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The exercise of 
devolved adult 
education functions 
Statutory guidance for Strategic 
Authorities 
September 2025 
2 
Contents 
 
Summary 3 
Legislation this publication refers to 3 
Who this publication is for 4 
Main points 4 
What Strategic Authorities should know and do 5 
The functions 5 
What approach should a combined authority take to commissioning adult education 
provision? 6 
When making and communicating its adult funding decisions, what should a Strategic 
Authority take into account? 7 
 
 
3 
Summary  
This guidance relates to the transfer of certain adult education functions in the 
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to Strategic Authorities (SAs) by 
the Secretary of State. The relevant functions of the Secretary of State  have been 
transferred to specified SAs by way of statutory instruments made under the Local 
Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, the Levelling-Up and 
Regeneration Act 2023 and the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, each  
instrument applying to a specified SA in relation to the area of that SA (“a relevant  
instrument”). Each relevant instrument requires the SA to have regard to guidance issued 
by the Secretary of State when exercising the specified functions.  
The transfer of the specified adult education functions (also known as the ‘devolution’ of 
adult education functions) will enable the SA to determine adult education provision in 
relation to their area, and to manage the associated Adult Skills Fund (ASF).  
This guidance provides support to the SAs when exercising the specified adult education 
functions. This should be considered alongside the Memorandum of Understanding that 
is agreed between each SA and the Department for Education (DfE) and sets out the 
detail of the operational relationship that will underpin the successful devolution of the 
adult education functions.  
This guidance is also intended to ensure that funding and provider management 
arrangements are agreed by SAs with providers in a way that minimise costs and 
maximises consistency and transparency.  
The SA and DfE through the Memorandum of Understanding, English Devolution 
Accountability Framework or as part of the Integrated Settlement arrangements will agree 
any further areas as required. An integrated settlement approach to funding consolidates 
funding lines and reduces ring-fences on funding. Prior to making any amendments to 
the section of this guidance entitled ‘What Strategic Authorities should know and do’ the 
Secretary of State will consult with each SA.  
Legislation this publication refers to 
This guidance refers to: 
• The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 
2018  
• The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 
2018  
• The West of England Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2018  
• The West Midlands Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2018 
• The Tees Valley Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2018  
4 
• The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (Adult Education 
Functions) Order 2018 
•  Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield1 Combined Authority (Functions 
and Amendment) Order 2020  
• The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Election of Mayor and Functions) Order 
2021  
• The North East Combined Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2023  
• The Cornwall Council (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 
• The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) 
Order 2025 
• The East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) 
Regulations 2025 
• The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”)  
• The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 
• The Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 
• The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016  
Who this publication is for 
This guidance is for:  
• Strategic Authorities exercising adult education functions under a relevant 
instrument. 
Main points 
This guidance has been updated to reflect further devolution in England and the 
legislative changes that have allowed this. 
 
1 Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield CA became known as the South Yorkshire Mayoral 
Combined Authority from September 2021. 
5 
What Strategic Authorities should know and do  
The functions  
A relevant instrument transfers to the specified SA adult education functions under 
section 86 to 88 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (‘the 2009 
Act’) with the exception of such functions relating to apprenticeships training, adult 
detention or any power to make regulations or orders. The functions under section 86 to 
88 are as follows and are exercisable by the SA in relation to the area of the SA.  
a) section 86 (education and training for persons aged 19 or over and others subject 
to adult detention);  
b) section 87 (learning aims for persons aged 19 or over: provision of facilities);  
c) section 88 (learning aims for persons aged 19 or over: payment of tuition fees  
The instrument also provides for the transfer of the Secretary of State’s functions under  
d) section 90 which relate to the encouragement of education and training for 
persons aged 19 or over;  
e) section 100(1) which relates to the provision of financial resources; 
f) section 100(1B) which relates to the provision of financial resources in connection 
with approved technical education qualifications or approved steps towards 
occupational competence 
to be exercisable by the SA in relation to its area, with the exception of functions relating 
to persons subject to adult detention. To note, functions d) and e) do not include functions 
relating to the delivery of apprenticeships and function f) does not include delivery to 
learners under the age of 19-years-old or those between the ages of 19-25-years-old with 
and EHCP2. 
 These functions are exercisable by the SA concurrently with the Secretary of State.  
The instrument contains conditions on the exercise of the transferred functions, namely 
that in addition to the requirement to have regard to guidance, that the SA must adopt 
rules of eligibility for awards by an institution to which it makes grants, loans or other 
payments under section 100 of the 2009 Act in accordance with any direction given by 
the Secretary of State. 
 
2 Education and Health Care Plan. 
6 
What approach should a combined authority take to 
commissioning adult education provision?  
Providers are key to the delivery of the adult education system. Many education 
providers are complex organisations that rely on a variety of public funding to operate 
their business. SAs, as public bodies funding education and training provision, must have 
regard to best value for the public purse and securing the best outcomes for students. It 
is also important to make sure that arrangements by public bodies for securing and 
funding provision are fair and reasonable and that demands made of providers are clear, 
transparent and timely.  
A provider may secure funding from numerous sources and funding from SAs may form a 
relatively small proportion of this overall funding. An SA will make its own decisions about 
the type of provision it wants or requires to meet local skills needs. Most education 
providers will have become accustomed to how they have been funded for adult 
provision previously and have their systems and arrangements aligned with that regime. 
Given this, when exercising their functions in relation to the commissioning of adult 
education provision, an SA should consider the following:  
a) the fairness, reasonableness and proportionality of their requests of the providers 
through consideration of the entirety of that provider’s overall business.  
b) ensuring that all providers are given an equal opportunity to compete for funds in 
any competitive process.  
c) how the SA’s commissioning approach aligns to the existing adult education 
funding key milestones that a provider operates under when commissioning.  
d) when an SA determines that it is appropriate to deviate from the DfE 
commissioning process they should give a reasonable notice period3 to allow 
providers to adapt.  
SAs should consider these areas and work jointly with providers at the design and 
planning stage on their proposed funding arrangements with a view to:  
• building positive relationships.  
• enabling providers to understand and meet SA needs.  
• enabling SAs to understand what providers need to plan and respond properly to 
deliver adult education for the SA.  
 
 
 
 
3 A reasonable notice period should be considerate of the nature of the change and the potential impact on 
provider’s usual business cycle. 
7 
When making and communicating its adult funding decisions, 
what should a Strategic Authority take into account?  
An SA should:  
a) consult with representative providers on its approaches to funding and 
performance management rules, funding rates and funding formula.  
b) publish a conflict of interests’ policy for the allocation of relevant funds that 
includes:  
i. requirements on all those involved in decision-making and all those 
receiving funding from this budget to declare and record actual and 
perceived conflicts of interest; and  
ii. appropriate external checks, including an internal monitoring process 
and external input to decisions.  
c) publish in advance of the start of the funding year (traditionally 1 August) 
conditions of funding against which providers should deliver. This should be 
published on a website in a manner which recognises accepted web accessibility 
standards, and which allows for the content to be:  
i. downloadable; and  
ii. published in such a way that search engines can index it.  
d) consider the DfE’s adult funding key milestones4 when communicating funding 
plans and allocations including methodologies. This will help those providers that 
may be in receipt of adult funds from both the DfE and an SA to plan their overall 
adult provision staffing and delivery and to manage their business model and 
income appropriately and efficiently to ensure value for money.  
e) ensure that providers have a point of contact if they need to discuss their delivery, 
payments or funding arrangements. This should be established early in the 
relationship.  
f) identify for providers how and to whom they can complain if they believe they have 
grounds to do so.  
g) conduct appropriate due diligence in establishing which providers will deliver ASF-
funded provision, complying with the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement 
Regulations 2024, as appropriate.  
h) have a clear commercial strategy to undertake legally compliant exercises and put 
in place contract/performance management regimes.  
i) have clear market entry arrangements that are available to potential providers.  
j) have a clear funding reduction and/or exit requirements strategy. 
 
 
4 For example, publication of funding rules, publication of funding rates/formula, notification of funding 
allocations to providers and contracts/agreements issued for the upcoming academic year. 
8 
 
© Crown copyright 2025 
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.  
 
Where we have identified any third-party copyright information, you will need to obtain 
permission from the copyright holders concerned. 
 
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The exercise of devolved adult education functions : Statutory guidance for Strategic Authorities : September 2025

State-funded school inspection toolkit : Updated 9 September 2025 : Version 1.1

Improving education inspections : methods statement : Published 9 September 2025

Hancock, Susannah

Delivering The Best for Girls in Custody : 'There is no more urgent mission than these girls' : March 2025

Official Statistics
Main findings: childcare
providers and inspections as
at 31 August 2025
Published 19 November 2025
Applies to England
  
Menu
Home Parenting, childcare and children's services Childcare and early years Providing childcare
Performance and inspection of childcare providers
Childcare providers and inspections as at 31 August 2025
Print this page
This release marks the final official statistics based on
Ofsted’s previous inspection frameworks, which made an
overall effectiveness judgement. Following our recent
consultation on improving the way we inspect education,
all future official statistics will reflect the renewed
framework.
Reports and data produced under the previous
frameworks will remain available on the Ofsted statistics
website for reference.
This is the main findings report for the childcare
providers and inspections as at 31 August 2025 release.
The following are also available:
underlying data
methodology
pre-release access list
Summary
This release includes:
the number of Ofsted-registered childcare providers on 31
August 2025 and their most recent inspection outcomes
data on inspections and regulatory activity carried out until 31
August 2025
Contents
Summary
Summary of findings
Introduction
Providers, places and
registers
Inspections and
regulatory activity
between 1 September
2024 and 31 August
2025
Most recent
inspections of
providers on the EYR
Childminder agencies
Early years provision in
the schools sector
Notes
Glossary
Further information
Annex: data tables for
figures
Summary of findings
On 31 August 2025:
60,000 childcare providers were registered with
Ofsted, down by 1,270 (2%) since 31 August 2024.
Most of this decline was due to a continued fall in the
number of childminders.
The number of childcare on non-domestic premises
providers had increased by 260 (1%) since 31 August
2024, to 27,500 providers. This is the second
successive academic year in which there has been an
increase.
1.29 million childcare places were offered by providers
registered on the Early Years Register (EYR), up by
17,700 (1%) since 31 August 2024. Most of this
increase was due to a rise in the number of places
offered by childcare on non-domestic premises
providers, such as nurseries and pre-schools.
98% of childcare providers had been judged good or
outstanding at their most recent inspection, an
increase of less than 1 percentage point since 31
August 2024.
Introduction
The early years and childcare sector is primarily made up of
private nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. The majority of
childcare provision is registered directly with Ofsted, and the
aggregated figures represent this. Data on provision registered
with childminder agencies can be found in the childminder
agencies section of this page.
In this publication, we refer to 4 types of early years provision:
Childminders
These are people who look after children for payment or
reward. Childminders have the option to register either
with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.
In this report, ‘childminders’ includes childminders both
with and without domestic premises; they are called
‘childminders’ and ‘childminders without domestic
premises’ respectively in data files.
Childcare on non-domestic premises
These are nurseries, pre-schools, holiday clubs and
other group-based settings.
Home childcarers
These are individuals who care for children wholly or
mainly in the child’s own home (for example, nannies).
Childcare on domestic premises
These are providers where 5 or more people look after
children together in a home that is not the child’s.
Providers of childcare on domestic premises have the
option to register either with Ofsted or with a childminder
agency.
Further information about provider types is available in the
glossary.
Childcare in early years is also provided in the schools sector. It
is offered in state-funded schools and independent schools. For
more information, see the early years provision in the schools
sector section of this page.
Providers, places and registers
Number of providers
There were 60,000 childcare providers registered with
Ofsted on 31 August 2025, down by 1,270 (2%) since
last year.
The percentage decrease in the number of providers in
2024/25 is consistent with the previous academic year
(2023/24).
Figure 1: Childcare providers registered with Ofsted as at
31 August 2025, by provider type
1. See Notes for rounding guidelines.
View data in an accessible table format.
Joiners and leavers in the childcare
sector over time
The number of active providers on our registers has been falling
for over a decade. This is because more providers are leaving
the childcare sector than joining (see Figure 2) and is mainly due
to a fall in the number of childminders.[footnote 1]
In 2024/25, 7,240 childcare providers left the sector and 5,980
joined, giving a net decrease of 1,270 providers. Most of this
decline was due to a continued fall in the number of
childminders.
In 2024/25, 1,640 childminders joined Ofsted’s registers while
2,640 left, giving a net decrease of 1,000 (4%), which was
similar to the decrease seen last year.
The number of childcare on non-domestic premises providers
registered has increased by 260 (1%) since 31 August 2024.
Figure 2: Joiners and leavers in the childcare sector, by
academic year
1. Most leavers are provider resignations, and most joiners are new provider
registrations. Some will be providers moving registers from the EYR to the
Childcare Register (CR) or resigning from one register but remaining on the other. 
View data in an accessible table format.
Places
On 31 August 2025, there were 1.29 million childcare
places offered by providers registered on the EYR, up by
17,700 (1%) since last year.
1.14 million of these childcare places were offered by
providers of childcare on non-domestic premises, up by
24,000 (2%) since last year.
Data on places is reported for the 46,600 providers registered
on the EYR and is first gathered at registration and updated at
inspection.
The number of childcare places has not changed at the same
rate as the number of providers. This is because the declining
number of providers is mostly due to the falling number of
childminders, and childminders offer fewer childcare places than
other providers on average. While the number of providers has
decreased by 2% since 31 August 2024, the number of places
has increased by 1%.
For methodological notes on places data, see the methodology
and quality report that accompanies this release.
Figure 3: Number of childcare places offered by providers
on the EYR as at 31 August 2025, by provider type
1. See Notes for rounding guidelines. 
2. Places include children up to their eighth birthday where providers are registered
on both the EYR and the CR. 
View data in an accessible table format.
Registers
On 31 August 2025, 46,600 (78%) of Ofsted-registered
childcare providers were on the EYR. The remaining
22% were only registered on the CR.
Childcare providers can be registered on one or more of the
following registers:
Early Years Register (EYR)
Childcare Register (CR), which is divided into 2 parts:
compulsory
voluntary
Further information about these registers is provided in the
glossary.
Inspections and regulatory
activity between 1 September
2024 and 31 August 2025
Around 9,540 events were full inspections of providers
registered on the EYR. The remaining 1,640 inspections
of providers registered on the EYR were inspections of
out-of-school settings or of providers with no children on
roll at the time of inspection.
Figure 4: Inspections and regulatory activity between 1
September 2024 and 31 August 2025
childminders
home childcarers
1. See Notes for rounding guidelines. 
2. Our agreement with the government is to inspect 10% of providers on the CR
each financial year. The number of CR inspections reported above is by academic
year and it may therefore not equal 10%. The regulatory events include face-to-face
events as well as remote events via telephone call. 
View data in an accessible table format.
Outcomes of full EYR inspections
between 1 September 2024 and 31
August 2025
Of the 9,540 full inspections of providers registered on
the EYR carried out since 1 September 2024, 90%
resulted in a judgement of good or outstanding.
Of the inspections that were previously judged requires
improvement or inadequate, 78% improved to good or
outstanding at their next full inspection.
Key judgements
As part of a full inspection under the education inspection
framework (EIF), an early years provider is graded on 4 key
judgements:
quality of education
behaviour and attitudes
personal development
leadership and management
Of the full EYR inspections carried out since 1 September 2024,
90% resulted in a judgement of either good or outstanding
overall. All these inspections were good or outstanding for their
quality of education and behaviour and attitudes.
Figure 5: Overall effectiveness and key judgement
outcomes of full EYR inspections carried out between 1
September 2024 and 31 August 2025
1. Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100. 
View data in an accessible table format.
Providers’ inspection outcomes are likely to vary, depending on
their previous overall effectiveness judgement. Providers that
were previously judged good or outstanding were more likely to
receive a good or outstanding judgement at their next
inspection. Therefore, the overall effectiveness profile of
providers may vary year on year, depending on which have been
selected for inspection in the year to date.
Of the full EYR inspections carried out, 2,490 (26%) were first
inspections, and 820 (9%) were inspections of providers
previously judged requires improvement or inadequate.
Safeguarding
Of the 9,540 full EYR inspections carried out since 1
September 2024, 9,160 (96%) resulted in a judgement
of effective for safeguarding.
While inspectors do not give a separate grade for safeguarding
practice, there is a written judgement in the inspection report on
whether arrangements for safeguarding children are effective.
Most recent inspections of
providers on the EYR
Of the EYR providers that have received a full inspection,
98% were judged good or outstanding at their most
recent one. This is an increase of less than 1 percentage
point since 31 August 2024.
Changes to the proportion of providers judged good and
outstanding are influenced by providers previously judged
requires improvement or inadequate:
improving at their next inspection to good or outstanding
ceasing to provide childcare, through resignation or
cancellation
On 31 August 2025, 36,000 (77%) of eligible providers on the
EYR had received a full inspection.
Childminder agencies
Childminders and childcare on domestic premises providers can
choose to register with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.
Ofsted inspects childminder agencies. The childminder
agencies are responsible for carrying out annual quality
assurance visits to the providers who are registered with them.
Childminder agencies are only eligible for inspection when they
have providers on roll. There are only 2 overall effectiveness
inspection outcomes: effective and ineffective. On 31 August
2025, there were 8 childminder agencies registered with Ofsted.
Of these, 4 had providers on roll at the time and were therefore
eligible for inspection. Of these, all have been inspected and
were judged to be effective.
Early years provision in the
schools sector
Early years provision can also be offered by state-funded and
independent schools. For more information on school
inspections and outcomes, see our statistics on state-funded
school inspections and outcomes. For more information on non-
association independent school inspections and outcomes, see
our statistics on non-association independent schools.
Please note that Ofsted only inspects non-association
independent schools. The Independent Schools Inspectorate
inspects association independent schools.
Notes
We explain the main uses of this data and the arrangements for
quality assurance, and provide further contextual information, in
the methodology and quality report accompanying this release.
The methodology and quality report also provides information on
the strengths and limitations of the statistics.
Rounding
Numbers in this report are rounded as follows:
numbers under 100 are not rounded
numbers between 100 and 1,000 are rounded to 2 significant
figures
numbers over 1,000 are rounded to 3 significant figures
Education inspection framework
On 1 September 2019, we began inspecting under the EIF. The
EIF helps to support consistency across inspections of early
years and childcare providers, maintained schools, academies,
non-association independent schools, and further education and
skills providers in England. We evaluate the overall quality and
standards of the early years provision in line with the principles
and requirements of the early years foundation stage statutory
framework. Inspectors judge the overall effectiveness of the
early years provision, taking into account 4 judgements:
quality of education
behaviour and attitudes
personal development
effectiveness of leadership and management
Glossary
Definitions of terms are in our statistical glossary.
Further information
We publish the following information on the inspection of early
years providers:
early years and childcare statistics
EIF
framework for the regulation of providers on the Childcare
Register
Contact for comments or feedback
If you have any comments or feedback on this publication,
contact Alison Merrett on 03000 130729 or
Alison.Merrett@ofsted.gov.uk, or the early years data and
analysis team at childcaredataqueries@ofsted.gov.uk.
Annual report
We will publish findings from our forthcoming annual report on 3
December 2025.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical
release: Richard Smith, Chloe Ainger, Nustret Hoxia, Adam
Sutton and Venkata Madupuru.
Annex: data tables for figures
This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table
format for all figures.
Data for Figure 1: Childcare providers registered with
Ofsted as at 31 August 2025, by provider type
Provider type Number of providers
on 31 August 2025
Change since
31 August 2024
Childcare on non-
domestic
premises
27,500 +260
Childminders 25,000 -1,000
Home childcarers 7,230 -530
Childcare on
domestic
premises
210 -2
See Figure 1.
Data for Figure 2: Joiners and leavers in the childcare
sector, by academic year
Year Joiners Leavers Total number of providers
2020/21 6,990 11,300 71,000
2021/22 5,690 11,100 65,600
2022/23 6,330 9,650 62,300
2023/24 6,490 7,520 61,200
2024/25 5,980 7,240 60,000
See Figure 2.
Data for Figure 3: Number of childcare places offered by
providers on the EYR as at 31 August 2025, by provider
type
Provider type Number of places
on 31 August 2025
% of total
places on the
EYR
All providers 1.29 million 100%
Childcare on non-
domestic premises
1.14 million 88%
Childminders 152,000 12%
Childcare on
domestic premises
5,140 less than 1%
See Figure 3.
Data for Figure 4: Inspections and regulatory activity
between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025
Activity
type
Number
of
events
Details
EYR
inspections
11,200 9,540 (85%) of these were full
inspections. 1,010 (9%) were visits to
providers providing out-of-school day
care. 640 (6%) were visits to providers
with no children on roll.
CR 1,160 Approximately 5 out of 10 of these
inspections were visits to home childcarers.
Registration
visits
3,000 56% of these were visits to
prospective childminders intending to
register on the EYR or CR. 26% were
visits to childcare on non-domestic
premises providers. 17% were visits to
home childcarers. 1% were visits to
childcare on domestic premises
providers.
Regulatory
events
9,620 63% of these related to childcare on
non-domestic premises providers.
See Figure 4.
Data for Figure 5: Overall effectiveness and key
judgement outcomes of full EYR inspections carried out
between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025
Number of
inspections
%
providers
judged
outstanding
%
providers
judged
good
% providers
judged
requires
improvement
Overall
effectiveness
9,540 10 80 5
Quality of
education
9,540 10 81 6
Behaviour
and attitudes
9,540 11 81 5
Personal
development
9,540 10 80 5
Effectiveness
of leadership
9,540 10 80 5
and
management
See Figure 5.
1. A focus on childminders, Ofsted, September 2023. ↩
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Main findings : childcare providers and inspections as at 31 August 2025 : Published 19 November 2025

Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England : Autumn term 2024/25 : Published 20 November 2025

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