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Community guidelines

Last updated: 14 October 2026

The ground rules for ratings and discussion on InspectorWho, how we moderate, and how to report content.

01Why we have a community

Members can rate their experience of an inspection and discuss inspectors, settings and reports. Shared, honest experience helps everyone prepare for inspections and understand them better. These guidelines keep that discussion useful, fair and lawful. They form part of our terms and conditions.

02What we ask of you

  • Be honest. Only rate an inspection you were genuinely involved in or have direct knowledge of, and choose the relationship that describes you accurately.
  • Be fair and specific. Describe what happened and how it affected you. Specific, balanced feedback is far more useful than general praise or criticism.
  • Separate fact from opinion. Make clear what you saw or experienced, and what is your opinion. Don't state as fact things you can't support.
  • Focus on the professional role. Discuss how an inspection was carried out, not people's private lives, appearance or personal characteristics.
  • Declare an interest. If you have a connection that others would want to know about, say so.
  • Be respectful. Disagree with ideas, not people. Inspectors, providers, staff and parents are all welcome here.

03What is not allowed

  • statements of fact that are untrue and could damage someone's reputation (defamation);
  • harassment, threats, intimidation, bullying or abuse, including coordinated campaigns against any person;
  • hate speech, or discrimination based on any protected characteristic;
  • personal information: anything that identifies a child; names of staff other than inspectors named in published reports; anyone's home address, phone number or personal social media; or details of anyone's private life or health;
  • confidential information, including safeguarding details, information about individual children, or documents shared with you in confidence during an inspection;
  • revealing the identity of a childminder, children's home or anyone else whose identity Ofsted has not published;
  • fake ratings, multiple accounts, ratings for inspections you were not involved in, or offering rewards for ratings;
  • impersonating anyone, including Ofsted or a particular inspector;
  • advertising, spam or links to unrelated content; and
  • anything illegal, or that encourages illegal activity.

04Safeguarding concerns

InspectorWho is not the place to raise a safeguarding concern. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. Otherwise contact the local authority children's services for the area. To raise a concern about a provider with Ofsted, see Ofsted on gov.uk.

05How moderation works

Posts appear straight away and are moderated afterwards. Any member can report a post using the report option, choosing a reason such as abusive, untrue, personal data or spam. Our moderators review reports and may keep, hide or remove the post.

Depending on how serious and frequent a breach is, we may remove content, issue a warning, restrict posting, or suspend or close an account. Closing an account for serious breaches hides all of that member's posts. If you think we got a moderation decision wrong, email support@inspectorwho.com and we will review it.

Ratings and comments are visible only to signed-in members, and we ask search engines not to index them.

06Complaints about defamatory content

If you believe a post about you is defamatory, you can use the report option on the post or email support@inspectorwho.com with the subject “Defamation complaint”. To let us act quickly, and in line with the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013, please include:

  • your name and email address;
  • a link to the post, or enough detail to find it;
  • the words you say are defamatory and what they mean;
  • why the statement is untrue or is not honestly held opinion;
  • why you say it has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to your reputation; and
  • whether you agree to your name and complaint being shared with the person who posted it.

We will review the complaint promptly. Where the regulations apply, we will contact the poster, who may respond. If the poster does not respond in time, does not wish to defend the post, or cannot be contacted, we will remove it. We may also remove content immediately if it plainly breaks these guidelines.

07For inspectors

Inspectors are welcome to join, select the inspector role and take part. If you are named in published reports, you can also correct information about you or object to how it is used (see Data sources and corrections), and report any member content you believe breaks these guidelines.