Ban on phones in schools backed by House of Lords
The move comes just weeks after peers supported legislation to ban under-16s in the UK from social media.
www.bbc.co.ukHere’s the latest on England’s school mobile phones legislation.
- A Conservative amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the House of Lords is moving to make school mobile phone bans statutory, formalising existing guidance into law. This would give legal force to policies many schools already enforce and expand enforcement via Ofsted inspections.[1][5]
- The policy context: the government has long signalled that mobile phones should be banned or tightly restricted in schools to reduce disruption and safeguard pupils, with previous guidance encouraging bans during the school day (and including break times) to be adopted across England.[2][9]
- Status as of April 2026: peers in the Lords were set to vote on the amendment, with ongoing parliamentary process (ping-pong between Lords and Commons) to finalise the wording, and Ofsted already incorporating mobile phone policies into inspections from this year.[3][1]
- Related coverage notes: reports emphasize that many headteachers already restrict phones, and the government aims to provide clear, statutory backing for those practices while keeping flexibility at the school level; the broader Safe-Child welfare framework remains a key backdrop for this effort.[1][3]
Illustration: If the amendment passes, schools would rely on statute to ban or tightly control phone use throughout the day, reducing disputes about policySharpness and making enforcement part of standard regulatory compliance, with Ofsted checks reinforcing adherence.[3][1]
If you’d like, I can pull the exact parliamentary status and any recent voting outcomes or provide a quick summary of the proposed statutory language and how it would affect schools in New Jersey vs England.[1][3]