Policy paper

Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026: policy summary

Information on the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 18 December 2024
• Last updated: 6 August 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 6 August 2026

     Added an updated version of the policy summary notes to reflect the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 receiving Royal Assent. Previous versions are available on The National Archives.

  2. 7 January 2026

     Updated ‘Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes’ to reflect the new government measures tabled at Lords Report stage along with a small number of other changes in line with amendments.

  3. 21 March 2025

     Added an updated version of ‘Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes’ to reflect the Bill as amended in the House of Commons. The original version is available on The National Archives.

  4. 28 January 2025

     'Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: policy summary notes' updated with information on the government amendment tabled on 28 January regarding the teacher pay measure.

  5. 18 December 2024

     First published.

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.