Providers

The national standards for non-school alternative provision

In August 2025 the Department for Education published voluntary national standards for providers of non-school alternative provision. They set out what good looks like across safeguarding, health and safety, admissions and the quality of education — and they are a clear signal of what inspectors and commissioners will look for.

Start your self-assessment Read the DfE guidance

What the standards cover

The standards are voluntary — they are not a legal framework — but they describe the baseline that good provision is expected to meet. There are 21 standards in four parts:

Part 1: Safeguarding and the welfare of children

6 standards

1.1All staff, including proprietors, should undergo recruitment checks including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) with barred list check where appropriate. Checks should be recorded on a single central record and persons who fail to meet those checks should not be employed.
1.2Appropriate policies and procedures are in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children attending the provision.
1.3Robust procedures are in place outlining how to respond when a safeguarding or welfare concern arises.
1.4All staff should be familiar with the provider's arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
1.5Providers should have a named child safeguarding lead who has received appropriate, documented training.
1.6Site access should be restricted to children receiving provision, the provider's own staff, and supervised visitors.

Part 2: Health and safety

6 standards

2.1An appropriate health and safety policy is in place and implemented effectively.
2.2First aid equipment and/or facilities are readily available and there are arrangements for access to a qualified first aider.
2.3A system should be in place and in use for recording and reporting health and safety and first aid incidents.
2.4All specialist equipment used by the provider should have undergone relevant inspection and safety checks consistent with industry standards.
2.5Staff should hold appropriate qualifications and be suitably trained in the use of specialised equipment.
2.6An appropriate fire safety policy should be in place.

Part 3: Admissions, support and guidance

5 standards

3.1Admissions policies and referral processes should be clearly documented and well supported.
3.2Providers should maintain records, including information supplied by commissioners, for all children placed in their settings.
3.3Providers should have an induction process to help children to understand the intended outcomes of their placements and their setting's safeguarding and health and safety policies.
3.4Providers should record children's attendance for each session and share information promptly with commissioners. Processes should be in place for checking on the health and welfare of absent children, and to agree strategies to improve attendance.
3.5All providers should have a strategy to support good behaviour for learning, to record children's behaviour and progress, and to share information about behaviour routinely with commissioners and parents.

Part 4: Quality of education

4 standards

4.1Teaching staff and instructors should have the appropriate skills, knowledge and qualifications to deliver programmes.
4.2Planning for learning shows lesson/session plans identify the knowledge, skills and understanding that all children attending their settings will aim to achieve.
4.3There is a clear process for setting targets and monitoring learning progress, supporting re-integration and transition where appropriate, and for taking actions if progress is not on track.
4.4Providers should have processes in place to self-evaluate whether they are effective in delivering the commissioned services.

Summaries above are AP Finder's plain-language rendering of the standards. The full DfE document is the authoritative version.

How the AP Finder self-assessment works

Enhanced and National providers can assess themselves against all 21 standards from their provider dashboard, at their own pace. Here's the process:

1. Rate all 21 standards

Work through the four parts in your provider dashboard. For each standard choose Met, Partly met, Not met or N/A.

2. Add evidence as you go

Note where the proof lives — your central record, policies, session plans, attendance logs. Evidence notes stay private to you.

3. Generate an improvement plan

For anything marked Not met or Partly met, AP Finder produces practical actions based on your own notes, so gaps turn into a to-do list.

4. Show what you choose

Once saved, your overall score and per-standard ratings can appear on your public profile. Evidence notes are never shown — only ratings.

Your evidence notes stay private to you and AP Finder administrators — they are never shown publicly. If you save an assessment, only your ratings (Met, Partly met, Not met, N/A) and your overall score appear on your public profile, clearly labelled as your own self-assessment and not independently verified.

Using self-assessment to prepare for inspection

Inspectors and local authority commissioners increasingly expect non-school AP providers to know where they stand against the national standards. A structured self-assessment is the fastest way to be ready, because it asks the same questions before anyone else does.

Find the gaps early. Every standard rated Partly met or Not met is a to-do list item — not an inspector's finding.
Build your evidence pack. The evidence notes you write against each standard are exactly the documents an inspection will ask about: central records, policies, first aid arrangements, attendance logs, session plans.
Show intent to improve.Regulators care as much about trajectory as the current picture. A dated self-assessment with an improvement plan demonstrates you self-evaluate — which is itself a standard (4.4).
Reassure referrers. Schools and local authorities choosing provision want the confidence that safeguarding and health and safety basics are in place before they make a placement.

The self-assessment is not an inspection and does not replace one. It is a working tool to help you know where you stand and what to strengthen next.

The ratings, explained

MetYou meet the standard fully, with evidence to hand.

Partly metElements are in place but not yet complete or consistent.

Not metThis is a gap to prioritise — start here with the improvement plan.

N/AThe standard doesn't apply to your provision (excluded from your score).

Your overall score counts Met as 1 and Partly met as 0.5; N/A standards are excluded.

Ready to assess your provision?

Sign in to your provider account and open the National standards self-assessment from your dashboard. If you haven't listed your provision yet, it takes a few minutes to add.