Statutory guidance

Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education

Statutory guidance on relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 25 June 2019
• Last updated: 1 September 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education

PDF, 616 KB, 47 pages

Details

This revised statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), issued under section 80A of the Education Act 2002 and section 403 of the Education Act 1996, came into effect on 1 September 2026.

Schools must have regard to the guidance and, where they depart from those parts of the guidance which state that they should or should not do something, they will need to have good reasons for doing so.

This statutory guidance applies to all schools, and is for:

• governing bodies of maintained schools (including schools with a sixth form) and non-maintained special schools
• trustees or directors of academies and free schools
• proprietors of independent schools (including academies and free schools)
• management committees of pupil referral units (PRUs)
• teachers, other school staff and school nurses
• headteachers, principals and senior leadership teams
• diocese and other faith representatives
• relevant local authority staff, for reference

Published 25 June 2019

Last updated 1 September 2026 — Show all updates

1. 1 September 2026

   This revised statutory guidance came into effect on 1 September 2026. We have removed guidance that no longer applies.

2. 19 December 2025

   Added a link to an RSE toolkit for FE providers to 'Annex B: resources for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education'.

3. 15 July 2025

   Added revised guidance on 'Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education' which will come into force 1 September 2026.

4. 13 September 2021

   Updates to the page text to make it clear this guidance is now statutory. Updated the drugs and alcohol section of annex B to include a link to the teacher training module on drugs, alcohol and tobacco and to remove the link to the research and briefing papers. We have not made changes to any of the other guidance documents.

5. 9 July 2020

   Added 'Implementing relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education 2020 to 2021'.

6. 25 July 2019

   Added a link to the sex and relationship education statutory guidance.

7. 27 June 2019

   Added link to guides for parents.

8. 25 June 2019

   First published.