Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026: policy summary

Information on the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026

This was published under the 2024 to 2026 Starmer Labour government

Applies to England

Documents

Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act: policy summary notes

PDF, 2.32 MB, 190 pages

Details

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 aims to change the law to better protect children and raise standards in education. The act and its supporting documents are available on the UK Parliament website.

A regulatory and equalities impact assessment is available.

The policy summary contains information on the measures within the act. It sets out:

• what the government aims to achieve through each measure
• why we need the legislation
• effects of the legislation
• how the legislation will work in practice

Refer to the National Archives for previous versions of the document:

• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes (updated January 2026 to reflect measures tabled at Lords Report stage and other amendments)
• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes (as amended in the House of Commons)
• Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes

The Keeping children safe, helping families thrive policy statement outlines the act’s measures in further detail.

From: Department for Education