England
Single central record of pre-appointment checks
Official wording, responsibilities and review duties.
Requirement and scope
Choose the governance type; academy and maintained duties differ. Choose a phase; confirm age and provision conditions.
Maintained school
Required document [1]
not stated in the source. Website publication: not stated in the source. Check access and disclosure duties separately.
- Source-established phases
- Nursery, Primary, Secondary, All-through, Special, 16–19
- Source-established school types
- Mainstream school, Special school, Maintained nursery school
- EYFS condition
- No separate EYFS condition stated
- Accountable
- not stated in the source
- Approval
- not stated in the source
- Operational owner
- not stated in the source
- Review cycle
- set by the school
Independent schools and pupil referral units are outside this catalogue’s supported governance mapping.
Academy or free school
Required document [1]
not stated in the source. Website publication: not stated in the source. Check access and disclosure duties separately.
- Source-established phases
- Nursery, Primary, Secondary, All-through, Special
- Source-established school types
- Mainstream school, Special school
- EYFS condition
- No separate EYFS condition stated
- Accountable
- not stated in the source
- Approval
- not stated in the source
- Operational owner
- not stated in the source
- Review cycle
- set by the school
Source-established phase exclusions: 16–19.
Independent schools and pupil referral units are outside this catalogue’s supported governance mapping.
The separate 16–19 academy variant states the setting-specific KCSIE assertion.
Source-established school-type exclusions: 16–19 academy.
Academy or free school
Expected [1]
not stated in the source. Website publication: not stated in the source. Check access and disclosure duties separately.
- Source-established phases
- 16–19
- Source-established school types
- 16–19 academy
- EYFS condition
- No separate EYFS condition stated
- Accountable
- not stated in the source
- Approval
- not stated in the source
- Operational owner
- not stated in the source
- Review cycle
- set by the school
Source-established phase exclusions: Nursery, Primary, Secondary, All-through, Special.
This variant applies to 16–19 academies; the ordinary academy-school assertion is separate. Other unqualified settings require an applicability check.
Source-established school-type exclusions: Mainstream school, Special school.
KCSIE paragraph 347 requires the school single central record; footnote 95 says 16–19 academies should maintain one. Online publication is not stated in these reviewed SCR clauses.
KCSIE includes maintained nursery schools and 16–19 academies. For colleges, its safeguarding responsibilities concern children receiving education or training.
Official wording
Part three, paragraphs 347–348
347. Schools and colleges must95 maintain a single central record of pre- appointment checks, referred to in the Regulations96 as “the register” and more commonly known as “the single central record”. 348. The single central record must cover the following people: • for schools, all staff, including teacher trainees on salaried routes (see paragraphs 374-376), agency and third-party supply staff, even if they work for one day, (see paragraphs 364-367),
Keeping children safe in education · Reviewed 2026-10-26
Effective from 2026-09-01
About this guidance: definitions of school and college, including maintained nursery and 16–19 academies
Unless otherwise specified: • ‘ school’ means: all schools whether maintained, non- maintained or independent schools (including academies, free schools and alternative provision academies), maintained nursery schools1 and pupil referral units. • ‘ college’ means further education colleges and sixth-form colleges as established under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and institutions designated as being within the further education sector.2 College also means providers of post-16 Education as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 1 The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS) is mandatory for all early years’ providers. It applies to all schools, including maintained nursery schools that have early years provision. Maintained nursery schools, like the other schools listed under ‘About this guidance’, must have regard to Keeping children safe in education when carrying out duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (by virtue of section 175(2) of the Education Act 2002 – see footnote 19 for further detail on this requirement). 2 Under section 28 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (‘designated institutions’). 6 (as amended). 3 16-19 Academies, Special Post -16 institutions and Independent Training Providers. For colleges, the guidance relates to their responsibilities towards children who are receiving education or training at these institutions.
Keeping children safe in education · Reviewed 2026-10-26
Effective from 2026-09-01
Part three, paragraph 347, footnote 95: SCR recommendation for 16–19 academies
95 16-19 Academies, Special Post-16 institutions and Independent Training Providers should maintain a single central record. Information they should record is set out at paragraph 312. As with other schools and colleges they may record the information as set out at paragraph 347.
Keeping children safe in education · Reviewed 2026-10-26
Effective from 2026-09-01
Sources and updates
Official evidence reviewed 2026-10-26. Check the source edition and conditions before acting.
Keeping children safe in education
Reviewed edition matches. GOV.UK metadata checked; captured PDF matches the reviewed edition. Live file bytes are unverified.
- Reviewed on
- 2026-10-26
- Reviewed version
- 2026-09-01T00:01:05+01:00
- Last checked
- 2026-10-27T11:00:36.203Z
- Reviewed text digest (SHA-256)
913369f32fa2367427b5102ba316350edc3482c05f378907bc7defa592e43eff- Official content identity
- 31b824fc-51e4-4f97-b8d8-44379603f9b5
- Official content digest (SHA-256)
885f2f6ef30800b0e62ad136d3f552f784686c0eb79a76ce670a0c5c142ca817- Reviewed PDF digest (SHA-256)
1b469e9f6a29c9c48f1f3f7b14aa8b6db5456a2648c6054ad339e5ce305107ae
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ac3c09c11ed58342ad8e4ac/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026.pdf
Official attachment · https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ac3c09c11ed58342ad8e4ac/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026.pdf
Guidance, not legal advice. Local checks are not a compliance judgement; other duties may apply.