Security & resilience
Filtering and monitoring in colleges and training providers
KCSIE 2026 applies to colleges, 16–19 academies, special post-16 institutions and independent training providers for learners under 18. It asks for appropriate filtering and monitoring, reviewed every year. Here is what the DfE filtering and monitoring standard expects.
On this page
At a glance
- KCSIE 2026, in force from 1 September 2026, is statutory guidance colleges and ITPs must have regard to.
- Governing bodies should ensure appropriate filtering and monitoring, reviewed at least once every academic year.
- The DfE standard says IWF and CTIRU blocklists must be in place and must not be overridable by anyone, including administrators.
- Jisc offers Netsweeper web filtering as an optional extra to FE members.
Who KCSIE covers
Keeping children safe in education 2026 is statutory guidance, in force from 1 September 2026. Colleges — including 16–19 academies, special post-16 institutions and independent training providers — “must have regard to it”. For colleges, it is about their responsibilities to learners under 18. See which standards apply for the full definition of “college”.
What KCSIE asks
- Paragraph 173: governing bodies and proprietors should ensure appropriate filtering and monitoring, and that “a review of their effectiveness is carried out at least once every academic year”. The review is led by the responsible member of the senior leadership team with the designated safeguarding lead and IT support, with checks recorded across all devices and locations.
- Paragraph 174: what counts as “appropriate” is informed by your Prevent duty risk assessment.
- Paragraph 175: summarises the DfE’s filtering and monitoring standards.
- Paragraph 185: Ofsted inspectors “will always report on whether or not arrangements for safeguarding children and learners are effective” in post-16 provision.
The DfE filtering and monitoring standard
The standard applies to colleges. It says “you should already be meeting this standard”, and includes:
- IWF and CTIRU blocklists must be implemented and must not be overridable by any user, including administrators;
- the provider should be an IWF member and signed up to CTIRU;
- separate staff and student profiles;
- bring-your-own devices on a separate network;
- VPNs and proxies blocked;
- immediate alerts for high-risk incidents;
- a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) for monitoring.
Where to get it
Jisc offers Netsweeper web filtering as an optional extra to FE members. Other suppliers that say they provide filtering and monitoring are in our supplier directory.
Sources
Checked 25 October 2026. We wrote this guide from these sources, in our own words:
- Keeping children safe in education 2026 (DfE) (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
- DfE: Filtering and monitoring core standard (gov.uk)
- Jisc: Catalogue of services for further education (jisc.ac.uk)
Broadband for Education is an independent guide. It is not a broker or a supplier, and it is not owned by, or connected to, Jisc, any network provider, framework or government body. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.