KCSIE 2026: What's Changed and What Your School Needs to Do Before 1 September
The KCSIE 2026 changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education come into force on 1 September 2026. This guide sets out every confirmed change in one scannable place, and gives Designated Safeguarding Leads a practical "what to do now" action list — so your school arrives at September prepared rather than scrambling.
⚠️ In force from 1 September 2026 — KCSIE 2025 applies until then
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 replaces KCSIE 2025 from 1 September 2026. Schools and colleges must continue to follow KCSIE 2025 in full until that date. The changes summarised below are the confirmed headline changes — they are not exhaustive. Always read the complete document on GOV.UK ↗ before updating live policy, and treat any paragraph or annex reference here as indicative only (see Part One, KCSIE 2026, for the exact wording).
On this page
The 14 Confirmed KCSIE 2026 Changes
Most annual updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education are technical. The KCSIE 2026 changes are different — they carry genuinely new expectations for schools, DSLs and governors. Below is a scannable summary of the confirmed changes. For the full statutory wording, see Part One and the relevant Annex of KCSIE 2026 on GOV.UK.
1. All staff must read Part One in full
The condensed summary that some settings previously used for staff who do not work directly with children is removed. Every member of staff must read Part One in its entirety.
2. Annexes renumbered
The annex structure has changed, so induction packs, handbooks and training slides that reference KCSIE by annex letter will need updating. See our practical guide to the annex changes for a before/after mapping.
3. New section on gender-questioning pupils
A dedicated safeguarding-framed section covering social transition, single-sex spaces and parental engagement (see Annex C, KCSIE 2026).
4. Explicit duty on AI, deepfakes and nudification apps
Schools must assess risks from AI-generated content and image-based abuse tools. Read our dedicated guide: AI, Deepfakes and KCSIE 2026.
5. Mandatory annual filtering and monitoring review
Filtering and monitoring provision must be reviewed at least annually, with governors formally accountable for the outcome. In practice this overlaps with wider cyber security assurance — schools should confirm this annual review sits alongside, not instead of, existing IT/cyber security safeguards.
6. Mobile-phone-free schools "by default"
The expectation is no pupil access to phones across lessons, transitions, breaks and lunch, unless a clearly defined exception is agreed.
7. Broader child-on-child abuse definition
Categories are expanded to include serious violence, misogyny and AI-generated imagery. See our guide: KCSIE 2026 and Serious Violence.
8. New weapons-reporting duty
A confirmed duty covering how schools record and report incidents involving weapons on or linked to school premises (see Part One, KCSIE 2026, for the full reporting threshold).
9. Family Help alignment
References to early help are updated to reflect the Family Help model introduced by Working Together 2026, replacing the separate early help and Section 17 pathways with a single coordinated offer.
10. Operation Encompass duty clarified
Notification standards are tightened, with an explicit expectation that the voice of the child is reflected in what schools receive and record.
11. Mental health reinforced as a safeguarding issue
Staff are expected to recognise the pathway from a mental health concern to a safeguarding assessment. See our mental health and safeguarding guide.
12. Online due-diligence checks in safer recruitment
Shortlisted candidates are subject to online checks of publicly available information as part of pre-appointment safer recruitment.
13. Trainee teachers named in the allegations section
Trainee teachers are explicitly confirmed to be subject to the same allegations-against-staff processes as substantive staff.
14. Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) content added
New content connects misogyny, harmful sexual behaviour and serious violence — see also our misogyny and incel culture briefing.
Part One and the Annex Renumbering
Two structural changes affect every school regardless of setting type. First, Part One must now be read by all staff in full — there is no shortened route for staff who are not in daily contact with pupils. Second, the annexes have been renumbered, which is easy to miss but has real practical consequences: any policy, induction slide or training handout that says "see Annex B" or "see Annex D" needs checking against the new KCSIE 2026 structure before September. We cover this in detail, including a before/after table, in KCSIE 2026 Annex Changes: A Practical Guide for DSLs.
Online Safety, AI and Mobile Phones
The single biggest area of change is online safety. KCSIE 2026 introduces an explicit expectation that schools assess and mitigate risks from AI-generated content, deepfakes and "nudification" apps — tools that barely featured in earlier editions but which DSLs are already encountering in real incidents involving pupils. Filtering and monitoring provision must now be reviewed at least annually, and governors — not only the IT lead — are accountable for the outcome. Alongside this, KCSIE 2026 reinforces the expectation that schools operate as mobile-phone-free environments by default across the whole school day. For the online safety and AI detail specifically, read AI, Deepfakes and KCSIE 2026: New Safeguarding Duties Explained.
Child-on-Child Abuse and the New Weapons-Reporting Duty
KCSIE 2026 broadens the definition of child-on-child abuse to explicitly include serious violence, misogyny and AI-generated imagery, alongside a confirmed new duty on how schools record and report weapons-related incidents connected to the school community. Both changes have direct implications for schools already working on knife crime prevention — see our knife crime prevention hub for existing statutory context, and our dedicated article KCSIE 2026 and Serious Violence: New Duties on Weapons and Peer Conflict for the full detail on both changes.
Safer Recruitment and Multi-Agency Working
Safer recruitment expectations are strengthened with online due-diligence checks on shortlisted candidates and explicit confirmation that trainee teachers sit within the same allegations-against-staff framework as substantive staff. On the multi-agency side, KCSIE 2026 aligns its language with the Family Help model from Working Together 2026, and clarifies notification standards for Operation Encompass. DSLs who want the fuller narrative treatment of these and the gender-questioning pupils change should also read our companion piece, What to Expect from KCSIE 2026, and our existing KCSIE 2025 compliance guide for the framework that remains in force until September.
What to Do Now
KCSIE 2026 is not yet in force, so schools should not rewrite live policy against it until the final document is published and the commencement date arrives. But there is real preparation work that can start today:
Frequently Asked Questions
When do the KCSIE 2026 changes come into force?
1 September 2026. Until then, schools and colleges must continue to follow KCSIE 2025 in full.
Is this list of changes exhaustive?
No. This page summarises the confirmed headline changes. It is not exhaustive and is not a substitute for the full statutory guidance — always check GOV.UK for the complete document.
Do we need to change our policies before September 2026?
Prepare now — assign leads, audit materials, review draft policy areas — but do not replace live KCSIE 2025-based policy until the final KCSIE 2026 text is published and in force.
Where can I read the full guidance?
On GOV.UK, published by the Department for Education. Always treat the official publication as authoritative over any summary, including this one.
Who to Contact
Safeguarding concerns don't wait for a new edition of KCSIE
- Immediate danger: Call 999
- Report a concern about a child (non-emergency): Call 101 or your local MASH — see our MASH contact finder
- Mental health crisis, out of hours: NHS 111, option 2 — see our mental health and safeguarding guide
- Childline: 0800 1111
- NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000
Sources: Department for Education. Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026. GOV.UK. | DfE. Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 (statutory guidance currently in force). | HM Government (2026). Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026. | Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (data-sharing and information-governance context for Operation Encompass notifications). Last reviewed: July 2026.