KCSIE 2026: what's changed?
The government has updated its statutory guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education.
11.08.2026
Some of the changes are clarifications or updates to reflect other developments in safeguarding law and practice, but others are new and you will need to pay particular attention to these. The full list of substantive changes is listed in Annex C at the back of the guidance. We've highlighted the changes, we believe, are most important.
The guidance comes into force on 1 September 2026 which doesn't give you much time to prepare.
All staff must now read part one
One of the most significant changes is the removal of Annex A.
Previous versions of KCSIE allowed staff who did not work directly with children to read a shortened version of the safeguarding guidance. From September 2026, that option is no longer available. All staff must read and understand part one, regardless of their role.
This reflects the DfE's view that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and every adult working in a school or college should understand core safeguarding principles
Children questioning their gender
The section dealing with children who are questioning their gender has been substantially expanded. It now provides more detailed information about:
- requests for social transition
- the involvement of parents
- safeguarding and welfare considerations
- confidentiality and information sharing
- toilets and changing facilities; and
- overnight accommodation arrangements.
You can read our detailed overview here.
Child-on-child sexual harassment and sexual violence
This section has been rewritten and now focusses on seeing this as a continuum from harmful sexual behaviour through to sexual violence. Schools and colleges are required to identify and tackle harmful sexual behaviour (including misogyny) at an early stage to try and prevent it escalating into more serious incidents including violence.
New links to NSPCC sources have been added to help safeguarding leads understand typical sexual development for different age groups and how to respond to children displaying sexualised behaviour.
All incidents involving the sharing or making of nude or semi-nude images must be treated as a safeguarding issue, whether or not the other person consented. The guidance also makes it clear that it is a criminal offence to take and share nude photographs of children under 18 years old, including images generated by AI.
Young carers and children with medical conditions
The revised guidance includes new and expanded content relating to children who may be particularly vulnerable.
Mental health problems are formally recognised as potential indicators that a child has suffered, or is at risk of suffering, abuse, neglect or exploitation. Teachers and other people working with children should be able to spot warning signs including significant changes in their behaviour, withdrawing from social situations, loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy as well as physical signs that the child is self-harming or is being neglected.
The guidance includes:
- a dedicated section on young carers
- additional content about when to make a safeguarding referral for children with medical conditions; and
- further detail on the barriers faced by some children with SEND.
Mobile phones
The guidance reflects separate statutory guidance on mobile phones which came into force at the end of June. Schools should be mobile-free by default and have a policy to reflect this.
These requirements do not apply to:
- 16 to 19 academies
- 16 to 19 free schools
- Further education or sixth form colleges; and
- Other standalone post-16 institutions.
However, those institutions may wish to refer to the guidance when developing their own mobile phone policies.
Filtering and monitoring
The filtering and monitoring provisions have also been strengthened to ensure that children can not access harmful content via the school/college's networks and on its devices. Schools and colleges are now expected to review the effectiveness of their filtering and monitoring arrangements at least once every academic year and keep a record of those reviews.
Volunteers
The supervisor exemption has been removed from regulated activity. This means than any volunteer who regularly helps your school or college or joins residential trips is likely to need an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information.
A volunteer will take part in regulated activity if they teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children on more than three days in a 30-day period, or overnight between 2am and 6am.
Managing allegations against people you don't directly employ
The guidance has been updated to make it clear what schools and colleges should do if they receive an allegation against someone they don't directly employ, such as supply or trainee teachers or contracted staff. It says that you share responsibility with the organisation that does employ them (for example, the employment agency).
Schools and colleges are responsible for gathering the relevant facts and managing the safeguarding process but the employmetn agency or business will usually conduct any disciplinary action.
Vetting candidates
The guidance now refers conducting a search via an online search engine when shortlisting candidates. Previously it refers to carrying out an online search.
How we can help
We have an excellent Public Law team, headed up by Yogi Amin who can help you with queries relating to safeguarding children. We also have a team of education specialists in our employment team who can assist where issues of safeguarding interact with staff issues, for example in recruitment and in the context of gender questioning children.
Please contact Jenny Arrowsmith, our national head of education to find out how we can help your school or college.
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