KCSIE 2026 published: key changes schools and colleges need to be aware of

The Department for Education (DfE) has published Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 (KCSIE 2026). While the new guidance does not come into force until 1 September 2026, schools and colleges should begin reviewing their safeguarding arrangements now to ensure they are ready for implementation. 

The 2026 edition contains a number of significant changes, ranging from staff training requirements and safer recruitment practices to online safety, artificial intelligence (AI), gender questioning children and child-on-child abuse.

Removal of Annex A

A notable change is the removal of Annex A, which previously provided a shortened version of safeguarding guidance for staff.

From September 2026, all staff will be expected to read and understand the full Part One: Safeguarding Information for All Staff. The DfE's rationale is that all members of staff should operate with the same safeguarding expectations, regardless of whether they work directly with children. Governing bodies and proprietors will therefore need to review induction and training processes to ensure compliance. 

Alongside this change, the DfE has introduced a new 'Part One: Overview for All Staff' document. This is intended as a quick-reference tool but does not replace the requirement for staff to read Part One in full. 

Greater emphasis on early intervention 

KCSIE 2026 reflects wider reforms to children's social care and places increased emphasis on the early identification of safeguarding concerns, multi-agency working and the developing Family Help framework. The updated guidance highlights the different routes available to provide support to children prior to statutory intervention and flags that all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for additional support for certain groups of children and young people, specifically now including those who have been repeatedly removed from the classroom, or who are on a part-time timetable in this category. 

Schools and colleges should ensure that their safeguarding policies and procedures reflect the greater focus on recognising concerns at an early stage, sharing information effectively and working collaboratively with local safeguarding partners to support children and families before issues escalate. 

Addressing emerging risks from AI

The updated guidance recognises the rapidly evolving safeguarding risks associated with AI technologies and signposts resources available to schools and colleges to assist them in understanding safety and legal considerations in the use of AI in schools such as the policy paper Artificial Intelligence in Education

KCSIE 2026 also considers some specific risks relating to AI-generated content, including deepfake images and videos, and highlights the role technology can play in facilitating abuse, exploitation and harmful behaviour. Schools should review their online safety and acceptable use policies, filtering and monitoring arrangements, staff training and consider how AI is used by the staff and parents as well as pupils to ensure they adequately address these emerging risks. 

Updated terminology 

KCSIE 2026 moves away from the terminology of "sexting" and “indecent images” and instead refers to: “nudes” which it explains refers to the creation, sending or posting of nude or semi-nude images by young people under the age of 18. This may include images taken by the young person or someone else, or digitally-altered images including AI generated or altered images and deepfakes. This reflects both developments in technology and a safeguarding-led approach to understanding the risks associated with image sharing among children and young people and should be reflected in the language used in policies, procedures, safeguarding records and staff training

Increased focus on misogyny and harmful sexual behaviour

KCSIE 2026 strengthens references to misogyny and its relationship to harmful sexual behaviour.

The DfE acknowledges the growing prevalence of misogynistic content online and the impact such material can have on attitudes, sexual harassment, sexual violence and child-on-child abuse. Schools should therefore consider whether their curriculum, behaviour policies, safeguarding training and reporting procedures are sufficient to address these issues effectively. 

New information sharing duty 

KCSIE 2026 strengthens the emphasis on confident and appropriate information sharing, including by reference to relevance, necessity and proportionality. The updated guidance references the new information sharing duty introduced by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 which requires safeguarding organisations and practitioners to share information where it is relevant to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of a child. The new duty is intended to give staff greater confidence to share information appropriately and in a timely way to safeguard children and specific statutory guidance will be provided in due course.

Children questioning their gender

In a significant change for 2026, KCSIE now includes guidance on children who are questioning their gender. This underlines that schools and colleges should approach issues relating to gender questioning pupils extremely carefully and through a safeguarding lens, bearing in mind their overarching duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils.  KCSIE 2026 covers issues such as social transition, use of facilities and how to approach requests and these sections should be read carefully. KCSIE 2026 states that parents should nearly always be involved in requests relating to social transition, except in “the rare circumstances where involving parents or carers would constitute a greater risk to the child than not involving them”. For other scenarios, for example where a pupil has confided in a member of staff that they are questioning their gender but does not ask the school or college to make changes to how they are treated, the DfE advises that “there is no reason to break any confidence unless there is a related safeguarding risk.” The updated guidance also highlights Equality Act and Human Rights considerations as well as relevant requirements that apply to school premises.

Schools and colleges should review safeguarding, equality and other related policies and staff training to ensure responses to gender questioning children reflect safeguarding, equality, human rights and premises-related legal obligations and are consistent with the updated expectations set out within KCSIE. Whilst the new guidance is welcome and a helpful starting point, specialist advice may still be required for complex scenarios. 

Pupils attending alternative provision 

The 2026 guidance emphasises that when schools commission alternative provision they retain safeguarding responsibility for the pupil and therefore that they “must continue to carry out safeguarding checks and conduct their own due diligence to ensure that the provision is appropriate for meeting each child’s individual needs.” KCSIE highlights voluntary national standards for non school alternative provision and guidance it has published to support schools and local authority commissioners in quality assuring providers. Schools will therefore need to consider what arrangements they have in place for pupils attending AP and adjust as required. 

Children with medical conditions (including allergies)

KCSIE 2026 contains guidance on safeguarding children with medical conditions (and note that the DfE is currently revising its statutory guidance on the same topic following a consultation). Specifically, KCSIE 2026 confirms that where there has been an incident relating to the management of a child or young person’s medical condition (including allergies) that would not in and of itself warrant a referral to local safeguarding partners. A safeguarding referral would only be required where the incident gives rise to concerns that, because of their medical condition, the child or young person may be at increased risk of neglect, abuse or exploitation, whether within or outside their family. Schools may therefore wish to address this in their medical conditions policy and/or safeguarding policy.

Safer recruitment and volunteer checks

There are also important changes affecting safer recruitment practices.

KCSIE 2026 reflects changes to regulated activity arrangements, including the removal of certain supervision exemptions. As a result, some volunteers who would not previously have required enhanced safeguarding checks may now fall within scope. Schools should review volunteer roles, work experience arrangements and recruitment procedures before September 2026 to ensure that appropriate pre-employment and safeguarding checks are being undertaken.

Domestic abuse and temporary accommodation notifications

Schools will now receive notifications relating to domestic abuse incidents and pupils who are living in temporary accommodation in certain circumstances. KCSIE 2026 makes clear that this information should be considered as part of the school’s wider safeguarding picture, with designated safeguarding leads ensuring that appropriate support, monitoring and information-sharing arrangements are in place.

Revisions to child-on-child abuse guidance

Part Five of KCSIE has been substantially reworked to strengthen guidance on child-on-child abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence.

The revised approach focuses on understanding harmful sexual behaviour on a continuum and supporting schools in making evidence-based safeguarding decisions. Schools will need to revisit their safeguarding and behaviour policies, procedures and staff training materials to reflect the changes.

What should schools do now?

The immediate priority for schools and colleges is to identify which policies, training materials and operational processes need updating before September 2026. This will include, but is not limited to:

• reviewing safeguarding policies and procedures;
• updating staff induction and safeguarding training materials to reflect the removal of Annex A;
• assessing volunteer and work experience arrangements;
• reviewing online safety and AI-related risk management processes;
• ensuring designated safeguarding leads and senior leaders are familiar with the new requirements;
• considering whether changes are required to other policies such as behaviour, equality, supporting pupils with medical needs and information sharing.

Our Education and Employment teams are happy to assist with policy updates and reviews or advice on specific issues arising from the updates to KCSIE. Please get in touch with Craig Vincent or your usual Stone King contact for further information.