Regulation 40 requires the registered person to notify Ofsted, and other relevant people, without delay when certain serious events happen.

ARC does not notify Ofsted for you

This is the single most important thing on this page.

ARC is not connected to Ofsted. It records the notifiable event, holds the required detail, and compiles a document you can work from. You then submit through Ofsted's own channel, and come back to record how and when you did it.

Completing this record does not discharge the duty. Submitting to Ofsted does.

The clock

The window is 24 hours from becoming aware — not from when you got round to writing it up, and not from when the incident itself happened. ARC measures it from the moment you record as "became aware", so record that accurately even if you're writing it up later.

"Without delay" is the actual standard. Twenty-four hours is the outer limit, not a target.

What counts as notifiable

ARC holds a fixed catalogue:

Death of a child
Serious harm to a child
Serious accident or illness
Allegation against a member of staff
Police involvement or a serious incident
Child missing from care
Safeguarding referral or significant event
Other notifiable event

Recording it

Staff record what happened; the decision about Regulation 40 is the manager's, made when they review the incident. It is not on the form used to record an incident.

On the incident, in Manager Review, tick This incident may need to be notified to Ofsted. ARC records who decided and when, and drafts a Summary for Ofsted from the record, naming children by their initials only. Select Copy and paste it into Ofsted's form — then check it there before you send. Redraft from the record rebuilds it after the incident has been updated.

Ticking the box puts "Notify Ofsted and record the notification (Reg 40)" into Due and Overdue until a notification is recorded. An incident of a kind that invites the question — a missing episode, a safeguarding type, or severity 4 or 5 — shows "Review the incident and decide whether Ofsted must be notified (Reg 40)" until a manager has decided either way.

The notification itself hangs off the incident. Select Record the notification once sent; the summary is already filled in.

You record:

The category from the list above
A summary of the event
When you became aware
Once submitted: the time notified, the method, and Ofsted's reference
Any other recipients — the placing authority, parents, the IRO — as free text

Then sign it off.

Other recipients are not automatic

ARC does not contact the local authority, the placing authority, parents or the IRO. The "other recipients" field is a record of who you told, written by you, after you told them.

Anyone who needs to know still needs contacting directly.

Until it's sent

The notification shows as pending, and stays on the manager's dashboard as due — then overdue once the 24 hours pass — until the time notified is recorded.

What this record is for

Done properly, it is your evidence: what happened, when you knew, what you did, who you told, and Ofsted's reference for it. That is what an inspector will ask for, and it's why the reference number matters as much as the submission.