The short answer
Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) 2026 says all schools must make sure that anyone they employ to carry out teaching work is not subject to a prohibition order made by the Secretary of State, or to any GTCE sanction or restriction that is still current (paragraph 313). So whether a member of staff needs the check depends on whether their job is teaching work, not on their job title.
KCSIE 2026 has been in force since 1 September 2026. The prohibition rules are in Part three, “Safer recruitment”: the duty is in paragraph 313, and the detail on prohibition orders is in paragraphs 332 to 334. Paragraph 311 is the introduction to the pre-appointment checks section and doesn’t deal with prohibition, so check paragraph references against the final KCSIE 2026 document rather than summaries.
What counts as teaching work
The definition comes from regulation 3 of the Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012, which KCSIE repeats in footnote 81. Each of these is teaching work:
- planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils
- delivering lessons to pupils, including through distance learning or computer-aided techniques
- assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils
- reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils
Regulation 3(3) then adds the exception that matters for support staff. These activities are not teaching work if the person does them “subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher or other person nominated by the head teacher”. The exception doesn’t apply to induction.
Role by role
| Role | Is the prohibition check a legal requirement? |
|---|---|
| Teacher, including an unqualified teacher or instructor | Yes. They carry out teaching work. |
| Teaching assistant working under a teacher’s direction and supervision | No, but you can still check. |
| HLTA who plans and teaches lessons without that direction and supervision | Yes. |
| HLTA working under a teacher’s direction and supervision | No, but you can still check. |
| Cover supervisor | It depends on the role. Supervising work set by a teacher, under direction and supervision, is not teaching work. Teaching without that supervision is. |
| Supply teacher from an agency | The agency carries out the checks. You must get its written confirmation (paragraph 364). |
| Office, site, catering and other staff with no teaching role | No. |
Where a role sits on the line, decide from the job description and how the person actually works day to day. Write down the reason for your decision. The direction and supervision has to be real: a teaching assistant who regularly plans and teaches whole lessons alone is likely to be doing teaching work.
Qualified teachers working as TAs
Holding qualified teacher status (QTS) doesn’t by itself make a support role teaching work. What matters is still what the person does. But a former teacher is more likely to have a record on Check a teacher’s record, and a prohibited person must not be appointed to any role involving teaching work (paragraph 333). For a role that does involve teaching, KCSIE says to use Check a teacher’s record to verify any award of QTS and completion of induction (paragraph 313).
Not the same as the old supervision exemption
The “direction and supervision” test for teaching work comes from the Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012. It is separate from the old “supervision exemption” from regulated activity, which the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removed. KCSIE 2026 reflects that change in Part three, as its Annex C summary of changes notes. It affects DBS checks, not prohibition checks.
DBS checks for teaching assistants
The prohibition check is in addition to DBS checks, not instead of them. A person is in regulated activity if they are responsible, on a frequent basis, for teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising children in a school, or if they do any personal care. Frequent means more than 3 days in a 30-day period (KCSIE paragraph 317 and the regulated activity box that follows it). KCSIE says most school staff will be in regulated activity and need an enhanced DBS check with children’s barred list information (paragraph 318). That includes almost all teaching assistants.
Why many schools check support staff anyway
DfE’s Check a teacher’s record service lets you check anyone with a teacher reference number (TRN). GOV.UK names “teaching assistants and higher level teaching assistants” as people you can check. The check is free and only takes a minute. Some support staff are former teachers, and a prohibition order means they must not be appointed to any role that involves teaching work (paragraph 333). If a support role might include teaching work later, for example cover, checking at appointment avoids a gap.
How to run the check
- Get a DfE Sign-in account. Your organisation’s approver can set one up.
- Go to Check a teacher’s record on GOV.UK.
- Enter the person’s last name and date of birth. You don’t need their TRN to check one person. To check several people at once, you need all their TRNs and dates of birth.
- Read the result. A record shows qualified teacher status, induction, any prohibition by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), any GTCE sanctions or restrictions, and any finding of serious misconduct that did not lead to prohibition.
If you need a result urgently while waiting for a DfE Sign-in account, GOV.UK says to email tra.prohibition@education.gov.uk with “urgent query” in the subject line.
GOV.UK says the service won’t tell you whether someone is barred from managing a school (the section 128 list) or whether they are on the children’s barred list. KCSIE 2026 paragraph 340 says the service can be used for direction and barred list checks too. Until the two match, follow the GOV.UK service page, which is the more recent description of what the service shows.
Interim prohibition orders
The Secretary of State can make an interim prohibition order while the TRA considers a case. The regulations require schools to check that a person they appoint is not subject to one (KCSIE footnote 89). If you learn that someone already working for you has an interim order, take immediate action: they must not carry out teaching work while the TRA investigation continues (paragraph 463).
Recording it on the single central record
For each member of staff, the single central record must show whether a prohibition from teaching check was carried out and the date (paragraph 350). KCSIE doesn’t say how to record it for staff who don’t do teaching work. Writing “not required” with a short reason, such as “TA, works under teacher direction and supervision”, shows an inspector that you thought about it rather than missed it.