The UK Safer Internet Centre (UK SIC) has released the latest definitions of appropriate filtering and monitoring for 2026. This article provides a summary of the key updates you need to know.
All education settings are required to have filtering and monitoring systems in place. The UK SIC guidelines are designed to help schools, colleges and MATs understand what features and capabilities these provisions should include to be considered ‘appropriate’.
These definitions are a valuable resource for education settings - helping to ensure effective online protection for students, and providing an insight into what is likely to be included in future Department for Education (DfE) guidelines.
The UK SIC states that the following changes “reinforce the expectation that filtering systems must be effective in modern, real-world environments, not only traditional web browsing contexts.”
Update 1: The Illegal Online Content section has been expanded to confirm that blocklists from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) should be built into filtering systems.
Detail: The design of the filter should ensure that blocklists cannot be disabled, overridden or altered by anyone, “including system administrators, at any level.”
Update 2: The Contextual Content Filters section has been renamed “Real-time content filters” (this title update comes directly from the DfE and will appear in future DfE guidance) and is rewritten to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how filtering needs to work in practice.
Detail: Rather than relying on basic website or domain categorisation, the guidance highlights the need for real-time content filtering, which analyses online content based on its meaning and context.
Filtering systems should be “capable of identifying harmful or inappropriate material within platforms that are otherwise permitted” — for example, in responses from approved AI tools.
This section also addresses the need for schools and colleges to understand how their filter handles encrypted traffic, and specifically whether contextual inspection is applied to decrypted content.
Providers are expected to be transparent about how they manage encrypted traffic and any technical limitations that affect their ability to analyse content in real time, as this may impact a setting’s safeguarding decisions.
Update 3: The Mobile and app content section has been expanded to include more detail on what should be expected and understood in terms of the extent to which filtering applies to this content.
Detail: On school and college devices, filtering should apply beyond the standard browser to include app content. Settings should take into consideration user-granted app permissions (e.g. access to cameras or photo libraries). The update acknowledges the increasing use of cloud-based and device-side processing, as this can impact filtering capability.
Once again, providers should be clear about any limitations that apply in this area.
According to the UK SIC, “These updates highlight that monitoring is not just about data collection, but about effective safeguarding response and intervention.”
Update 1: The distinction between filtering and monitoring is clarified.
Detail: The monitoring guidance now includes clear definitions of filtering and monitoring:
Filtering = controlling access to content/services.
Monitoring = observing/reporting activity signals for safeguarding intervention.
Learn more: A Simple Guide to Web Filtering and Digital Monitoring
Update 2: The Mobile and app content section has been expanded to include further detail on delivery mechanisms of mobile and app content, and how this may impact monitoring capabilities.
Detail: The guidance explains that this content may include embedded browsers within apps and in app link handling. Schools and colleges are advised to understand whether their monitoring system can inspect or report on such activity occurring within apps.
Update 3: Reporting mechanism bullet point added to list of system features.
Detail: Schools and colleges should consider the reporting mechanisms within their monitoring strategy, and in particular, “understand the process of reporting and escalating both false positives and false negatives to the monitoring system provider."
Update 4: The Mobile devices section has been expanded within the filtering and monitoring definitions to include clarifications on specific app features and testing guidance.
Detail: Schools and colleges are prompted to consider whether filtering, monitoring and reporting applies to apps that include embedded browsers or that open links within other apps.
Settings are encouraged to test the ability of their filtering and monitoring to work across mobile devices. The UK SIC highlights the tool testfiltering.com, which can “help observe filtering behaviour on their connection, including where additional configuration (for example managed devices, certificates, or managed browsers) is required for particular tests.”
Update 5: The Generative AI section now includes links to relevant government guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Detail: Scotland: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools: guidelines and guardrails (March 2026) and Northern Ireland: Guidance for education professionals on Generative AI (May 2026).
These definitions drive home the message that simply having these systems in place is no guarantee that children will be effectively protected from digital risks.
On releasing the updates, the UK SIC stated that education settings should demonstrate that their filtering and monitoring systems are:
Technically effective
Transparently understood
Properly managed
Fully integrated into wider safeguarding practice
This aligns with existing guidance from the DfE, which requires schools and colleges to review their filtering and monitoring provision “at least once every academic year”.
Now is an appropriate time to perform such reviews, supported by these new definitions, which can be read in full on the UK SIC website.