The draft Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 – what schools, academies and colleges need to know

This summary reflects the Department for Education’s draft statutory guidance for consultation, published in February 2026. The guidance is not yet final and remains subject to amendment following consultation ahead of planned implementation from September 2026.

The Department for Education has published the draft Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 consultation, setting out proposed updates to the statutory guidance that underpins safeguarding practice across schools, academies and colleges in England. Although the draft guidance is subject to consultation and may change before implementation in September 2026, it provides a clear indication of the government’s direction of travel on safeguarding, child protection and whole-school culture.

The updated keeping children safe in education guidance builds on existing expectations while placing greater emphasis on early intervention, multi-agency working, online safety and emerging safeguarding risks. The draft also aligns closely with Working Together to Safeguard Children and reinforces that safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is a shared responsibility.

Below, we consider the key themes emerging from the draft KCSIE 2026 guidance and what education providers should begin preparing for now.

A stronger focus on child-centred safeguarding

The draft KCSIE 2026 guidance reaffirms that safeguarding practice must remain child-centred at all times. Schools, academies and colleges are expected to recognise that no single professional will ever hold the full picture of a child’s circumstances, making effective information sharing and coordinated working essential.

The draft statutory guidance places a significantly stronger emphasis on the early identification of concerns. Education providers are expected to identify emerging issues sooner, intervene appropriately and avoid waiting until concerns escalate into more serious safeguarding risks.

Importantly, the guidance distinguishes more clearly between school-led early help and “Family Help” arrangements coordinated by local authorities. While schools may continue to provide pastoral and internal support, they are also expected to understand safeguarding thresholds, contribute effectively to Family Help processes and work collaboratively with families and partner agencies wherever appropriate.

Safeguarding culture, staff training and professional confidence

The keeping children safe in education guidance continues to stress the importance of creating a strong safeguarding culture across the whole organisation.

All staff must remain familiar with key safeguarding documents, including:

• the child protection policy
• the staff behaviour policy or code of conduct
• the behaviour policy
• procedures for children missing education

Staff must also know the identity and role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and any deputies.

The draft guidance reiterates that safeguarding and online safety training should form part of induction processes and continue regularly throughout the year. However, the proposed changes go further by emphasising the importance of creating an environment where children feel safe to disclose concerns and where staff feel confident escalating issues appropriately.

The draft recognises that children may struggle to report abuse due to fear, shame, coercion, communication barriers, disability or lack of trust. Schools, academies and colleges are therefore expected to foster trusted relationships and ensure staff are equipped to respond sensitively and appropriately.

Children potentially at greater risk of harm

The draft KCSIE 2026 guidance highlights a number of groups who may face increased safeguarding vulnerabilities and require additional support.

These include children who:

• have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)
• experience mental health difficulties
• have caring responsibilities
• are pregnant or parenting
• are persistently absent from education
• may be vulnerable to exploitation, radicalisation or serious youth violence
• are affected by domestic abuse

The guidance reiterates that staff must understand the four categories of abuse: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. It also makes clear that harm can occur both online and offline, with risks often overlapping and compounding one another.

Child-on-child abuse and harmful sexual behaviour

One of the most significant areas of focus within the draft keeping children safe in education guidance relates to child-on-child abuse and harmful sexual behaviour.

The guidance makes clear that abuse between children can occur in any setting, including online, and that a lack of reported incidents should never be interpreted as evidence that problems do not exist.

Schools, academies and colleges are expected to challenge inappropriate behaviour consistently, including conduct that may previously have been dismissed as “banter”, harassment or low-level misconduct.

The draft guidance identifies a wide range of behaviours that may constitute child-on-child abuse, including:

• bullying
• physical abuse
• sexual violence
• sexual harassment
• intimate relationship abuse
• the sharing of self-generated intimate images
• AI-generated or manipulated intimate imagery

The draft statutory guidance also contains expanded detail on responding to harmful sexual behaviour. Education providers are expected to adopt victim-centred approaches, maintain accurate safeguarding records and provide proportionate support to both victims and alleged perpetrators.

Importantly, the guidance cautions strongly against victim-blaming language and emphasises the need for ongoing monitoring and support.

Online safety and emerging safeguarding risks

Online safety continues to be a major area of development within KCSIE 2026.

The draft guidance strengthens expectations around filtering and monitoring systems and reinforces that online safeguarding should form part of a whole-school safeguarding culture rather than operating as a standalone issue.

Schools, academies and colleges are expected to educate children about a range of online risks, including:

• cyberbullying
• grooming
• extremist and misogynistic content
• coercive online communities
• online exploitation
• AI-generated abuse imagery

The proposed changes reflect increasing concern about the speed at which online harms evolve and the growing complexity of digital safeguarding obligations for education providers.

Safeguarding considerations for gender questioning children

For the first time, the draft keeping children safe in education guidance introduces specific safeguarding provisions relating to children questioning their gender identity.

Drawing on principles emerging from the Cass Review, the guidance states that schools, academies and colleges should adopt an individualised safeguarding approach focused on the child’s welfare and best interests.

The draft indicates that parental involvement should generally be the default position. However, where involving parents may place a child at risk of harm, the Designated Safeguarding Lead should take responsibility for decision-making and ensure clear safeguarding records are maintained.

The draft guidance also reiterates that schools must continue to comply with existing legal obligations concerning single-sex spaces and accurate record-keeping based on biological sex, while considering appropriate arrangements to support individual pupils.

The evolving role of the designated safeguarding lead

The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead continues to expand under the draft kcsie 2026 guidance.

The DSL is expected not only to manage referrals to children’s social care, the police and Channel panels, but also to lead safeguarding culture, oversee information sharing, coordinate multi-agency working and support staff across the organisation.

The draft guidance places particular emphasis on the DSL’s involvement in early help and Family Help arrangements, reinforcing the expectation that safeguarding leadership should be embedded strategically across the school or college.

Leadership, governance and safer recruitment

The draft statutory guidance reinforces that safeguarding responsibility sits firmly with leadership teams, governing bodies and proprietors.

Schools, academies and colleges must ensure safeguarding is embedded through a whole-school approach supported by:

• regularly reviewed policies
• effective safeguarding oversight
• high-quality staff training
• robust information-sharing systems
• safeguarding-informed curriculum planning

Safer recruitment requirements remain largely consistent with previous versions of KCSIE, including enhanced DBS checks, barred list checks where appropriate and maintaining an accurate single central record.

The guidance also reiterates employers’ obligations regarding ongoing staff suitability and referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service or Teaching Regulation Agency where necessary.

Alongside this, the draft guidance continues to distinguish between allegations that meet the harm threshold and low-level concerns, emphasising the importance of transparent reporting cultures and proportionate responses.

What should schools, academies and colleges do now?

Although the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 consultation remains ongoing, education providers should begin reviewing the draft guidance now and considering the potential implications for safeguarding practice, policies and training.

Key areas for review are likely to include:

• online safety arrangements
• safeguarding training programmes
• child-on-child abuse procedures
• early help and Family Help pathways
• record-keeping processes
• safeguarding responses to emerging risks and AI-related harms

The draft guidance reflects a safeguarding landscape that continues to evolve rapidly in response to technological developments, contextual safeguarding concerns and growing expectations around multi-agency collaboration.

While many of the core principles within Working Together to Safeguard Children remain unchanged, the proposed changes in KCSIE 2026 demonstrate a move towards more detailed and explicit expectations across several complex areas of safeguarding practice.

If you would like advice on the draft Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 guidance, child protection responsibilities or wider education safeguarding obligations, please contact Thomas Emmett on 020 7620 0888 or at thomas.emmett@geldards.com.