Teacher prohibition check

The rule: prohibition orders and the duty to check

A prohibition order is an order made by the Secretary of State for Education that prevents a person from carrying out teaching work in England, and every school must check that a new teacher is not subject to one. Section 141B(4) of the Education Act 2002 defines it as “an order prohibiting the person to whom it relates from carrying out teaching work”, and section 141A(1) applies the regime to anyone “employed or engaged to carry out teaching work” at a school, a sixth form college, a 16 to 19 Academy, relevant youth accommodation or a children's home in England. Under section 141B(1), the Secretary of State may investigate where an allegation is referred that such a person “may be guilty of unacceptable professional conduct or conduct that may bring the teaching profession into disrepute, or … has been convicted (at any time) of a relevant offence”, and, if the investigation finds a case to answer, must decide whether to make a prohibition order (section 141B(2)). Interim prohibition orders, made while a case is considered, rest on regulations made under Schedule 11A to the Act.

Paragraph 332 of Keeping children safe in education 2026 (KCSIE), in force since 1 September 2026, explains how orders are made: “Teacher prohibition orders are made by the Secretary of State following consideration by a professional conduct panel convened by the TRA. Pending such consideration, the Secretary of State may issue an interim prohibition order if it is considered to be in the public interest to do so.” The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) takes only the most serious cases. Its advice Teacher misconduct: the prohibition of teachers (February 2022, still the current version) says “Other matters, including all cases of incompetence, should be dealt with locally by employers”, and that where an individual is prohibited, “their details will appear on the Prohibited List.”

The duty to check is in KCSIE paragraph 313: “all schools must ensure that an applicant to be employed to carry out teaching work is not subject to a prohibition order issued by the Secretary of State … or any sanction or restriction imposed (that remains current) by the GTCE … before its abolition in March 2012”. Colleges have a softer wording in the same paragraph: they “must take reasonable steps to establish whether that person is subject to a prohibition order”. KCSIE restates duties that sit in law:

• Maintained schools. Under regulation 3(3)(d) of the School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009, a person “is to be treated as meeting any staff qualification requirements” if four conditions are met, the last being that the person “is not subject to a prohibition order or interim prohibition order” (regulation 3(3)(d)).
• Academies, free schools and other independent schools. Paragraph 18(2)(b) of the Schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (latest version dated 5 September 2022) is met only if no member of staff “carries out work, or intends to carry out work, at the school in contravention of a prohibition order, an interim prohibition order” or a section 128 or section 142 direction. Paragraph 18 excludes the proprietor and supply staff, who are covered by paragraphs 20 and 19.
• Colleges. KCSIE's footnotes place colleges under the duty through their conditions of funding with the Department for Education, not through these regulations.

Prohibited is not barred. A prohibition order is the Secretary of State's decision, made after a professional conduct panel convened by the TRA has considered the case (KCSIE paragraph 332); barring is the Disclosure and Barring Service's (DBS) decision and covers all regulated activity with children. They are separate lists, checked separately, and a prohibition check is not part of an enhanced DBS check. The check is England's: in Scotland and Northern Ireland the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland keep their own searchable registers, and in Wales the Education Workforce Council does.

Passed, not yet in force. Section 52 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026) will extend the regime to independent educational institutions that are not schools, further education institutions, special post-16 institutions, independent training providers and online education providers, and to conduct at any time, not only while teaching. On 30 October 2026 it is in force only so far as it confers a power to make regulations; none of the three commencement regulations made so far brings the rest into force. Until it is commenced, the settings in section 141A(1) are the whole list.

Who needs a prohibition from teaching check

Anyone the school employs or engages to carry out teaching work needs the check, qualified or not, and the definition of teaching work decides the rest. Regulation 3 of the Teachers' Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012 lists four activities, and KCSIE footnote 81 repeats them:

1. planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils;
2. delivering lessons to pupils, which “includes delivering lessons through distance learning or computer aided techniques” (regulation 3(2));
3. assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils;
4. reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.

Then the exception that settles most questions about support staff, regulation 3(3): “The activities specified in paragraph (1) are not teaching work for the purposes of these Regulations if the person carrying out the activity does so (other than for the purposes of induction) subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher or other person nominated by the head teacher to provide such direction and supervision.”

• Teachers, including unqualified teachers and those on induction, are doing teaching work and need the check.
• Teaching assistants, higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) and cover supervisors need it in law only where they plan, deliver, assess or report without the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher or other person nominated by the head teacher – a cover supervisor who plans and teaches a class alone, for example. A teaching assistant supporting a group under the class teacher's direction is not doing teaching work. A school may still choose to check every member of staff who has a teacher reference number (TRN); gov.uk's service covers “teaching assistants and higher level teaching assistants”, but it can only find people who have a TRN, and many teaching assistants have none.
• Supply staff. KCSIE paragraph 364: “Schools and colleges must obtain written notification from any agency, or third party organisation, that they have carried out the same checks as the school or college would otherwise perform on any individual who will be working at the school or college”. The DfE's Check a teacher's record guidance puts it the same way: “If you are an organisation that uses a teacher supply agency, you must get confirmation from the agency that they have completed the safeguarding checks.”
• Fee-funded trainee teachers. KCSIE paragraph 375: “Where trainee teachers are fee-funded, it is the responsibility of the initial teacher training provider to carry out the necessary checks”, and the school should obtain written confirmation from the provider. That is a should, where the agency notification is a must.
• 16 to 19 academies, special post-16 institutions and independent training providers are told by KCSIE footnote 93 to “contact teaching.status@education.gov.uk to check that the individual is not prohibited from teaching.”
• Recruits from overseas who have never held a TRN will not have a record to find. The prohibition check sits alongside the overseas checks, not instead of them; the overseas checks guide covers those.

Supervised volunteers and the September 2026 change. A parent who hears readers in Year 2 three mornings a week, under the class teacher's supervision, is not doing teaching work, so no prohibition check is required. Since 1 September 2026, though, section 139 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 has removed the supervision exemption from regulated activity: someone who teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children “on more than 3 days in any 30-day period” or overnight is in regulated activity “even if someone else supervises them”, according to the DBS's announcement of the change. The DfE's guidance Regulated activity: removal of the supervision exemption says such “volunteers engaging in regulated activity will need to have an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information”; the DBS's note on common misconceptions adds that “The legislation does not create a new requirement for organisations to carry out DBS checks”. For schools the requirement is in KCSIE 2026: paragraph 313 says all schools must obtain an enhanced DBS check including children's barred list information for any volunteer who will be working in regulated activity, and paragraph 385 says that for an existing volunteer now in regulated activity “they must check their children's barred list status”. So that volunteer now needs a barred list check, and still does not need a prohibition check. The two tests are different.

How to check a teacher's record

Schools in England check a teacher's record through the DfE's free Check a teacher's record service, which shows whether the person has been prohibited from teaching. The DfE's guidance says: “You must check a teacher’s record before they start working for you in England as part of your safeguarding checks.” KCSIE paragraph 340 confirms that “The service is free to use” and that “Users will require a DfE Sign-in account to log onto the service.” Policies written before the service took its current name may call it the TRA's employer access service; KCSIE 2026 refers to Check a teacher's record.

1. Get a DfE Sign-in account. If you need to check a record before it arrives, the DfE says to “email tra.prohibition@education.gov.uk and say ‘urgent query’ in the subject line.”
2. Search for one person with “the teacher’s last name and date of birth (you do not need to know their TRN)”, or for several at once with their dates of birth and TRNs.
3. Read the whole record, not only the prohibition line (below).
4. Write down the outcome before the person starts (section 04).

A teacher's record tells you, in the DfE's words, whether the person has “qualified teacher status (QTS), qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) status, or early years teacher status (EYTS)”, has passed induction, holds national professional qualifications or the mandatory qualifications for teaching pupils with sensory impairments, has “been prohibited from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Agency”, has had “sanctions or restrictions placed on them by the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE)”, or has “been found guilty of serious misconduct but not prohibited from teaching”. The last of those matters: a finding of serious misconduct without an order does not stop the person teaching, but it is information a safer recruitment panel should have read before deciding.

KCSIE paragraph 340 reads more widely: schools “can use the DfE's Check a teacher's record to make prohibition, direction, restriction, and children's barred list checks”. In practice the barred list check is a separate DfE service, Check the children's barred list, reached with the same DfE Sign-in account and used in limited cases, such as a new employee who will start before their enhanced DBS certificate arrives. A clear teacher's record is not a clear barred list check, and neither replaces the enhanced DBS certificate. For managers in academies and independent schools, the section 128 check guide covers the separate list.

What to record on the single central record

Schools record the prohibition check on the single central record with the date it was made. KCSIE paragraph 350 requires the register to show, for each member of staff, whether the checks were carried out and the date, and its list includes “a prohibition from teaching check”. Footnote 99 says “There is no requirement for colleges to record this information”, but adds that “as part of the funding agreement colleges must have robust record keeping procedures in place”.

• The date of the check, which should be before the person's first day of teaching work. An inspector testing the single central record may compare the two.
• Who made it, so the school can answer questions about it after that person has left.
• The result, including anything on the record other than a prohibition, such as a finding of serious misconduct, and what the school decided about it.
• For agency staff, the agency's written notification under paragraph 364 and its date, rather than a check of your own.
• For fee-funded trainees, the provider's written confirmation (paragraph 375). Paragraph 376 says there is no requirement to put fee-funded trainees on the single central record, though a school may record it as non-statutory information.

The check is part of a wider file of recruitment evidence, and the safer recruitment records guide covers what else to keep and for how long.

A match, an interim prohibition order, or a concern later

A match before appointment. KCSIE paragraph 333 is absolute: “A person who is prohibited must not be appointed to a role that involves teaching work”. An interim prohibition order has the same effect while it lasts; the TRA's advice says of an interim order that “the order is to apply immediately”, and that it “prevents the person from carrying out teaching work while their case is considered”. Confirm that the record is the same person, by date of birth and any previous names, before acting on it.

An interim order against someone already at the school. KCSIE paragraph 463: “Where a school or sixth form college is made aware that the Secretary of State has made an interim prohibition order, in respect of an individual who works at a school or sixth form college, they should take immediate action to ensure the individual does not carry out work in contravention of the order. This means that pending the findings of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) investigation, the individual must not carry out teaching work.” The person may still be able to do work that is not teaching work; that is an employment decision for the school, taken with HR advice.

How long an order lasts. The TRA's advice says: “A prohibition order has a lifetime effect.” A panel may recommend, and the Secretary of State decide, that the teacher can apply to have it set aside after a review period, which “may not be less than two years from the date on which the order takes effect”. Until an order is set aside, the record will show it. Panel outcomes are published through the TRA's teacher misconduct collection on gov.uk, which is where to read the reasons behind a finding on a record.

A concern about a teacher you employ. The flow can run the other way. KCSIE paragraph 432 says employers must consider a referral to the TRA where they dismiss or cease to use a teacher for serious misconduct, and the separate legal duty to refer to the DBS is in paragraph 428. The duty to refer guide and the allegations against staff guide cover both, and the record of the decision whether or not to refer.

“Check's clear, can she start Monday?”

The check is made in a DfE service. The decision that follows it is usually made by message. On a Sunday evening the head texts the office manager to ask whether the new science teacher's prohibition check has come back, because the department wants her in on Monday. The office manager replies from her own phone: “All clear, checked Friday.” At 7.15 one morning a supply agency consultant confirms a cover teacher by text, “all checks done”, and the cover teacher is in a classroom by 8.30.

Those messages are the school's evidence of when the check was made, who made it and on what basis someone was allowed to start. A text saying “all checks done” is not the written notification paragraph 364 asks for, but it may be the only record of when, and by whom, the school was told. If they sit on two personal phones, the school cannot produce them when an inspector asks why the date on the single central record is after the first day, or when a governor asks who confirmed the agency's checks, and they leave with the member of staff who holds them.

ComplyChat is designed to keep those exchanges on the school's record. Staff, and outside people such as agency consultants and supply teachers added by their mobile number, talk in channels the school controls; a mobile number verified by SMS is an identity, so nobody needs an account on the school's systems; and everyone added is told the channel is on the record and can object or leave. On paid plans, once the school's tenant is connected, conversations are kept under the retention schedules within its own Microsoft 365 subscription. ComplyChat does not run prohibition, barred list or DBS checks, is not a single central record and is not an agency booking system; the check still belongs in Check a teacher's record and its result on your register.

A question for the next leadership meeting: for the last three teachers who started here, could the school show who confirmed the prohibition check, and when, without asking anyone to look through their phone?

Questions people ask

What is a prohibition check for teachers?

A prohibition check confirms that a person appointed to carry out teaching work is not subject to a prohibition order or interim prohibition order made by the Secretary of State under section 141B of, and Schedule 11A to, the Education Act 2002, or to a GTCE sanction that is still current. KCSIE 2026 paragraph 313 says all schools must ensure this before employment, and it is run free through the DfE's Check a teacher's record service.

How do I check a teacher's record?

Sign in to the DfE's Check a teacher's record service with a DfE Sign-in account and search with the teacher's last name and date of birth; you do not need their TRN for a single check, and a bulk check uses dates of birth and TRNs. The record shows qualified teacher status, induction, NPQs, any prohibition from teaching, GTCE sanctions and findings of serious misconduct, and the date of the check goes on the single central record.

How do you check if a teacher is prohibited from teaching?

Search for them in Check a teacher's record: a prohibition by the Teaching Regulation Agency appears on the record; the TRA's advice says anyone subject to an interim prohibition order “will appear on the Prohibited List”. While a DfE Sign-in account is being set up, the DfE says to email tra.prohibition@education.gov.uk with “urgent query” in the subject line; for agency supply teachers the school relies on the agency's written confirmation that it has made the same checks.

Do teaching assistants need a prohibition check?

Only where their role is teaching work. Planning, delivering, assessing and reporting on lessons are teaching work, but not when done “subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher or other person nominated by the head teacher” (regulation 3(3) of the Teachers' Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012). A school may check every member of staff with a TRN as a matter of policy, but the service can only find people who have one, and many teaching assistants do not.

Do teachers need a section 128 check?

Only if they take a management position in an independent school, academy or free school, or a governance role. KCSIE 2026 paragraph 313 requires independent schools, including academies and free schools, to make the section 128 check for management positions, and a section 128 direction also disqualifies a person from being a governor of a maintained school. A teacher's record will not show it: the DfE says “you need to check the section 128 list”.

What happens when a teacher is prohibited from teaching?

They must not carry out teaching work in schools, sixth form colleges, 16 to 19 academies, relevant youth accommodation or children's homes in England, and their details appear on the Prohibited List. The order has lifetime effect, though the panel may recommend, and the Secretary of State decide, that the teacher can apply to have it set aside after a review period of at least two years from the date it takes effect.

Official guidance and your next step

The duty is in paragraphs 313, 332 to 334, 340, 350, 364, 375, 376, 385, 428, 432 and 463 of Keeping children safe in education 2026 (Parts three and four). The law is in sections 141A and 141B of the Education Act 2002, regulation 3 of the Teachers' Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012, regulation 3 of the School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 and paragraph 18 of the Independent School Standards. The DfE's Check a teacher's record guidance explains the service, and the TRA's Teacher misconduct: the prohibition of teachers explains how orders are made. Quotations are from those pages as published on 30 October 2026.

This guide covers schools in England and is not legal advice. Your local authority, trust or HR provider may publish a model safer recruitment policy to adapt.

Then do one thing: open the single central record, find the last five people who started teaching at your school, and check that each has a prohibition check dated before their first day, or an agency's written notification for supply staff. Any gap is where your recruitment checklist needs to change.