Major legislative update: the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 is now law

After a period of parliamentary ping-pong, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. This landmark legislation represents one of the most significant updates to education and safeguarding law in a generation, with a core focus on raising school standards and improving pupil wellbeing.

What does this mean for the education sector?

The Act introduces wide-ranging reforms that will have an impact across the education sector. 

Key measures include:

• Enhanced safeguarding & oversight: improved information sharing between agencies, and strengthened investigatory and enforcement powers for Ofsted.
• School attendance: the creation of a statutory register for children not in school, strengthened powers to intervene when children are missing education, and tighter regulation of unregistered independent education settings.
• Teachers: qualifications, terms and conditions and misconduct:
  • A clearer statutory requirement for new teachers across maintained schools and academies to hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or be working towards it.
  • The establishment of a consistent "pay floor," requiring academies to pay teachers at least the minimum level set out in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) and to have regard to the whole of the STPCD, unless they have good reason not to.
  • Teacher misconduct reforms; extending the scope to explicitly capture anyone who has ever been ‘employed or engaged’ in teaching work in a relevant setting. Enabling the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) to investigate and prohibit teachers employed or engaged in teaching work in a wider range of settings and allowing department officials to make referrals to the TRA if relevant information is brought to their attention.
• Student wellbeing & cost pressures: the introduction of 2,000 free breakfast clubs by September 2026, alongside limits on branded school uniform items and a ban on mobile phones in schools.
• Digital protections: new restrictions on social media for children under the age of 16.
• Structural shifts: further reductions in academy freedoms and a larger role for Local Authorities in admissions.

What happens next?

While the Act has received Royal Assent, many of these changes do not come into force immediately and will be introduced through regulations and statutory guidance. Our team will review the final version of the Act, ready to provide a detailed briefing note for our clients in the coming weeks to help you navigate these reforms.