Pupils in England to be barred from carrying phones at all during the school day under stricter guidance

Under stricter government guidance announced for England, pupils will no longer be allowed to have their phones on them at any point in the school day. The change goes further than the statutory guidance that came into force in June, which already made schools and trusts legally responsible for keeping the school day phone-free.

The new version is due to take effect from September 2027. Its target is the "no see, no hear" approach used in some schools, where a phone can stay in a pupil's bag as long as nobody sees or hears it. Under the tighter rules, the phone would not be on the pupil at all. Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government's "clear message" to parents and pupils was that school is for learning and friendship, not scrolling. The government argued that access to phones risks pulling children away from their learning and from each other.

Schools will still choose how to comply. Some have already bought sealed pouches or secure lockers. Others collect phones at the start of the day, and some have banned them from their sites entirely.

Head teachers' unions raised the question of cost. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders union, agreed that phones can raise safety issues and be an unhelpful distraction. But he said the more robust measures recommended in the guidance would come at a cost. Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the guidance at least provides some clarity, but that school leaders cannot simply make phones disappear. If every school is expected to provide lockable pouches or other secure storage for every pupil, he said, the cost would be very significant, and it is not feasible unless government supplies the funding.

Others welcomed the tougher line. Dame Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner for England, backed strong action to stop phones distracting pupils and disrupting the school day. Charlotte Ashton, co-founder of the campaign group Generation Focus, said "no see, no hear" policies were not working and that pupils were still "TikToking in the toilets". She said the aim should be a point where it is no longer normal for every child to carry a personal internet-enabled device at all hours.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said she was delighted that Labour had finally listened and agreed to properly ban smartphones in schools. She also said it was right for the government to review safety standards for technology used in schools, a review announced alongside the guidance after calls for improvement. But she criticised what she called a lack of joined-up thinking about which new technology is being allowed into classrooms.

Because education is devolved, the picture differs across the UK. Scotland's government has said it will bring in a new law restricting personal phone use in schools, and ran a consultation over the summer. In Wales, the Senedd recently voted down a motion for a national statutory ban on phones in classrooms; schools are encouraged to restrict use, but heads keep flexibility over their own rules. In Northern Ireland, Education Minister Paul Givan opened a 12-week consultation in August on whether to ban phones from schools by law, calling for a stronger and more consistent approach.

These school rules are separate from the UK's coming social media ban for under-16s, due in March. Children will be barred from platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, and the culture secretary has said Vinted and eBay could also be added to the list. For now, the open question in England is who pays for the storage, with the new rules due to apply from September 2027.