Safeguarding Round-Up: Key Updates for September 2026
September has begun with a significant number of safeguarding developments across education, safer recruitment, child protection, social care, criminal justice, violence against women and girls, substance misuse and online fraud.
Two changes in particular are now live from 1 September 2026: the new edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education and the change to the definition of regulated activity with children following removal of the supervision exemption.
In this latest RLB Safeguarding round-up, we bring together some of the key developments safeguarding professionals, leaders and organisations should be aware of.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 is now live
The September 2026 edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is now in force, replacing the September 2025 version.
This is important: organisations should now be working from the final statutory guidance, rather than earlier draft or consultation versions.
Among the final changes, KCSIE 2026 strengthens and updates expectations across areas including Family Help, online safety, misogyny, modern slavery, financial exploitation, child-on-child abuse, safer recruitment and regulated activity.
One particularly significant operational change is that all school and college staff are now expected to read Part One in full. The previous condensed Annex A has been withdrawn. The guidance also reflects the change to regulated activity from 1 September 2026.
For schools, colleges, post-16 providers and safeguarding leaders, the priority now moves from understanding what is changing to demonstrating that the changes have actually been implemented: policies updated, staff briefed, training reviewed and practice aligned.
Read the final KCSIE 2026 guidance
Regulated activity with children: supervision exemption changes are now in force
Another major change taking effect from 1 September 2026 is the removal of the supervision exemption from the definition of regulated activity with children.
DBS has published useful myth-busting guidance addressing some of the misconceptions surrounding the change.
Importantly, this does not mean that every role involving children automatically becomes regulated activity, nor does the legislation simply create a blanket requirement for every organisation to undertake new DBS checks.
Organisations still need to consider the nature and frequency of the activity and the relevant eligibility criteria. However, where a role was previously outside regulated activity solely because the individual was supervised, the change may mean that the role now becomes eligible for an Enhanced DBS check including the Children’s Barred List.
This is much wider than schools and colleges. Sports organisations, charities, youth organisations, cultural organisations, activity providers and others working with children should all consider whether roles need to be reassessed.
Read the DBS myth-busting guidance
DBS guidance updated following the September changes
Alongside the legislative change, DBS has updated its suite of guidance leaflets.
The guidance covers regulated activity, eligibility for checks and other DBS products and services. DBS confirms that relevant pages were updated on 1 September 2026 specifically to reflect the supervision exemption changes.
For safeguarding and HR teams, this is a useful prompt to review internal safer recruitment guidance, role eligibility assessments and any documents that link to older DBS information.
Access the updated DBS guidance leaflets
DBS Annual Conference 2026
Finally, registration is now open for the DBS Annual Conference 2026, taking place virtually on 6 and 7 October.
The free two-day event will cover safeguarding, legislative change, mandatory reporting, safer recruitment, barring decisions, partnership working, information sharing, safeguarding adults, regulation and public protection.
Given the significant changes to regulated activity and the wider safeguarding landscape this year, it may be particularly useful CPD for safeguarding, HR and safer recruitment professionals.
Find out more and register for the DBS Annual Conference
Review highlights early deaths of care leavers
The Department for Education has published an independent review examining deaths among care-experienced young adults in England.
The review examined care leaver death notifications during 2025 and explored the experiences of six young people aged 18–24 in greater depth.
Three central themes emerged: being alone and readiness for adulthood; the drop in levels of support; and the workforce supporting young people through the transition to adulthood.
It identifies five broad areas for change, including the workforce, support for care-experienced young people in custody, supported accommodation, health services and how organisations learn following the death of a young person.
There is an important safeguarding message here about transition. Turning 18 does not remove vulnerability, and safeguarding systems need to recognise the risks created when intensive children's services end or reduce abruptly.
Read the review of early deaths of care leavers
Human rights of children in the social care system
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published a substantial report examining the human rights of children within England's social care system.
Among its recommendations, the Committee calls for the Government to take steps towards fully incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law in England. It also highlights the importance of children's voices being heard in decisions affecting them and recommends consideration of statutory Corporate Parenting Boards involving people with care experience.
The report raises wider questions about accountability, consistency, children's participation and whether children's rights are sufficiently embedded within decision-making across the social care system.
Read Human Rights of Children in the Social Care System in England
New child sexual abuse and exploitation communications toolkit
The Hydrant Programme has highlighted the launch of a new Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Toolkit, developed by the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce.
The toolkit focuses on something safeguarding organisations can sometimes underestimate: the language we use when communicating about abuse.
It promotes consistent, accurate, compassionate and trauma-informed communication and is built around four principles: belief, language, collaboration and justice.
The emphasis on survivor-centred language is particularly important. How organisations describe abuse, disclosures and victims can influence whether people feel believed, whether they have confidence in services and even whether others feel able to disclose their own experiences.
Read about and access the CSAE Toolkit
Specialist rape and sexual offence teams to be introduced sooner
The Government has accelerated plans for specialist rape and sexual offence teams across police forces in England and Wales.
All forces are now expected to have specialist teams operating by December 2027, bringing the deadline forward by around 18 months.
The wider package includes funding for specialist protection-order teams, stronger perpetrator management and continued rollout of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders.
For safeguarding professionals, the announcement reinforces the need to understand the interconnected nature of sexual violence, domestic abuse, stalking and coercive control and the importance of effective multi-agency pathways for victims and survivors.
Read the Government announcement
Sentencing reforms: further serious offences excluded from changes
The Government has announced that additional serious offences will be excluded from forthcoming changes to prison sentences.
These include historic child sexual offences, all forms of manslaughter, death by dangerous driving and causing or allowing the death of a child. This builds on earlier decisions relating to rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming.
The announcement also includes plans for strengthened post-release controls, including tagging and restriction zones for some sexual and violent offenders.
For safeguarding organisations, developments in offender management remain important when considering risk management, information sharing and protection planning for victims and survivors.
Read the sentencing announcement
Ketamine seizures reach a 15-year high
Border Force seized 1,298kg of ketamine during the first quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly amount recorded in 15 years and a 42% increase on the previous quarter.
The Government highlighted particular concerns about ketamine misuse among young people and the potential for serious and permanent health consequences. The same figures also show significant seizures of nitrous oxide, cocaine and cannabis.
For those working with young people, the figures are another reminder that substance misuse needs to be understood within a broader safeguarding context including exploitation, county lines, peer influence, mental health and contextual safeguarding.
Read the latest ketamine seizure figures
Ofsted strengthens focus on inclusion in prison education
Ofsted has published its renewed framework for inspecting education, skills training and work within prisons and young offender institutions.
The framework introduces a new inclusion evaluation area, strengthened expectations around literacy and reading, greater emphasis on employability and particular consideration of people experiencing SEND, neurodiversity and other barriers to participation.
Inspections under the renewed framework begin on 21 September 2026.
The safeguarding relevance is significant: education in custody is closely connected to vulnerability, inclusion, rehabilitation and successful transition back into communities.
Read about Ofsted's renewed prison education framework
Students warned about scams as finance payments begin
As students return to universities and colleges, the Student Loans Company is warning them to "stop and think before you click" amid increased opportunities for fraudsters to target student finance payments.
Scammers may impersonate the Student Loans Company through texts, emails and calls, often creating urgency around supposed problems with payments.
The warning is particularly relevant to young people who may be managing substantial financial transactions independently for the first time.
Safeguarding within further and higher education increasingly needs to encompass financial exploitation, fraud and online harms alongside more traditionally recognised safeguarding risks.
Read the student finance scam warning
Schoolgirls targeted in upskirting offences
A man has been sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment after taking upskirting photographs of schoolgirls in Carmarthenshire.
The victims were aged 13 and 14. Significantly, the investigation began after a member of staff in a shop noticed suspicious behaviour and reported their concerns to police. CCTV and digital forensic enquiries subsequently identified further offending.
This is a powerful example of professional curiosity and public vigilance in action. The young people themselves were initially unaware of the offences.
Safeguarding is not dependent upon a child recognising, understanding or reporting harm. Sometimes it is the observations and actions of another person that allow abuse to be identified.
Read the Dyfed-Powys Police case summary
Former teacher convicted of sexual offences against a pupil
A former East Sussex teacher has been convicted of multiple sexual offences against a former pupil, including rape and indecent assault.
Police received intelligence in 2021 relating to historic grooming and abuse. Subsequent digital enquiries led investigators to a former pupil, who disclosed abuse beginning when she was 15.
The teacher had previously been dismissed from the school in 2007 after receiving a police caution for grooming a different pupil.
Cases such as this underline why safeguarding organisations must retain institutional memory, recognise patterns of behaviour and maintain robust systems around allegations, concerns, safer recruitment and information sharing.
They also remind us that safeguarding disclosures and investigations can emerge many years after abuse occurred.
Read the Sussex Police case summary
RLB Safeguarding reflections
There is a lot in this month's round-up, but several themes connect these developments.
Safeguarding systems must keep pace with changing risk.
Whether we are considering online and financial exploitation, substance misuse, sexual violence, children in care, safer recruitment or institutional abuse, compliance with guidance alone is not enough.
The developments this month particularly reinforce the importance of:
reviewing practice when legislation and statutory guidance change, rather than simply updating a policy;
professional curiosity and acting when something does not feel right;
trauma-informed and survivor-centred practice, including the language organisations use;
recognising vulnerability through transition, particularly for care-experienced young adults;
strong safer recruitment and workforce oversight, including understanding the September 2026 regulated-activity changes;
retaining and connecting safeguarding information so that patterns, behaviours and concerns are not viewed in isolation; and
keeping safeguarding broad enough to recognise emerging risks including financial exploitation, online harm, substance misuse and technology-facilitated abuse.
For education settings in particular, September is the point at which preparation becomes implementation. KCSIE 2026 is now live, as are the changes to regulated activity with children.
The question for leaders should therefore be more than "Have we read the update?"
It should be:
What has changed in our practice because of it?
At RLB, we support organisations across education, charities, workplaces, housing, health and other sectors to move beyond compliance and build safeguarding arrangements that work in practice.
Contact us for your free consultation today