Compliance.
Even the word has a way of making early years leaders and managers wonder briefly if they’ve forgotten to sign something. It’s not that we dislike compliance, not at all. We know it protects children, strengthens teams, and keeps our settings safe, purposeful, and trustworthy. But, if we’re being honest, compliance often gets framed as a once-a-year event, a dramatic performance staged only when an inspector is rumoured to be within a five-mile radius.
The truth is much simpler, far calmer, and far more effective:
Compliance works best when it becomes everyday behaviour.
Not an emergency.
Not a scramble.
Not the paperwork
Just part of how your team moves, works, notices, and cares.
This blog explores how we get there and why making compliance an everyday culture is one of the most powerful things an early years leader can do.
Where Compliance Often Goes Wrong
Many of the issues we face in early years aren’t because teams don’t care about compliance. They do. Passionately. The difficulty is that compliance can feel like an extra task balanced on top of an already wobbly to-do pile. And Ive been there too!
Some familiar traps include:
Treating compliance like a filing exercise
Folders and checklists matter, but they don’t keep children safe. People do. When compliance is separated from practice, procedures become something we “have to do” rather than something we live.
Relying on one person
Every setting has that one person who “just knows everything.” Lovely for them, disastrous for continuity. When compliance knowledge sits with one individual, the whole system becomes fragile.
Seeing compliance as reactive
Updates, audits, and inspections should never be the only prompts for tightening things up. Once we slip into a cycle of reacting, compliance becomes stressful instead of supportive.
Policies written not practitioners
If your staff squint at a policy as if it’s written in ancient runes, it’s time for a rethink. Clarity beats complexity every day.
These aren’t failures, they’re symptoms of a system trying to be compliant occasionally rather than continuously.
The Power of Everyday Compliance
Everyday compliance isn’t about perfection.
It’s about consistency, shared responsibility, and small daily habits that make everyone’s life easier.
Think of it as the early years equivalent of brushing your teeth. You don’t wait for your six-monthly dental check before giving them a scrub. You just do it, automatically, because the habit itself protects you.
In the same way, everyday compliance:
- reduces risk
- supports safeguarding
- builds staff confidence
- strengthens communication
- prevents last-minute panic
- creates a calmer, more predictable environment
When teams see compliance as something embedded into routines like morning check ins, environment checks, supervision conversations, team meetings, or risk assessments they stop viewing it as a burden.
It becomes the norm.
Culture First, Paperwork Second
A setting’s compliance strength can usually be traced back to culture, not clipboards.
A healthy compliance culture feels like:
- Honesty – staff feel safe to speak up, report concerns, and question practice
- Clarity – procedures are understood, accessible, and revisited regularly
- Shared leadership – everyone plays a part, not just the manager
- Reflection – time to think, review, and learn rather than rush
- Calm accountability – expectations are clear, fair, and consistent
- Professional curiosity – staff don’t jump to assumptions; they stay observant
When this kind of culture exists, compliance becomes almost invisible. You don’t need grand speeches or dramatic reminders; it simply flows through everyday practice.
It’s in the way a practitioner checks the garden before opening the door.
It’s in the confidence of a team member raising a concern early, not late.
It’s in the professionalism of staff keeping children’s welfare central to every decision.
It’s in the calm of a manager who knows their systems work because they are used daily.
When compliance becomes cultural, it is easier to sustain!
How Leaders Build Everyday Compliance
No leader wakes up hoping to reinvent the wheel. The good news? You don’t need to. Everyday compliance grows from small, simple, repeatable actions.
1. Communicate clearly and often
Use plain English. Use real examples. Use humour if it helps. People need to understand to be able to follow.
2. Review little and often
Five minutes at the end of each day is better than three hours at the end of each term. Small reviews keep things alive.
3. Make compliance visible but not overwhelming
Wall displays, reminders, morning briefings… just enough, not too much.
4. Build shared responsibility
Safeguarding, health and safety, behaviour, first aid, SEND, data protection they all need more than one owner.
5. Train regularly, not occasionally
Short refreshers work wonders. Staff need momentum.
6. Celebrate when staff get it right
Notice. Acknowledge. Reinforce. Culture grows through recognition.
7. Encourage professional curiosity
Ask:
“What made you notice that?”
“What else could it be?”
“What do we know, and what do we need to find out?”
Curiosity is the foundation of safeguarding and therefore compliance.
A Setting That Lives Compliance, Not Performs It
You know a setting with everyday compliance the moment you walk in.
It’s calm.
It’s organised.
It’s purposeful.
Staff know what they are doing and why.
Children are at the heart of everything.
The paperwork makes sense.
The systems support practice, not the other way round.
Nothing feels hidden or rushed or glued together in panic at midnight.
These are the settings that inspectors walk into and immediately feel confident in.
Not because they’re perfect, none of us are but because the culture speaks for itself.
Linking Everyday Culture to Real-World Support
While this blog isn’t a sales pitch, it’s worth acknowledging that tools, systems, and processes can make maintaining everyday compliance much easier especially when they’re designed by early years professionals for early years professionals.
If you want to explore how the Impact Early Years™ Platform supports leaders with operational compliance, safeguarding oversight, staff management, and everyday culture-building, you can find more information here:
www.impactearlyyears.com
- the “Everyday Compliance” steps
Just say the word!