The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent earlier this year. After months of parliamentary debate, amendments, and speculation about what would survive the process, we now have a clear picture of what is changing for schools.
I have been following this Bill closely since it was introduced, and for anyone involved in school governance, the implications are significant. Not in a dramatic, panic-inducing way. But in a practical, "you need to start thinking about this now" way.
Here is what matters most, and what you can actually do about it.
Academies and maintained schools: closing the gap
The headline change is that academies are being brought much closer to the same legal footing as maintained schools. National curriculum requirements, qualified teacher status, national pay and conditions. These are all areas where academies previously had more flexibility.
For governance professionals, the practical question is straightforward: does your trust's governance documentation reflect the new requirements? If your articles of association were written when academies had broader freedoms, they may need reviewing in light of the Act. Not everything changes immediately, but the direction is clear.
Parent governors: the requirement that many trusts overlook
One area that does not get enough attention in the coverage of this Act is parent representation. Academy trust articles already require at least two parent trustees, or at least two parent governors on each local academy committee. Most multi-academy trusts choose to elect parent governors at local academy level rather than appoint parent trustees centrally.
But here is the question I keep coming back to: how many trusts actually run proper, documented parent governor elections?
If your parent governor elections consist of a letter in a school bag and whoever turns up to a meeting getting the role, you are not meeting the spirit of what this Act expects.
The Act places greater emphasis on accountability and transparency across all governance processes. Parent governor elections are a governance process. They should be documented, accessible, and defensible if anyone ever asks how you filled that role.
I speak to schools every week where the "election" was really a quiet appointment because only one person put their name forward. Sometimes that is genuinely the outcome of a fair process. But too often it happens because the process itself was not accessible enough to attract candidates in the first place.
Trust inspections are coming, and governance is front and centre
The Act establishes the legal framework for Ofsted to inspect multi-academy trusts directly. This is new. Until now, Ofsted inspected individual schools, not the trusts that run them. MAT inspections are expected to begin from the 2027-28 academic year, with piloting before that.
The legislation is specific about what these inspections will cover. Leadership, management, and governance are explicitly named. The quality and effectiveness of governance at trust level will be examined.
Think about what that means in practice. An inspector will want to see how your trust governs itself. That includes how decisions are made, how stakeholders are consulted, how parent and staff representation works, and whether there is an evidence trail showing these things actually happen.
Governance is no longer something that happens quietly in the background. Under the new inspection framework, it is something you will need to demonstrate.
For trusts with five, ten, or twenty schools, that is a significant documentation challenge. Consistency matters. If each school runs its governance processes differently, with varying levels of documentation and transparency, that inconsistency becomes visible under inspection.
The NGA called 2026 a pivotal year for governance. They are right.
The National Governance Association has described 2026 as a pivotal year for school governance, and I think that is exactly right. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act, the new Ofsted inspection framework, the development of trust quality descriptors, and the ongoing KCSIE 2026 consultation are all converging at the same time.
For governance professionals, clerks, and school business managers, this is a lot to absorb. The good news is that most of these changes are about doing things properly, not doing entirely new things. Schools already hold governor elections. Trusts already have governance structures. The shift is towards making these processes more transparent, more documented, and more consistent.
What you can do right now
If you are a clerk, governance professional, or school business manager reading this, here are four practical steps you can take before September.
Review your parent governor election process. Is it documented? Is it accessible to all parents, not just those who happen to check the school bag? Could you show an inspector exactly how the last election was run, who was notified, and how votes were counted?
Check your governance documentation for consistency. If you are part of a MAT, look at how governance processes vary across your schools. Are elections run the same way at every school? Is there a trust-wide approach, or does each school do its own thing?
Start building your evidence trail now. Trust inspections may not begin until 2027-28, but the evidence inspectors will look at includes what you are doing today. Documented consultation processes, transparent election outcomes, accessible participation records. These all take time to establish.
Consider whether your current tools are up to the job. If your governor election process involves paper forms, manual counting, and a results announcement at a meeting, ask yourself whether that meets the standard of transparency and accessibility the Act expects. Online voting platforms like Choice Voting exist specifically to make these processes documented, accessible, and defensible.
The bigger picture
I have been working in online voting for over twenty years, and the direction of travel has never been clearer. Governance is moving from something schools do because they have to, towards something schools are expected to do well, transparently, and with evidence.
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act does not mention online voting. It does not prescribe how schools should run their elections or consultations. But it does raise the bar for governance quality, documentation, and accountability. And for most schools, meeting that higher bar with paper processes and informal arrangements is going to become increasingly difficult.
The schools that get ahead of this will be the ones that treat governance processes with the same seriousness they give to safeguarding documentation or financial reporting. Because under the new framework, governance will receive the same level of scrutiny.
If you want to talk about how to get your governance processes inspection-ready, I am always happy to help. You can reach me at choicevoting.co.uk or drop me a message directly.