A parent stops you at the gate on a Thursday evening. Their daughter came home saying that one of the practitioners “squeezed her arm really hard” at lunch. There’s no mark. The practitioner is someone you have trusted for six years, and your honest first reaction is that this will turn out to be nothing.
Before September, many managers would have looked into it quietly and then decided whether it was serious enough to report. Under the EYFS framework in force since 1 September 2026, that decision has largely been made for you.
From serious harm to harm
Registered providers must now tell Ofsted, or their childminder agency, about any allegation of harm or abuse by anyone living, working or looking after children at the premises. The previous wording was serious harm. The duty applies whether the incident is alleged to have happened at the setting or somewhere else, such as on an outing.
The framework uses the definition of harm from the Children Act 1989. That definition is broad. It includes ill-treatment that isn’t physical and any impairment of a child’s physical or mental health or development. It also covers harm a child suffers from seeing or hearing someone else being ill-treated.
You must notify as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 14 days of the allegation being made. You must also tell Ofsted what action you took. Failing to notify without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence.
What that means in practice
An allegation of rough handling, even with no mark, is now likely to fall within the duty. So is a report that a member of staff shouted at a child until the child was frightened. The same goes for a child being shut out of an activity as a punishment for long enough to distress them. The test now is whether what is alleged could amount to harm.
That doesn’t mean every grumble becomes a referral. A parent unhappy that their child’s coat went home damp is not making an allegation of harm. If you’re unsure, discuss it with your local authority designated officer (LADO), and record both the conversation and the advice you were given.
The steps that protect everyone
Allegations against colleagues are among the hardest things a manager deals with, and the risk is in acting on instinct. A few principles keep things on track:
- Don’t investigate before you refer. Write down exactly what was said, then contact the LADO in line with your local procedures before you interview anyone.
- Keep an open mind in both directions. Being loyal to a trusted colleague and wanting to reassure a parent can both get in the way of fair judgement.
- Make decisions on advice. Suspension is not automatic. It should follow a risk assessment and the LADO’s guidance.
- Look after the member of staff. An allegation is stressful whatever the outcome. Name someone they can talk to and keep them informed.
- Write it all down. Record the allegation, the calls, the advice, the decisions and the notification to Ofsted, with dates.
The new framework also changes references. When you write a reference, it should state the facts of any substantiated concern that met the harm threshold. It should leave out anything unsubstantiated, unfounded, false or malicious. Keeping good records now makes that much easier to get right later.
Who needs to know what
Your designated safeguarding lead will usually lead the response, so they need to be confident with the new threshold. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (Level 3) course covers managing allegations against staff in depth, and our June article who holds the hardest decisions in your setting? looks at the role more broadly.
The rest of the team needs to know that concerns about a colleague must be raised, and how to raise them. Many allegations start with a practitioner who saw something and wasn’t sure whether to mention it. Whistleblowing in Early Years covers that part: recognising unsafe practice, who to tell, and the legal protection that comes with speaking up.
Give your DSL the confidence to handle an allegation well.
Designated Safeguarding Lead (Level 3) covers thresholds, referrals and allegations against staff across eleven in-depth lessons and three worked case scenarios, with an NFAQ-accredited certificate on completion.
As for the parent at the gate: thank them, write down what they told you, and phone the LADO in the morning. If it turns out to be nothing, the record shows you handled it properly. If it doesn’t, you’ll be glad you acted early.
This article was published in October 2026 and reflects the EYFS statutory framework in force from 1 September 2026. Follow your local safeguarding partnership’s procedures. It is not legal advice.