England
Staff allegations and low-level concerns procedures
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
Procedure [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
Procedure [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, 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
Independent schools and pupil referral units are outside this catalogue’s supported governance mapping.
KCSIE separates concerns meeting the harm threshold from low-level concerns. The staff behaviour and safeguarding procedures must address these; local role assignments are not inferred.
KCSIE includes maintained nursery schools and 16–19 academies. For colleges, its safeguarding responsibilities concern children receiving education or training.
Official wording
Part two, paragraph 123; Part four
• a staff behaviour policy29 (sometimes called the code of conduct) which should, amongst other things, include low-level concerns, allegations against staff and whistleblowing, plus acceptable use of technologies (including the use of mobile devices), staff/pupil relationships and communications including the use of social media, and
Keeping children safe in education · Reviewed 2026-10-26
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
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)
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- 31b824fc-51e4-4f97-b8d8-44379603f9b5
- Official content digest (SHA-256)
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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.