Safeguarding Bulletin - 19 August 2026

Regulated activity and criminal records checks

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has announced changes to the legal definition of regulated activity with children.

From 1 September 2026, changes introduced by the Crime and Policing Act 2026 will expand regulated activity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to include some roles that were previously exempt when undertaken under supervision. As a result, these roles will become eligible for Children's Barred List checks. It remains illegal for barred individuals to undertake regulated activity, or for organisations to permit them to do so.

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Children referred to the Prevent programme

In July 2024, the devastating murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, and the suffering faced by the twenty-three girls who survived the attack in Southport, rightly brought national attention to services that failed to identify the risk posed by Axel Rudakubana. Phase 1 of the national independent inquiry into Southport examined this individual case. Now, Phase 2 is broadening out to examine how systems need to change to prevent similar atrocities. The Children's Commissioner's report aims to inform that inquiry and makes recommendations about what needs to change.

The report draws on published statistics, new data requested from the Home Office, as well as interviews with professionals who have referred children to Prevent and individuals who have been through the system themselves. It illustrates how, while rising numbers of children are being referred to Prevent, it is not clear that it is always the right pathway to address the risks they pose.

• Download the report

Is the Online Safety Act working?

Just before the Online Safety Act Children's Codes came into force last year, the Molly Rose Foundation carried out research into children's exposure to harmful content online. A year on they ran a second-wave of research to understand what's changed.

This follow-up research showed there has been no significant change in the numbers of young people exposed to harmful content online with over a third of children spoken to exposed to harmful content online within the past week.

• Read full report here

How will your school ensure a safe and “mobile phone free” environment?

After the news that guidance on mobile phone use in schools became statutory at the end of June, from September 2026, schools will be expected to be a “mobile phone free" environment by default, with anything other than this being an exception only.

Behaviour policies will need to be reviewed to reflect this change, and staff should be clear and confident in the way that it is communicated to parents and carers. In reality, this is going to be a big shift for pupils as they see mobile phone use (specifically smart phone use) disappear from their classrooms, corridors, and playgrounds...

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Cutting Youth Crime. Changing Young Lives. What does this White Paper mean for schools?

The White Paper Cutting Youth Crime. Changing Young Lives was released earlier this year. It is the youth justice system reform and delivery plan published by the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy providing a blueprint for earlier intervention, more targeted support, and tackling the root causes of youth crime.

The long-term aim is to create safer communities and fewer victims and perpetrators of youth crime. The paper explores in depth and through extensive research what poses the biggest risk to pupils which we summarise in our article.

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Online harms affecting children

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has published an Evidence and Insights Pack on Online Harms Affecting Children. The resource is being shared as part of the YJB’s work with partners across youth justice, education, safeguarding, health and media to reduce harm, challenge problematic online behaviours, and support children to develop positive and pro-social identities.

Some of the key findings include:

Online spaces are central to children’s lives, but these spaces expose children to a wide range of harms, including bullying, sexual abuse, radicalisation and exploitation. This harmful content and the sharing of intimate images have become increasingly normalised among children.

Online harms can have adverse and long-lasting impacts on children’s wellbeing and for some children, it may be linked to involvement in violence.

Children can be both victims and perpetrators of online harm, and their vulnerability is shaped by a range of individual, social, economic, and societal factors that often overlap.

The design of online spaces and limited digital knowledge among adults can increase risk and reduce effective safeguarding.

View and download the pack