The DfE has launched the KCSIE 2026 consultation, with significant proposals affecting every school, trust, and college. Here are the headlines you need to know:
✨Part One – Safeguarding for All Staff
• Removal of Annex A – all staff must now read full Part One
• Alignment with Working Together
• New Early Help indicators (e.g., repeated removals, part‑time timetables)
• Clearer legal definitions of rape and sexual assault
• Recognition that CSE victims may be criminalised through coercion
• Expanded guidance on serious youth violence
• Earlier expectation to consider LADO referrals
✨Part Two – Management of Safeguarding
Mental Health: Clearer guidance on when concerns become safeguarding issues
Gender Questioning: Integrated advice; legal duties on single‑sex spaces & sports
Technical updates:
• Racism & derogatory behaviour in preventative education
• New AI safeguarding guidance
• Annual filtering & monitoring reviews
• Cybersecurity recognised as a safeguarding issue
• Stronger expectations for AP, medical needs, SEND barriers
• Improved information‑sharing, including DSL‑to‑DSL handovers
✨Part Three – Safer Recruitment
• New SCR template
• Clearer rules preventing unnecessary DBS checks for work experience
✨Part Four – Allegations
• Trainee teachers explicitly included in all allegations processes
• Safeguarding responsibility confirmed for all individuals on site
✨ Part Five – Child‑on‑Child Abuse
Revised structure aligned with the Hackett Continuum, clarifying:
1️⃣ Early HSB → 2️⃣ Sexual harassment → 3️⃣ Sexual violence
✨Annex Updates
• Guidance on AI‑generated child abuse material & Financially motivated sexual extortion (FMSE)
• Stronger expectations on DSL cover and required skills & experience
✨Evidence Base Development
Views sought on: affluent neglect, AI risks, BSL version of KCSIE, Children affected by Domestic Abuse (CADA), grooming gangs, gaming platforms, sextortion, non‑criminal HSB, staff self‑referral, Teenage relationship abuse (TRA), verbal abuse, and DSL workload.
📢 Have your say
These proposals will shape safeguarding practice for years to come.
Every voice matters: DSLs, teachers, governors, leaders, safeguarding partners, alternative provision providers, and social care colleagues.
👉 Access the full consultation
Please note that the guidance remains in draft and open for consultation until the 22nd April 2026.