Overview
- The Department for Education will update the Early Years Foundation Stage to include detailed, enforceable safe‑sleep standards for all early years settings.
- The draft changes, developed with the Lullaby Trust, Ofsted and medical experts, are intended to take effect in September 2026 subject to parliamentary approval.
- The standards set clear rules on sleep position and surfaces, removing bedding and soft items, managing room temperature, close supervision for under‑six‑month‑olds, and staff reading NHS guidance on sudden infant death.
- Ofsted will review inspector training on safe sleep, shorten routine inspections to a four‑year cycle, inspect new providers sooner, and make around a quarter of visits unannounced.
- Ministers are also reviewing mandatory CCTV, with Gigi Meehan’s parents and the Lullaby Trust on an advisory group, while recent nursery abuse cases and a June inquest keep pressure on wider reform.