspections involves the following methodology:
The initial dataset used for risk assessment contains all lead providers contracted by the Department for Education that are open and offering the ECF induction and/or NPQ professional development.
This year’s risk assessment is based mainly on 4 factors:
A risk score is allocated to each lead provider based on the 4 factors set out above.
We use the following data sources to inform this decision:
SHMI review the information from the risk assessment process to confirm the schedule for full inspection for the next academic year.
For further information on the timing of inspections, please refer to the ECF and NPQ inspection framework and handbook
Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.
To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone.

source