The change file, column by column.
A plain CSV with a header row and 14 columns. Each row is one change at a company- or charity-run setting between two Ofsted childcare register files: 2,675 rows in this release, out of 9,076 changes on the register. The rest are counted in summary.json. Three files ship with each release:
nurserywatch-changes-latest.csvthe change fileREADME.txtthis reference, in plain textsummary.jsoncounts per change type and the two as-at dates
Columns
in file order| Column | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| urn | Ofsted's unique reference number for the setting. Stable across releases. Numeric, or prefixed EY or VC. | 2781951 |
| change_type | One of the five change types below. | PLACES_CHANGE |
| provider_name | The setting's name as registered with Ofsted in the newer file (the older file for settings that left the register). | Fruity Club: Holy Ghost |
| old_value | The value before the change. Places for PLACES_CHANGE; the previous name for NAME_CHANGE and OWNER_CHANGE; Active for CLOSED; empty for NEW. | 16 |
| new_value | The value after the change, on the same rule as old_value: Active for NEW, absent for CLOSED. | 250 |
| local_authority | The local authority the setting sits in, as in the Ofsted file. | Wandsworth |
| postcode | The setting's postcode as in the Ofsted file. | SW12 … |
| delta | new_value minus old_value. Filled for PLACES_CHANGE only. | 234 |
| provider_type | Ofsted's provider type for the setting. | Childcare on non-domestic premises |
| owner | The registered owner as on the Ofsted register (Ofsted's "Registered person name"). Always a company or charity. | Fruity Club Ltd |
| owner_kind | Always organisation: the file lists company- and charity-run settings only. Settings run by individuals, and companies whose name may identify a person, never appear as rows; they are counted in summary.json. The column is kept so the layout stays stable across releases. | organisation |
| company_number | Companies House number of the registered owner where the name matches a live Companies House record. Empty where no record matches. | 8-character number |
| matched_name | The company name as held by Companies House for that number. Empty where company_number is empty. | the Companies House spelling of the owner name |
| ch_confidence | Empty where company_number is empty. Otherwise verified when the name match is exact and either the company's registered SIC code is childcare, education, sports or recreation, or its registered office is in the same postcode area as the setting; otherwise name match, unverified. Close (non-exact) name matches are always name match, unverified. Check the company number before relying on it. | verified |
Change types
change_type valuesA change is anything that differs for the same URN between the older and the newer Ofsted file, plus every URN that appears in only one of them.
- NEWNewThe URN is in the newer file and not in the older one. Most are settings that registered in the period. The file carries no registration date, so a URN that first appears in the newer file counts as new whatever its registration date.
- CLOSEDLeftThe URN is in the older file and absent from the newer one. Shown as "Left the register (presumed closed)". Ofsted drops a setting from the file when it leaves the register and gives no reason, so this may be a closure, a suspension, a re-registration under a new URN or a change of provider type. In this release every row in both files has status Active, so no row is marked closed by status.
- OWNER_CHANGERenamedRegistered owner renamed: the registered owner's name changed on the same Ofsted registration (same Registered person URN). This is the same legal entity under a new name, a rebrand or a share purchase that kept the company number. It is not a transfer of the setting. Check Companies House previous names before treating it as a sale. A sale to a different entity appears instead as a CLOSED row plus a NEW row at the same address.
- PLACES_CHANGEPlacesRegistered places went up or down.
old_value,new_valueanddeltaare filled. A move from 0 may be a setting starting or restarting, or a gap in the older file. - NAME_CHANGERenamedThe setting's name changed by more than spelling. Changes of case, spacing or punctuation, typos of up to two characters, and a legal suffix (Ltd, Limited, LLP, CIC, CIO, SCIO, PLC) added, dropped or swapped are treated as corrections, counted in
summary.jsonand left out of the rows. The same rule applies to owner names.
One row
URN 2781951 · places 16 → 250urn,change_type,provider_name,old_value,new_value,local_authority,postcode,delta,provider_type,owner,owner_kind,company_number,matched_name,ch_confidence 2781951,PLACES_CHANGE,Fruity Club: Holy Ghost,16,250,Wandsworth,SW12 …,234,Childcare on non-domestic premises,Fruity Club Ltd,organisation,…,…,…
The first line is the file's header. The full postcode and the three Companies House values are elided on this page and present in the file.
Who is named
masking ruleSettings run by childminders and other individuals are counted only. They never appear as rows: in this release 5,593 of the 9,076 changes are at such settings and appear as a total in summary.json.
A company or charity owner whose name may identify a person (for example a title followed by a surname, or a forename and surname with a legal suffix) is counted only as well. In this release that is 788 changes, no rows.
Company and charity owners are named as registered with Ofsted and matched to Companies House by name. 1,459 of the 1,536 distinct owner names in the file match (95%).