The new EYFS came into force this week. Here is everything that changed.

What changed in both frameworks

• Safer sleep is now written into the framework itself The explicit wording on safer sleep requirements has been brought into the main body of the EYFS, so providers no longer need to refer out to separate guidance to find it.
• Banned dog breeds Registered childcare may not be provided from any premises where a banned dog breed is kept or is present.
• The threshold for reporting allegations has been lowered Providers must inform Ofsted or their childminder agency of allegations of harm — rather than serious harm — by anyone living, working or looking after children at the premises.
• Enhanced DBS checks for volunteers, and no starting before the check comes back Enhanced criminal records checks are required for volunteers, including those who are supervised, and new employees cannot begin work before their check has been received.
• Suitability disclosures The requirements for what providers must tell staff they have to disclose, as part of information that may affect their suitability to work with children, have been amended.
• Screen use Both frameworks require providers to have regard to the DfE's screen use guidance for early years settings, which builds on the guidance for parents published in March 2026.

The group and school-based version adds one requirement of its own: providers of childcare on domestic premises must notify Ofsted or their childminder agency of changes to anyone aged 16 or over living or working at the premises. That aligns them with the rule childminders already follow.

Other amendments are described by the DfE as minor clarifications, intended to make existing requirements easier to understand. Registration requirements have also been updated so that nannies are prohibited from taking a banned dog breed onto premises where they are providing childcare, and must take reasonable steps to avoid banned breeds being present.

The qualification change nobody put in a headline

The Early years qualifications requirements and standards document is also being updated from 1 September 2026, to clarify the Level 2 English requirements. That document is what determines whether a member of staff counts at Level 2, Level 3 or Level 6 in your statutory staff-to-child ratios, so it is worth reading rather than assuming.

If you have staff whose English qualification has been the reason they are not yet counted at level, this clarification is the thing to check first.

What Ofsted is doing with it

Ofsted has reflected the DfE's changes in its updated early years toolkit and operating guide, adding detail on safer sleeping, weaning and eating practices, and has used them on inspection from 1 September 2026. Its published position is that settings must meet the grading standards as well as the relevant EYFS requirements to be graded at the expected standard.

Separately, from April 2026 Ofsted began inspecting early education and childcare providers more frequently, in line with the DfE's Best Start in Life strategy — moving towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years and inspecting new providers within 18 months of opening.

The bigger picture: Best Start in Life

The Best Start in Life strategy, published in July 2025, sits behind much of this. Alongside Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority in England and an extension of the Early Years Pupil Premium from 2026/27, it commits the government to investing in the workforce: more training places, financial incentives to attract early years teachers to nurseries in the most disadvantaged areas, a professional register for the early years workforce, and a career framework to support progression.

The direction is unambiguous. Quality is being defined by the qualifications and capability of the adults in the room, and inspection is arriving more often to look at it.

What to do this term

• Check you are working from the correct framework for your registration type, and that policies quote the new safer sleep wording rather than pointing at separate guidance.
• Review every volunteer, student and unsupervised-or-not helper against the enhanced DBS requirement, and stop any practice of starting employment before the check is returned.
• Update your safeguarding policy and staff briefing so that allegations of harm, not only serious harm, are reported to Ofsted or your agency.
• Write down how your setting has regard to the screen use guidance. "We don't use screens much" is not a position you can evidence on inspection.
• Re-check which staff count at which level in your ratios once the updated qualifications document is published.

Common questions