Ofsted inspectors have found that staff at a Liverpool nursery, where a grandad was given the wrong child and drove away, are not consistently keeping children safe. The education watchdog's inspection found that safeguarding standards are not met at Kids Planet Crosby.
The nursery referred itself to Ofsted after a two-year-old was handed to the wrong grandad on June 10. Jody Riley, 37, from Formby, Merseyside, told the Liverpool ECHO that she received a call from the nursery saying her daughter Rosie had been picked up by another child's grandfather. Two-year-old Rosie was driven away for at least 10 minutes before the man noticed the mistake and returned her to the nursery.
Riley said she would not take her daughter back to the nursery and would care for her full-time. The Ofsted inspection followed, with findings published today.
Inspection findings
Inspectors found two areas requiring improvement: "children's welfare and wellbeing" and "leadership and governance". The report states: "Leaders have not ensured that safeguarding procedures are implemented consistently to keep children safe.
"Weaknesses in staff deployment, supervision and collection procedures place children at significant risk of harm. As a result, children do not consistently benefit from the robust systems needed to protect their safety."
During the inspection, children's privacy was not consistently considered during toileting and intimate care. The provider took immediate action to address this. However, children do not consistently experience the safe and well-organised environment they deserve.
Positive aspects noted
Despite the weaknesses, Ofsted noted that children develop warm and secure relationships with staff, who know the children's care routines well, including sleeping, feeding and emotional needs. The report reads: "These positive aspects do not outweigh the significant weaknesses in the promotion of children's welfare and wellbeing."
Regarding safeguarding, inspectors said leaders have not ensured there is "an open and positive culture" around it. The report states: "This puts children at significant risk of harm.
"Weaknesses in the implementation of safeguarding policies and procedures mean children are not consistently kept safe. Staffing arrangements do not always assure children's safety and risk assessment arrangements are not sufficiently effective in identifying, managing and reducing known risks.
"As a result, children are exposed to unnecessary risk and their safety and welfare are not consistently promoted."
Enforcement action
The report added that following the significant safeguarding incident, leaders took prompt action to strengthen arrangements, improving collection procedures and restricting access to nursery rooms. During the inspection, leaders took immediate action to ensure children's privacy during toileting and intimate care. However, leaders cannot demonstrate that safeguarding arrangements consistently protect children from harm.
The nursery failed to meet safeguarding standards and requirements of the Childcare Register. Ofsted plans to take enforcement action, with a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring a four-point action plan, with a completion date of July 20, 2026. In the four other areas inspected—achievement, behaviour, curriculum, and inclusion—the nursery achieved the expected standard.
A spokesperson for Kids Planet said: "We remain deeply sorry for the serious safeguarding incident at Kids Planet Crosby. This was an isolated and unprecedented incident, caused by human error when relevant and well established procedures were not followed.
"We cooperated fully with the relevant authorities and police, all of whom have concluded their independent investigations and are satisfied the matter was handled appropriately. We also immediately reviewed collection procedures and security arrangements and carried out an extensive internal investigation.
"We take Ofsted's findings extremely seriously and have implemented a comprehensive action plan covering safeguarding, training, supervision, staffing and risk assessments. Ofsted returned on 22 July to review this work, with its outcome summary to follow.
"Ofsted's report recognises our prompt response to the incident while also highlighting the setting's strengths, including children's progress, warm relationships with staff, inclusive practice and strong partnerships with parents and professionals.
"Children's safety and wellbeing remain, and will always remain, our absolute priority. We are committed to learning fully from this incident and ensuring that the improvements made are rigorously and consistently upheld."
