From 1 September 2026 the definition of regulated activity with children in England and Wales changed: the supervision exemption was removed. Activities that were previously outside regulated activity because the person was supervised now fall inside it. The point most commonly got wrong is what follows from that. The change does not require anybody to obtain a DBS check. It changes which checks are legally available.
The Disclosure and Barring Service published myth-busting guidance specifically because that distinction was being misreported. Getting it right matters, because over-checking is unlawful in a different direction.
What the Exemption Used to Do
Certain activities with children became regulated activity only if carried out frequently or intensively. Under the supervision exemption, unpaid activities such as teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising children were not classed as regulated activity where the person was supervised by somebody who was themselves in regulated activity.
A parent volunteer helping with reading in a classroom under the class teacher's supervision was the textbook example. The teacher was in regulated activity. The supervised volunteer, by virtue of the exemption, was not.
From 1 September 2026 that carve-out is gone. Supervision no longer removes an activity from the definition.
What the Change Does and Does Not Mean
It Does Not Create a Duty to Check
The legislation creates no new requirement for organisations to obtain DBS checks, and the DBS does not mandate that checks be obtained. Responsibility for assessing a role and deciding whether a check is appropriate, and which level is legally available, remains with the organisation.
It Does Change Eligibility
Because the activity is now regulated activity, an Enhanced check with a children's barred list check becomes legally available for roles where it previously was not. Eligibility is the thing that moved.
It Does Engage the Barred List Provisions
This is the substantive protective effect. It is an offence for a barred person to engage in regulated activity, and for an organisation knowingly to permit it. Bringing supervised roles inside the definition means barred individuals are prohibited from them.
Why Over-Checking Is Its Own Risk
Requesting a level of check a role is not eligible for is not a cautious error. Access to Standard, Enhanced and Enhanced with Barred List checks is restricted by law to positions entitled to ask about a person's full criminal history, and requesting an ineligible check processes criminal record data without a lawful basis.
The temptation after a change like this is to sweep every volunteer into an Enhanced check. Resist it. Assess each role against eligibility, record the assessment, and apply the level the role actually attracts. Under-checking exposes children. Over-checking exposes the organisation.
A Practical Approach for Education and Charity Recruiters
- List the roles, not the people. Every paid and unpaid role involving children, with what the person actually does, where, how often and with what degree of contact.
- Identify roles that relied on the exemption. These are the ones whose status changed on 1 September 2026, and they are typically supervised volunteer positions.
- Re-run eligibility for each. Against current DBS eligibility guidance, not against what the role attracted last year.
- Decide and record. Whether to obtain a check, at what level, and why. The written rationale is the defence for both the decision to check and the decision not to.
- Update recruitment materials. Adverts, role descriptions and application packs should state accurately what will be required.
- Handle existing volunteers proportionately. A risk-based sequence, prioritising the closest contact, is more defensible and more achievable than an undifferentiated mass exercise.
Where the Update Service Helps, and Where It Does Not
The DBS Update Service lets an organisation carry out a free online status check on an existing Standard or Enhanced certificate. For organisations with volunteer turnover it can remove considerable cost and delay.
Its limits are strict and were clarified in updated guidance. The original certificate must be verified before a status check is carried out. Viewing a certificate by copy or by video link is not sufficient. Where the certificate was not obtained by your organisation, additional considerations apply. And a status check confirms whether the certificate remains current, not whether it covers the role you are recruiting for: level and workforce must match.
Safer Recruitment Is Wider Than the Check
A DBS certificate is one control. Statutory safeguarding guidance for schools expects a set of checks around it, and a screening process should be evidencing those too.
- Identity, verified properly rather than from a scan.
- Right to work, which from 1 October 2026 extends to engagements beyond employment.
- Full employment history with unexplained gaps addressed rather than noted.
- References from named individuals at the employing organisation, not open testimonials.
- Qualifications relevant to the role, verified at source.
- Prohibition and barring checks where applicable to the position.
The recurring weakness in high-volume education and charity recruitment is employment history. A sift that reads a CV for suitability but does not surface chronological gaps hands the safeguarding problem to whoever conducts the interview, usually without telling them it exists. Structuring the sift to flag unexplained gaps as an output, alongside the assessment of capability, puts that information where it can be acted on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do We Now Have to Rescreen Every Volunteer?
No. There is no statutory requirement to obtain checks arising from this change. What changed is eligibility. Organisations should reassess roles and decide, on a recorded and risk-based basis, which checks are appropriate and available.
Does This Apply Across the UK?
The change concerns the definition of regulated activity with children in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland operate separate disclosure regimes, and organisations working across borders should check each position separately.
What About Adults at Risk?
This change relates to regulated activity with children. The definition of regulated activity relating to adults is separate and was not altered by it.
Can We Ask a Volunteer to Pay for Their Check?
Volunteer applications meeting the DBS definition of a volunteer are generally exempt from the application fee, although an umbrella body administration charge may apply. Confirm the position with your umbrella body before asking anyone for money.
Is a Check From Another Organisation Acceptable?
Portability is limited. A certificate belongs to the individual, is specific to the level and workforce it was issued for, and provides a snapshot at the date of issue. Where the certificate was not obtained by you, take care over verification, and note that viewing by copy or video link is not sufficient.
The Summary Worth Keeping
Supervision no longer removes an activity from regulated activity. That widens eligibility and engages the barred list provisions for roles previously outside them. It does not impose a checking duty, and it does not license checking everybody.
The defensible position is a recorded, role-by-role eligibility assessment, a risk-based sequence for existing volunteers, and a wider safer recruitment process that does not treat the certificate as the whole of the job.
This article is general information about safeguarding and disclosure law, not legal advice. Take advice, and consult current DBS eligibility guidance, for your own roles.
Sources
Disclosure and Barring Service. Change to the Definition of Regulated Activity With Children From 1 September 2026.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/change-to-the-definition-of-regulated-activity-with-children-from-1-september-2026
Disclosure and Barring Service. Regulated Activity: Removal of the Supervision Exemption.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-or-volunteering-in-regulated-activity-with-children/regulated-activity-removal-of-the-supervision-exemption-comes-into-force-1-september-2026
Disclosure and Barring Service. Regulated Activity With Children: Common Misconceptions About the September 2026 Supervision Exemption Changes.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulated-activity-with-children-common-misconceptions-about-the-sept-2026-supervision-exemption-changes
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Eligibility Guidance.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Checks: Guidance for Employers, Voluntary Organisations and Third Parties.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dbs-check-requests-guidance-for-employers
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Update Service: Employer Guide.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-update-service-employer-guide/dbs-update-service-employer-guide
Home Office. Draft Employer's Guide to Right to Work Checks: 16 July 2026.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide/draft-employers-guide-to-right-to-work-checks-16-july-2026-accessible
The Stationery Office. Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, Section 48.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/31/section/48
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