A major change to child-safeguarding rules has taken effect today, removing the so-called supervision exemption from the legal definition of regulated activity with children.
From 1 September 2026, some staff and volunteers who regularly teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children will be classed as carrying out regulated activity even when their work is supervised by another suitably vetted adult.
The Disclosure and Barring Service says the change applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is intended to close a gap under which some supervised roles did not previously qualify for a check against the Children's Barred List.
What has changed?
Before today, a person carrying out certain activities with children could fall outside the definition of regulated activity if they were considered to be sufficiently supervised by somebody else who was already in regulated activity.
That supervision exemption has now been removed.
Where the relevant activity is carried out frequently enough, or overnight, the person may now be treated as carrying out regulated activity regardless of that supervision.
The DBS says the frequency threshold includes activity carried out on more than three days in any 30-day period, or once overnight between 2am and 6am.
Who could be affected?
The change is not limited to schools.
DBS guidance says it can affect paid staff and volunteers in settings including sports clubs, charities, youth organisations, outdoor activity centres and community groups, as well as schools and colleges.
Examples given by the DBS include supervised school reading volunteers, assistant sports coaches and instructors working regularly with groups of children.
Occasional activity may remain outside regulated activity. Department for Education guidance, for example, says parents helping at an occasional PTA event or a non-overnight school day trip would not be affected solely by this change.
What does it mean for DBS checks?
The change means organisations may now be able to request an Enhanced DBS check including Children's Barred List information for qualifying roles that previously fell outside regulated activity because they were sufficiently supervised.
There is an important distinction, however: the DBS has stressed that the legislative change itself does not create a blanket new legal requirement for every organisation to obtain a DBS check for every affected person.
Organisations must instead consider the relevant legislation and sector-specific safeguarding guidance when deciding what checks are required.
For schools, colleges and childcare settings in England, Department for Education guidance says volunteers who are now engaging in regulated activity will need an Enhanced DBS check with Children's Barred List information, and settings must ensure that a person carrying out regulated activity is not barred from working with children.
Barred people cannot carry out regulated activity
The underlying legal safeguard is significant because regulated activity is work that a barred person must not carry out.
It is an offence for a barred individual to engage in regulated activity and for another person knowingly to permit a barred individual to do so.
The Department for Education says that where a person currently volunteers in a supervised role but is on the Children's Barred List, they will no longer be able to continue in that regulated activity once the new rules apply.
Change introduced through Crime and Policing Act 2026
The Department for Education says the reform follows changes made by the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
The Government's stated aim is to increase children's safety by ensuring that people judged to pose a risk of harm cannot regularly work with children simply because another adult is supervising them.
The change affects regulated activity with children only. The DBS has confirmed there is no corresponding change to the definition of regulated activity with adults.
New school safeguarding guidance also takes effect
The change coincides with the 2026 edition of the Department for Education's statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance taking effect from 1 September.
Schools and colleges are required to follow the updated safeguarding framework from today, replacing the 2025 edition.
Organisations affected by the new regulated-activity definition have been advised to review supervised roles, consider how frequently those duties are carried out and establish whether existing DBS certificates include Children's Barred List information.
Sources
- Disclosure and Barring Service: Change to the definition of regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026
- Disclosure and Barring Service: Common misconceptions about the September 2026 supervision exemption changes
- Department for Education: Regulated activity - removal of the supervision exemption
- Department for Education: Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026