The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom explains how the updates to safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance are reshaping what schools can expect from their learning outside the classroom providers - and why the LOtC Quality Badge continues to offer schools assurance.
Some of the most powerful learning experiences take place beyond the classroom. Whether it is a visit to a museum or heritage site, a residential at an outdoor education centre, a farm visit, or an overseas expedition, the experiences pupils gain beyond the classroom can be transformative and the evidence shows that they can positively impact health, wellbeing and academic attainment. But those experiences depend, fundamentally, on children being safe.
Safeguarding is not a box-ticking exercise, and 2026 brings significant changes that affect every organisation working with school groups. Two major developments have landed in quick succession: updates to the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children, and changes to DBS check eligibility following the Crime and Policing Act.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026: what it means for schools
The 2026 edition of Working Together to Safeguard Children, published by the Department for Education, strengthens what is expected of all organisations working with children — including external providers. It makes clear that providers of learning outside the classroom sit within the wider safeguarding system alongside schools, health services, local authorities, and the police.
For schools, this matters in practical terms. When you take a group to an off-site provider, safeguarding responsibility does not transfer to that provider — but the provider carries concurrent duties throughout. The 2026 guidance reinforces that every adult in contact with children, regardless of which organisation employs them, has a duty to act if they observe a concern.
There are several key themes in the 2026 guidance that are directly relevant to educational visits. Two central themes are:
- Stronger multi-agency working, with providers expected to demonstrate how they fit within the safeguarding system including policies, staff training records, and incident response procedures.
- Improved information sharing, with clear expectations for how concerns observed during visits are communicated between providers and school visit leaders.
DBS check eligibility: clarity following the Crime and Policing Act
The Crime and Policing Act has prompted a review of DBS check eligibility across the workforce. For the diverse range of providers that schools use — from adventure activity centres and field study centres to theatre groups, museums, expedition companies, and alternative provision providers — clarity about which staff require which checks is essential.
CLOtC has been working to ensure that providers across all sectors understand their obligations clearly. The requirements differ meaningfully depending on the nature and frequency of contact with young people, whether roles constitute regulated activity, and the context in which that contact takes place. For schools, this means that when you work with a provider holding the LOtC Quality Badge, you can be confident those obligations are understood and being met.
The LOtC Quality Badge: your assurance, built in
Against this backdrop of evolving legislation and strengthened guidance, the LOtC Quality Badge has never been more important. It exists to provide schools with reliable, assessed assurance about the providers they work with.
The badge is awarded by CLOtC following a thorough assessment process. It covers safety management, risk management, staffing and competence, safeguarding, and the quality of the learning experience itself. Safeguarding — including safe recruitment, staff vetting, and compliance with statutory guidance — forms a central part of that assessment. Providers are required to evidence their arrangement,
The LOtC Quality Badge evolves alongside the safeguarding framework, and badge holders are supported to keep pace with those changes.
Reducing your paperwork: what you don’t need to ask for
One of the principal benefits of the LOtC Quality Badge is the reduction to administrative workload when planning and approving educational visits.
Where a provider holds a current LOtC Quality Badge, the OEAP National Guidance (4.4g: Selecting External Providers and Facilities) is clear: there is no need to seek further assurances about the safety of their provision.
What is appropriate and helpful to ask for includes practical planning information: programmes of activity, site layouts and access information, supervision arrangements and handover points, participant expectations, and emergency and contingency arrangements. If your school uses an online system such as EVOLVE or EVisits, the LOtC Quality Badge status will be added automatically when you select a badge-holding provider.
The LOtC Quality Badge is the most reliable way for schools to identify providers that meet the standards that matter. CLOtC will continue working closely with government departments, providers, schools and sector partners to ensure clear communication and support with policy changes, legislation, and statutory guidance to ensure the safety of children and young people is at the heart of all learning experiences.
