School filtering guidance in Wales and Scotland
Most UK filtering advice is written for England, around KCSIE and the DfE standards. Education is devolved, so schools in Wales and Scotland follow their own guidance, and the differences matter when you set policy or choose a provider.
The three nations side by side
This table compares the main points at a glance. Guidance is updated regularly, so check the current version on the official Welsh Government, Scottish Government or DfE pages before you change a policy.
| Question | England | Wales | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main safeguarding guidance | Keeping Children Safe in Education (statutory) | Keeping Learners Safe (statutory, under section 175 of the Education Act 2002) | National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021, updated 2023 |
| Specific filtering standard | DfE filtering and monitoring standards | Web filtering and online safeguarding standard, part of the education digital standards on Hwb | No national filtering standard of the same kind |
| Who sets filtering in practice | The school or trust, often with an IT provider | The school with its education technology support partner, usually through the local authority | Usually the education authority (the council) for its schools |
| Named lead for safeguarding | Designated safeguarding lead (DSL) | Designated safeguarding person (DSP) | Child protection coordinator in most schools, under local procedures |
| Who is accountable for block and unblock | Governing body and senior leaders, with the DSL taking lead responsibility | The headteacher, following agreed processes | Set by each education authority's policy |
| Review cycle | At least annually | At least annually, and after incidents or changes | As set locally |
| Inspection | Ofsted | Estyn | HM Inspectors of Education; arrangements are being reformed |
The biggest practical difference is who holds the controls. In England the school or trust usually chooses and runs its filter, while in Wales and Scotland the local authority often does much of that work.
For England's rules in detail, see KCSIE filtering and monitoring and the DfE filtering and monitoring standards.
Run the same hosted filter in Wales, Scotland and England
The category data and console stay the same wherever a school is, and what changes is the guidance you map your settings to. Our hosted CIPA filter keeps separate settings for each school, so a trust with sites in several nations does not need one policy for all.
- One DNS setting at each site, whichever nation it is in
- Settings per school or branch to match local authority or national guidance
- Reports and a policy record to show against the document that applies
Wales: Keeping Learners Safe and the filtering standard
Wales has two layers. Keeping Learners Safe sets the statutory safeguarding duties, and a separate filtering standard turns online safety into technical expectations.
The statutory base
Guidance for local authorities, governing bodies and independent school proprietors on safeguarding under the Education Act 2002. The 2022 edition is widely cited, and its online safety content has been updated.
The technical standards
A set of Welsh Government standards on Hwb covering school technology. The web filtering and online safeguarding standard is one of them.
The filtering standard
Published in October 2021 and updated since, most recently in 2026. It replaced the earlier recommended web filtering standards for schools in Wales.
The national platform
The Welsh Government's digital learning platform. Learners and staff use Hwb accounts, which some filtering services can use to identify users.
The Welsh standard expects filtering to cover text in more than one language. That matters in Welsh-medium schools, where a filter tuned only for English content may miss harmful material.
The Welsh filtering standard in seven parts
The standard is organised as acceptance criteria. Our summary below is in our own words; read the full standard on Hwb for the exact wording and which items are essential.
Real-time filtering
Every request is checked as it happens, across text, images and video. Filtering on the device is preferred, with filtering at the network edge for devices that cannot run it.
Age-appropriate controls
Controls suit the learner's age on every network, including guest and visitor networks. Signed-in access is preferred so users can be told apart.
Categories and lists
Recommended categories apply across all networks, with allow and deny lists for specific sites. Special schools set categories by developmental understanding, not age alone.
Monitoring policy and roles
Monitoring policy is agreed with the DSP, the technology partner and senior leaders. Roles and responses are set in advance, and staff are trained.
Alerts and response
Safeguarding alerts are switched on, with a clear route for key staff to act quickly. All relevant staff know how to report a concern.
Testing and review
Filtering is tested across locations and devices. Policy is reviewed at least annually and after incidents or changes, with assurance reported to governors.
Devices off the network
School-managed devices used away from school must stay filtered. Home use agreements make clear that parents and carers oversee home use.
Who decides
The headteacher is accountable for what is blocked or unblocked, following the process set with the education technology support partner.
Several criteria are marked as essential, while others are recommended. Check which is which in the current version, because the difference matters when you plan upgrades.
The standard also points schools to a filtering service available through Welsh public sector networks, accredited against the UK Safer Internet Centre definitions. Schools can use it or another service that meets the standard.
Scotland: no single filtering standard, many local policies
Scotland does not have a national document like England's DfE filtering standards or the Welsh standard. Filtering in state schools is usually designed and run by each of the 32 education authorities.
Child protection
The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, published in 2021 and updated in 2023, sets the wider framework that online harm sits within.
Internet safety policy
A national action plan on internet safety for children and young people, from 2017, and an Online Safety Taskforce Action Plan for 2026 to 2027.
Digital learning
A digital learning and teaching strategy from 2016, with national actions and expectations of local authorities and schools.
Mobile phones
Guidance on phones in schools, first issued in 2024 and replaced by an updated, non-statutory version in 2026 ahead of a planned change in the law.
Because filtering is set locally, two schools a few miles apart in different council areas can have quite different block lists and unblock routes. Ask your education authority for its current policy before assuming anything.
The same applies to independent schools in Scotland, which arrange their own filtering and answer to their own regulators. They often borrow ideas from England's standards and the UK Safer Internet Centre definitions.
Scotland's national digital platform, Glow, is provided by Education Scotland and used by schools across the country. It is a learning platform, not a web filter, so filtering still depends on the network and devices used.
What applies across the whole UK
Some rules and reference points do not depend on which nation a school is in.
Online Safety Act
- Applies across the UK
- Places duties on online services, not on schools
- Its harm categories are a useful guide for filter settings
Prevent duty
- Applies in England, Wales and Scotland
- Scotland has its own Prevent guidance
- Filtering of extremist content supports it
Appropriate filtering definitions
- Published by the UK Safer Internet Centre
- Used as a reference in all nations
- Providers publish checklist responses against them
UK GDPR
- Applies to filter and monitoring logs everywhere
- Logs must be proportionate and secure
- Retention should be set in policy
Children's rights
- Scotland has incorporated the UNCRC into law
- Wales has a duty of due regard to the UNCRC for ministers
- Both support access as well as protection
AI tools
- DfE AI guidance is for England
- Wales and Scotland publish their own advice
- Product safety ideas still help when choosing tools
The Online Safety Act is explained in the Online Safety Act for schools, and the provider definitions in our appropriate filtering provider checklist.
How government and safety sites are categorized
Policy writers in all three nations lean on the same kinds of sites. A few lookups show how they are labelled, and that one government address can carry several categories.
| Domain | Categories in our data |
|---|---|
| gov.wales | Government & Legal, Arts & Entertainment, Business |
| gov.scot | Government & Legal |
| education.gov.scot | Education/Reference, Government & Legal, Webinars/E-learning |
| childline.org.uk | Education/Reference |
| internetmatters.org | Education/Reference, Community Sites |
Key differences from England that catch people out
Staff who move between nations, providers who sell UK-wide and trusts with schools near a border often carry England's terms into places they do not fit.
| Assumption | England | Wales | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| "KCSIE requires it" | Correct for schools in England | KCSIE does not apply; cite Keeping Learners Safe and the Welsh standard | KCSIE does not apply; cite local authority policy and national guidance |
| "The DSL owns filtering" | The DSL takes lead responsibility, with IT support | The DSP agrees monitoring policy; the headteacher is accountable for block and unblock | Roles follow the education authority's policy |
| "Ofsted will check it" | Yes, within safeguarding | Estyn and the local authority look at online safety arrangements | Scottish inspectors look at safeguarding within their own framework |
| "The school chooses its filter" | Often yes, especially in academies | Often through the local authority and its support partner | Usually the council chooses for all its schools |
| "Phones are a filtering issue" | DfE phone guidance is separate | Welsh schools set their own approach | Scottish phone guidance was updated in 2026 |
Independent schools in each nation have their own regulators and standards as well. Our guide to filtering in independent schools in the UK covers that side.
Practical checklist for schools in Wales
Use this alongside the full standard on Hwb when you prepare for a review or a visit.
- Filtering runs on every school network, including guest and visitor wifi
- School-managed devices stay filtered off the school network
- Controls are set by age, and by developmental stage in special settings
- Welsh-language and other non-English content is filtered as well as English
- The headteacher's block and unblock process is written down
- Monitoring policy agreed with the DSP, the support partner and senior leaders
- Safeguarding alerts reach named staff with a clear response route
- Filtering tested across sites and device types, with results recorded
- Annual review held, with assurance reported to governors
- Home use agreements explain what parents and carers oversee
Practical checklist for schools in Scotland
With no single national standard, the work is mostly about knowing your education authority's policy and closing gaps at school level.
- Get a copy of the education authority's current filtering and acceptable use policy
- Know who in the council handles block and unblock requests, and how fast
- Check that school-issued devices are filtered at home as well as in school
- Link online harm into the school's child protection procedures
- Make sure the child protection coordinator knows how filter concerns are raised
- Align the phone policy with the updated national phone guidance
- Teach online safety through the curriculum, not only through blocking
- Use the UK Safer Internet Centre definitions when reviewing a provider
- Record decisions to request changes from the council, and the outcome
- Review the school's own arrangements at least once a year
If the council's policy is hard to find or out of date, ask for the current version in writing. Schools are expected to understand the arrangements that protect their pupils, even when they did not design them.
Even where the council runs the filter, an annual review at school level is good practice. Our filtering and monitoring annual review checklist can be adapted for Scottish and Welsh schools.
Teaching alongside filtering
Both nations put weight on learners building their own judgement online, not just on blocking. Filtering supports that teaching rather than replacing it.
Curriculum for Wales
Digital competence runs across the curriculum, and online safety resources for learners, staff, governors and families sit in the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
Curriculum for Excellence
Digital literacy sits in the technologies area, and the 2026 to 2027 taskforce plan adds a focus on digital health and safety within health and wellbeing.
Supervised access, then independence
The Welsh standard describes filtering that allows learning while learners practise safe behaviour under supervision. Scottish policy also stresses resilience and digital skills.
Over-blocking works against these aims. If teachers keep asking for useful sites to be opened, treat that as a sign the settings are too tight, not as a nuisance.
Questions to ask your local authority or support partner
In both nations, many schools do not run their own filter. These questions help you understand a service you rely on but do not control.
Coverage
- Which networks and devices does the filter cover?
- Are school devices filtered at home?
- Is guest wifi filtered by age?
Decisions
- Who can block or unblock a site?
- How long does a request take?
- Can the school set its own allow list?
Alerts and records
- Who receives safeguarding alerts?
- What is logged, and for how long?
- Can the school see reports for its own learners?
Keep the answers with your safeguarding records. They show inspectors and governors that the school understands its arrangements, even when someone else runs the technology.
What you can see and change in a service you do not host
With our hosted filter a school can see its own always-allow and always-block lists, its activity reports and a log export. Ask your authority for the same level of detail from whatever service you use today.
For providers and trusts working across nations
Filtering providers, multi-site groups and support partners often serve schools in more than one nation. A single product can work everywhere, but the policy wording and reporting need to fit each one.
Name the right guidance
Reports for Welsh schools should map to the Welsh standard, not to KCSIE. Scottish reports should map to the council's policy.
Support Welsh content
Category data must work for sites in Welsh and other languages, not only English pages.
Flexible roles
Let customers name a DSP, a DSL or a child protection coordinator, and route alerts to the right person.
Council-level control
Scottish and many Welsh deployments are run centrally, so policy tools must work across many schools.
Our category database supplies 120 million categorized domains, including sites in many languages, for providers building filters for UK schools. See the category database or check a site with the domain checker.
Trusts with several schools can also read filtering for multi-academy trusts, which covers central policy with local checks.
Mapping a hosted filter to what Wales and Scotland expect
These rows match common asks in both nations to what the console does.
| What a school in Wales or Scotland needs | Typical position | Hosted CIPA filter |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking harmful categories | Set by the authority or the support partner | Category switches per school, with Adult and VPN/Proxy/Anonymizers on in the preset |
| Different rules for different pupils | Often a single policy | Separate settings per school or branch |
| Local fixes for wrong blocks | A request to a central team | Always-allow and always-block lists per site, changed by the school |
| Reports for the review | Provided on request | Activity reports, a policy record and a log export |
| Learners away from the school network | Varies by device | A private encrypted link keeps the same rules on laptops and phones |
| Installing anything | Agents or appliances | Nothing installed on computers |
Wales and Scotland filtering FAQ
Does KCSIE apply to schools in Wales or Scotland?
No, KCSIE is for schools and colleges in England. Wales has Keeping Learners Safe, and Scotland has its own national child protection guidance.
Is there a web filtering standard for schools in Wales?
Yes. The web filtering and online safeguarding standard is part of the Welsh education digital standards on Hwb, first published in 2021.
Who decides what is blocked in a Welsh school?
The headteacher is accountable, following processes set with the school's education technology support partner.
Does Scotland have a national school filtering standard?
Not of the same kind. Filtering is generally set and run by each education authority within national guidance.
Can schools in Wales and Scotland use the UK Safer Internet Centre definitions?
Yes. They are UK-wide reference points and useful for checking any provider.
How often should filtering be reviewed in Wales?
At least annually, and after incidents, changes in practice or new technology, with assurance reported to governors.
Related guides
Cost is worked out from your number of schools and devices, and a quote comes back within one business day. A pilot at one Welsh or Scottish site shows the blocks and reports before you commit further.
Talk to us about your school
Tell us whether you work in Wales, Scotland or across nations, and who runs your filter. We will help you map your settings to the guidance that actually applies.
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