Legislation in Focus: Supervised Helpers and the Barred List

A parent comes into a primary school every Monday morning to listen to children read. A teacher is always in the room. Until 1 September 2026, that teacher's presence stopped the school checking one thing. It could not find out whether the parent was on the children's barred list, which is the DBS list of people banned from working with children. Since 1 September the school can check, even with the teacher in the room.

Key takeaways

What has changed. Before 1 September 2026, a school could not check a supervised helper against the children's barred list. Since that date the school can.
Why schools and clubs are in different positions. A school could always check its paid staff, so this only changes things for its volunteers. Outside a school, supervision could block the check for paid staff too, so a club or a charity needs to look at everybody.
Who a school can now check. Anybody who teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children often enough, meaning on more than three days in any 30-day period, or once overnight. A supervisor standing nearby no longer takes that person off the list.
Whether you have to check. This change does not order anybody to run a check. But an employer commits a criminal offence by knowingly letting a barred person do this kind of work, which the law calls regulated activity. Supervised roles are now regulated activity, and they were not before.
What schools in England must do. Schools already had to check anybody doing regulated activity. The change brings more volunteers into regulated activity, so schools must check more of them.

What the old rule said

The law lets an employer check the children's barred list only for what it calls regulated activity with children. That means teaching, training or instructing children, caring for them or supervising them, advising them about their well-being, moderating an online service children are likely to use, or driving a vehicle that carries only children. The person also has to do it often enough, meaning on more than three days in any 30-day period, or once overnight.

Until 1 September 2026 there was an exception. If a member of staff supervised a helper closely enough, day to day, the law did not treat that helper as doing regulated activity. It made no difference how often the helper came in. People called this the supervision exemption.

Under the exemption, a parent who listened to children read every week for a whole school year was treated exactly like one who came once. Neither could be checked against the barred list. The exemption had been in place since September 2012.

Why the government removed it

Because an employer could not see the one thing that mattered most, whether a person had already been barred from working with children. Somebody the DBS had already barred could take a supervised volunteer role in a school, or a supervised job at a club, and nobody there could find out.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said this in October 2022. It asked the government to open the barred list to anyone taking on a person who works or volunteers regularly with children, and said that should cover supervised roles too.

Jess Phillips, then a Home Office minister, made the same point to a committee of MPs in April 2025. Somebody the DBS considered a risk to children could still work with them under supervision, and the employer would never know.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 became law on 29 April 2026. The Home Office set 1 September as the start date in England and Wales. The Department of Health set the same date for Northern Ireland.

Who can be checked now

For schools, colleges and nurseries in England, the Department for Education says volunteers are the main group to look at. Their paid staff were never covered by the exemption, so nothing changes there.

Clubs and activity centres may be more surprised. Outside a school, an organisation could supervise a paid worker and the exemption applied to them as well. The DBS's own examples are an assistant coach at a children's sports club supervised by the head coach, and anyone who works or volunteers with children in an outdoor activity centre, a youth group, a charity or a community group under somebody else's supervision. The DBS says the change also covers paid staff outside education.

Two other groups were never covered by the exemption either. Anyone who helps a child wash, dress or use the toilet because of age, illness or disability could always be checked, from their first day. Anyone who helps a child eat or drink because of illness or disability could always be checked too, and so could anyone giving a child health care as or under a health professional. The exemption never reached people who advise children about their well-being.

How often somebody has to be working

Not everybody who helps out is affected. Somebody is only doing regulated activity if they teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children. They also have to do it frequently, or meet one of two tests the law sets out.

They work with children on more than three days in any 30-day period.
They work with children once between 2am and 6am, in a role that puts them face to face with the children.

Northern Ireland writes the first test as four or more days in a 30-day period, which is the same number of days put differently.

A school adds together the days a helper spends at other schools. The Department for Education gives the example of a volunteer helping four days a month across four different schools, and says that person is doing regulated activity. The Department asks the schools to agree between them which one applies for the check. The volunteer can then pass the details to the others.

Every volunteer who stays overnight on a school trip is now doing regulated activity, because one night is enough on its own.

Parents who help out occasionally are not affected. The Department for Education says the change does not reach an occasional parent teacher association event, or a school day trip with no overnight stay.

What the law now asks of you

This change does not order anybody to run a check. Each organisation still decides what is appropriate for its own roles.

What it does is bring more roles inside rules that already existed. It is a criminal offence for a barred person to work in one of these roles. It is a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly let them. An employer must report somebody they remove from one of these roles for harming a child, or for putting a child at risk. The DBS then considers barring that person. None of that applied to a supervised helper before.

Schools and colleges in England carry a firmer duty than everyone else. Keeping Children Safe in Education tells all schools they must get an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information for anybody working in regulated activity. That duty is not new. What has changed is the number of volunteers the duty covers. For a volunteer who was already helping and whom this change has just brought in, the guidance is firmer still. The school must check whether that person is barred.

What has not changed

Not every role with children is affected. Removing the exemption does not turn every job involving children into regulated activity.
Nobody has to be removed straight away. The law does not require an employer to remove anyone from a role while a check is being processed. Each employer decides how to handle that wait.
Nothing changes for work with adults. The law has a separate definition for work with adults. The supervision exemption never applied to it, and it is untouched.
Supervision still matters. A supervisor no longer settles whether somebody is doing regulated activity. But Keeping Children Safe in Education still tells schools to supervise an unchecked volunteer, and never to let one work in these roles.

What this means for screening

Where a helper's role now counts as regulated activity, the role is eligible for an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information, which is the level to ask for.

Before ordering anything, look at the certificates you already hold. A helper may now be doing regulated activity even though the DBS issued their certificate without the barred list search. The DBS suggests organisations may want to start with the people whose certificates do not carry it.

The DBS charges nothing for a volunteer's enhanced check, including the barred list search. It uses volunteer in a narrow legal sense. The person must be unpaid apart from travel and approved out-of-pocket expenses, and the work must help somebody beyond a close relative.

An organisation can reimburse travel costs and still get the check free. A person on a work placement does not qualify, and neither does somebody in a trainee position leading to a full-time role or qualification. Basic checks are never free for anyone. The organisation that submits the application may also charge its own administration fee, which is separate from the DBS fee and never appears on the certificate.

Next steps for employers

List everyone, paid or unpaid, who teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children under somebody else's supervision.
Ask for each person whether they work with children frequently. If that is unclear, count their days, add in the days they work at other places, and note anyone who stays overnight.
Check the certificates you already hold, and mark the ones with no children's barred list search.
Decide what to do. The law leaves most of the choice to you, and you are making it knowing that two criminal offences and a duty to report people to the DBS now cover these roles.
Look again whenever a person's role changes, or the way they do it changes. Either can start or stop them doing regulated activity.

Key sources

Crime and Policing Act 2026, section 139, as in force on 1 September 2026. Read here
Crime and Policing Act 2026, section 140, the Northern Ireland provision. Read here
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Schedule 4, which defines regulated activity. Read here
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2026, which set the 1 September date. Read here
The Crime and Policing (2026 Act) (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026. Read here
Department for Education, "Regulated activity: removal of the supervision exemption", updated 29 June 2026. Read here
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026, in force 1 September 2026. Read here
DBS, "Change to the definition of regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026", 4 August 2026. Read here
DBS, "Regulated activity with children: myth busting the September 2026 Supervision Exemption changes", 25 August 2026. Read here
Home Office factsheet on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recommendations. Read here
DBS check application process for volunteers, which sets out the fee position. Read here
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, final report, part E.3, Recommendation 9. Read here
Hansard, Crime and Policing Bill (Tenth sitting), Public Bill Committee, 24 April 2025. Read here