The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026: what schools and academies need to know

We reported on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in an article at the start of this year. Since then, the Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, becoming the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026.

Described by the government as “the most ambitious piece of safeguarding and education legislation in a generation,” the Act introduces wide-ranging reforms affecting safeguarding duties, school operations, academy governance, family support, social care and child protection.

While the Act is now law, most provisions will be brought into force gradually through secondary legislation and statutory guidance. This article sets out the key provisions relevant to schools and academies and identifies areas where further detail is still awaited.

Safeguarding: strengthened multi-agency working

The Act places schools on a stronger statutory footing within multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. Education settings are now formally recognised as ‘relevant partners’ in local safeguarding, giving them a greater role in influencing decision-making alongside local authorities, police and health services. Strengthening the role of education in safeguarding in this way reflects the fact that teachers and educators are often the first to spot warnings of abuse or neglect and are the second-largest referrer of cases in children’s social care.

Each local authority area must establish at least one multi-agency child protection team, comprising a social worker, a health professional, a police officer and a person with education experience. Schools should expect greater scrutiny of safeguarding decision-making, the timeliness of referrals and their engagement in multi-agency processes.

The Act introduces a new duty on safeguarding partners to share information where this would facilitate the safeguarding or promotion of children’s welfare. A Single Unique Identifier number, similar to the use of the NHS number, will be introduced via regulations, enabling children to stay visible to social services and assisting with more consistent record-keeping across agencies.

Schools’ safeguarding policies will need to be reviewed once the updated statutory guidance is published.

Operational changes for schools

Breakfast club provision

Several provisions of the Act will directly affect day-to-day school operations. Free breakfast clubs will become a statutory duty for all state-funded primary schools, consisting of the childcare provision for at least 30 minutes before the start of the school day and providing breakfast before the start of the first school session on each day. This is a non-means tested entitlement for parents and carers and represents a significant expansion of schools’ core statutory offer.

More than 2,000 breakfast clubs are expected to be operational from September 2026, with a phased rollout thereafter. Schools will need to plan ahead for staffing, supervision, safeguarding and premises arrangements to deliver this provision

Guidance explaining the role of schools and trusts in the first phase of setting up and running free breakfast clubs was issued by the Department for Education (DfE) on 22 May 2026 and can be accessed here.

School uniform

New limits on branded school uniform items, including school bags, will take effect from September 2026. Primary schools cannot require pupils to have more than three different branded items of school uniform. Secondary schools may require up to four branded items, provided one of those items is a tie. For the purposes of the Act, a branded item is defined as one that carries a school name or logo and is generally only available from particular suppliers.

Schools should review their uniform policies promptly, particularly where supplier contracts are in place.

Free school meals

From the start of the 2026–2027 academic year, eligibility for free school meals has been extended to cover pupils who do not qualify for targeted free school meals but who are in households receiving Universal Credit. It’s estimated that more than half a million additional pupils will become eligible for free school meals under the new eligibility criteria.

Allergy safety

The Act places allergy safety on a statutory footing, requiring schools to maintain an allergy safety policy covering risk assessment, staff training, emergency response and access to adrenaline autoinjector devices. The DfE’s consultation on new guidance for supporting children and young people with medical conditions and allergies has now concluded, and statutory guidance will be in force from September 2026.

Use of mobile phones during school hours

The Act requires schools to have regard to the Secretary of State’s guidance issued in relation to pupils’ use of mobile phones and personal communication devices during school hours. The DfE’s current guidance, issued in February 2026, provides guidance to individual schools and trusts on how to implement a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime.

The guidance works on the premise that all schools should be mobile phone-free environments by default and that anything other than this should be by exception only. The DfE’s current guidance can be accessed here.

Academy alignment and governance

A central theme of the Act is the alignment of academy duties with those of maintained schools. Academies will now be required to follow the national curriculum (once a revised curriculum is published), adhere to the national teacher pay and conditions framework and employ teachers who hold, or are working towards, qualified teacher status from 1 September 2026.

Multi-academy trusts will be subject to dedicated Ofsted inspections for the first time, although an inspection framework or timeline have not yet been confirmed.

Significantly, the Act repeals the automatic duty for schools to convert to academy status where they fall within the meaning of section 44 of the Education Act 2005 as schools causing concern. Instead, the Act replaces forced academisation with a discretionary intervention power. This gives the Secretary of State greater flexibility to determine the most appropriate intervention in each case, which may include support through Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams rather than forced academisation.

Local authorities regain stronger powers to direct academies to admit specific children, particularly vulnerable pupils, and there are increased statutory expectations around cooperation on admissions and place planning.

Acknowledging that forced academisation has not always been effective and can be highly disruptive for pupils, staff and parents, the Act permits the Secretary of State the flexibility to determine the most appropriate action to drive school improvement in each individual case, including support through the new RISE teams.

Children not in school and attendance

The Act establishes a statutory duty for local authorities to maintain a register of children who are not in school, including those children who are not registered at a relevant school, for whom education has been arranged otherwise than at school, or who are attending school on a part-time basis.

Schools will be expected to provide timely and robust information when pupils leave the school roll. Importantly, local authority consent will be required before parents withdraw certain categories of children from school for home education, namely children subject to child protection investigations or plans, and children attending special schools.

Schools should be aware that these provisions are likely to increase scrutiny around pupil movement and off-rolling practices.

Key amendments made during the parliamentary process

The Bill underwent extensive amendment during its passage through parliament. One of the most contentious issues was social media access for children. The House of Lords inserted a provision banning social media use by under-16s, which was subsequently reversed in the Commons.

The final compromise grants the Secretary of State a regulation-making power to require internet service providers to prevent or restrict access by children of specified ages. The government has now published its response to the consultation ‘Growing up in the online world: a national conversation’, marking the next stage of online regulation. Schools should anticipate further guidance on their role in supporting online safety as this framework develops.

Other notable amendments include strengthened sibling contact rights for children in care, requiring local authorities to allow reasonable contact with siblings unless a court order provides otherwise.

The scope of the Act was extended to Wales for certain provisions relating to children not in school following a vote by the Senedd in March 2026.

A requirement that regulations made more than two years after the Act’s passage may not amend primary legislation was also added as a safeguard against excessive use of delegated powers.

What should schools do now?

While the Act provides the legislative framework, much of the practical detail remains to be settled through secondary legislation and statutory guidance.

Although no immediate operational changes are required, schools should begin reviewing policies on allergy management, mobile phone use and school uniform to ensure compliance from September 2026.

Primary schools should plan for the delivery of breakfast club provision, addressing staffing, supervision and premises requirements. Safeguarding leads should prepare for the strengthened multi-agency framework and ensure that policies are ready to be updated when revised statutory guidance is published.

Academy leaders and trust boards should consider the implications of the national curriculum, pay framework and qualified teacher status requirements.