UK School Policy Review Checklist: How to Keep Required Policies Current

Which Policies Are Mandatory for UK Schools

The list of statutory policies varies slightly by school type (maintained, academy, free school) but the core set is broadly consistent. The following policies are required for most UK primary and secondary schools:

  1. Admissions policy — sets out how places are allocated; must be consulted on and published annually for schools that are their own admissions authority.
  2. Behaviour policy — required under the Education Act 2002; must be communicated to pupils, staff, and parents.
  3. Anti-Bullying policy — required for all maintained schools; often incorporated within the behaviour policy but must be clearly addressed.
  4. Child Protection and Safeguarding policy — required under Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE); must name the DSL and deputies and reflect the current edition of KCSIE.
  5. Health and Safety policy — required for all employers under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
  6. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) policy — required under the Children and Families Act 2014; must be published on the school website.
  7. Complaints policy — must be published and communicated to parents.
  8. Accessibility plan — required for all maintained schools and academies under the Equality Act 2010; reviewed every three years.
  9. Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy — required under the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education Regulations 2019.
  10. Data protection / privacy notice — required under UK GDPR.

This is not an exhaustive list. Schools should maintain an internal policy register against the most current DfE statutory guidance to ensure no required policy is missing.

Review Cycles: What the Guidance Requires

Different policies carry different review cycle requirements. Some are annual by statute; others are recommended at two or three year intervals.

Annual review (statutory or strongly recommended)

  • Child Protection and Safeguarding policy — KCSIE requires annual review, or sooner if there are legislative or procedural changes. This is a hard requirement, not a recommendation.
  • Behaviour policy — best practice and many academy trust frameworks require annual review; maintained schools should review at least every two years.

Key principle: KCSIE's requirement for annual safeguarding policy review is non-negotiable. A safeguarding policy last reviewed more than 12 months ago — even by a day — is a finding waiting to happen during inspection.

Every two years

  • Health and Safety policy — reviewed at minimum every two years, or after any significant incident.
  • SEND policy — two-year review cycle is standard; annual review recommended given the pace of legislative and regulatory change.

Every three years

  • Accessibility plan — three-year statutory review cycle.
  • Many other policies that are not subject to a statutory review cycle are reviewed on a rolling three-year schedule as a matter of governance good practice.

Governor Approval: What the Record Must Show

Most statutory policies require formal governor approval, not just headteacher sign-off. The governing body's role is to set the strategic framework within which the school operates — policies are a core part of that framework.

What a valid approval record includes

  1. The date the policy was considered by the governing body (or relevant committee if properly delegated).
  2. The version of the policy that was approved (preferably a version number or date-stamped document).
  3. A brief minute entry confirming the policy was approved, amended, or deferred — with any conditions noted.
  4. The name of the governor or committee chair who confirms the record.

Common gaps in approval records include:

  • Policy approved by the headteacher alone, with no governing body record.
  • Minute entry that says "policies were approved" without naming which policies.
  • Approval of a different version to the one currently published on the school website.
  • No record at all — approval assumed to have happened at some point but undocumented.

Key principle: For inspection purposes, an undocumented approval is equivalent to no approval. The governing body's records are the evidence. If the evidence is not there, the oversight did not happen in any way that can be demonstrated.

Public Accessibility Obligations

Many statutory policies must be published on the school's website. The DfE publishes guidance on which policies must be publicly available — the list includes the SEND policy, accessibility plan, RSE policy, and several others.

Checklist for website compliance

  1. All required policies are published and accessible without requiring a login.
  2. The published versions are current — the dates on the website match the internally approved versions.
  3. The safeguarding policy is clearly accessible from the homepage or a clearly labelled policies section.
  4. Policies are not published as broken links or password-protected files.
  5. The school's complaints procedure is published and current.

Website accessibility also matters in a practical sense. Governors, parents, and inspectors can check the school website before — and during — an inspection. A policy that is three years out of date on the website is a visible gap.

Building a Sustainable Policy Review Process

A policy review calendar managed by memory or informal reminders will produce gaps. A sustainable process has four components:

1. A policy register

A single, maintained record listing every policy the school holds, with:

  • The statutory basis for the policy.
  • The current version and its approval date.
  • The next review due date.
  • The governor or committee responsible for approval.

2. Scheduled review reminders

Review dates should be built into the governing body's annual calendar, not flagged reactively when a review is already overdue. Annual policies — particularly safeguarding — should appear on the autumn term agenda without fail.

3. A clear workflow for each review

Each review should have a defined process:

  1. Headteacher or nominated lead prepares a draft (or confirms no substantive changes are required).
  2. Draft is circulated to relevant stakeholders for comment where appropriate.
  3. Updated policy is presented to the governing body with a change summary.
  4. Governor approval is recorded in the minutes.
  5. Published version on the school website is updated.

4. An audit check before inspection preparation

At least annually — and specifically before any period of likely inspection — a named person should audit the policy register against the published website versions and the governor approval records to identify any gaps requiring action.

Common Gaps and How to Address Them

Gap Typical cause Remedy
Safeguarding policy not reviewed within 12 months Review not built into annual calendar Add as fixed autumn term agenda item
No governor approval record Policy reviewed by SLT, not brought to governing body Update delegation scheme; add to board pack template
Outdated version on school website Website not updated after approval Make website update the final step of each review workflow
Missing policy from register No central policy register maintained Conduct a full policy audit against DfE statutory guidance

Manage Your Policy Review Cycle with Edvance

Edvance helps UK schools maintain a structured policy review workflow — tracking review dates, recording governor approvals, and supporting the end-to-end lifecycle from draft to published policy.

For broader inspection preparation context, see Inspection Readiness for UK Schools: A Practical Governance Checklist.

Start your free trial at app.edvance.co.uk/register