This year’s most significant changes focus on regulated activity, volunteers, staff safeguarding knowledge, family help, online harm and AI, and gender-questioning children.
Below, we’ll delve into the main changes that have been introduced in this year's iteration, outlining how they will each affect education.
1. Volunteers and regulated activity
2. Changes to who should read Part 1
3. Increased focus on Family Help
5. Guidance for gender-questioning children
6. Child-on-child abuse and harmful sexual behaviour
7. Your priority checklist for September
Previously, some volunteers who worked with children could be treated as not undertaking regulated activity if they were adequately supervised by a member of staff undertaking regulated activity.
From 1 September 2026, that exemption is removed. As a result:
What to do next:
Review all volunteer roles before September 2026.
Identify which volunteers will now fall within regulated activity.
Obtain Enhanced DBS checks with Children's Barred List checks where required.
Update the Safer Recruitment Policy.
Update volunteer induction and recruitment procedures.
Review Single Central Record processes to ensure checks are recorded appropriately.
Brief governors, trustees, headteachers and recruiting managers on the changes.
2. All staff must now read Part One
KCSIE 2026 removes Annex A, introducing the expectation that all staff now understand and follow the same safeguarding requirements.
The DfE has introduced a new "Part One: Overview for all Staff" as a supplementary reference document that becomes mandatory reading for all working in education settings.
This document does not replace Part One itself.
What to do next:
Update safeguarding training materials.
Ensure all staff, including support staff, site staff, catering staff and administrators, read Part One.
Amend induction checklists and annual safeguarding declarations.
Retain evidence that staff have read and understood the guidance.
KCSIE 2026 introduces new references concerning safeguarding considerations for children who are questioning their gender, confirming the DfE’s interpretation of the law in relation to toilets, changing facilities and residential trips and links to the ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education’ guidance, introduced from 1 September 2026.
What to do next:
Review your safeguarding policies.
Consider your staff briefing requirements.
Consider alternative provision arrangements i.e. single occupancy toilets for children undergoing social transition, where a request has been made or gender-questioning pupils have refused to use designated facilities.
Review your arrangements to record, communicate and review alternative provision requests.
Ensure responses remain child-centred and risk-based.
The guidance reflects reforms in Working Together to Safeguard Children and embeds the concept of Family Help and local multi-agency arrangements.
There is greater emphasis on early intervention and support before statutory social care involvement becomes necessary.
What to do next:
Update safeguarding policies and referral pathways.
Ensure Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL’s) understand local Family Help arrangements.
Train staff on identifying emerging concerns earlier.
Safeguarding in the digital world continues to take significant strides. With increased exposure to harmful online content placing children at risk, KCSIE 2026 has strengthened references to online harm, including:
The guidance clarifies that nude and semi-nude images may be wholly generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence. In addition, the guidance reiterates the default position in relation to schools being mobile phone-free environments in line with statutory guidance.
What to do next:
Review online safety and acceptable-use policies.
Update pupil safeguarding curriculum.
Train staff on AI-related safeguarding risks.
Ensure filtering and monitoring arrangements remain effective.
In 2025, the DfE released tools and guidance to support school leaders in keeping children safe online, which have been updated for 2026. We recommend re-reviewing the guidance and passing this on to any members of your workforce to keep them up to date.
The guidance reinforces preventative safeguarding work and expectations around:
Part Five of this iteration has been substantially re-written to highlight growing challenges of child-on-child sexual harassment. This includes ways in which schools should respond to reports of harmful sexual behaviour, along with resources and community-based help to prevent abuse early.
There’s also a stronger expectation that staff are clear about their School’s policy and procedures on child-on-child abuse, as well as the ways in which children can abuse other children (including online harassment).
What to do next:
Review your internal behaviour, safeguarding and child protection policies.
Ensure curriculum and pastoral provision address harmful sexual behaviour.
Signpost staff to community-based support and resources available to prevent abuse.
Refresh staff training around recognising and responding to peer-on-peer abuse.
To help you stay ahead of the changes, we’ve put together a table of priorities to review before September arrives.
|
Priority |
Action |
|
High |
Audit all volunteer roles against the new regulated activity definition |
|
High |
Obtain barred list checks where volunteers now meet regulated activity criteria |
|
High |
Update Safer Recruitment Policy and procedures |
|
High |
Train recruiting managers and DSLs on regulated activity changes |
|
Medium |
Ensure all staff read ‘Part One: Overview for all Staff’, of KCSIE 2026 |
|
Medium |
Review safeguarding, child protection and online safety policies |
|
Medium |
Update safeguarding training to include AI and online harms |
|
Medium |
Review local Family Help referral arrangements |
|
Medium |
Brief governors, trustees and committees on KCSIE 2026 changes |
For most schools and academies, the removal of the supervision exemption for volunteers is the single most important operational change requiring action before September 2026.
Do you need support reviewing your safeguarding documentation or training to make sure your staff understand Part One and Annex A? Our Safer Recruitment team has in-depth knowledge and experience when it comes to safeguarding and are on hand to support you through the changes.
If you’d like to request further support, please contact us.